Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)
EGR 250/251, 350/351, 450/451 - Engineering Projects in Community Service, Fall/Spring
Community service agencies face a future in which they must take advantage of technology to improve, coordinate, account for, and deliver the services they provide. They need the help of people with strong technical backgrounds. Undergraduate students face a future in which they will need more than solid expertise in their discipline to succeed. They will be expected to work with people of many different backgrounds to identify and achieve goals. They need educational experiences that can help them broaden their skills. The challenge is to bring these two groups together in a mutually beneficial way. The end result? Benefits to the students and to the community!
In EPICS (EGR 250/251, 350/351, 450/451), you earn course credit while using your expertise to make a difference in the community! Partner with non-profit community organizations to address their technology-based needs. Disciplines needed: ARC, CEE, CHE, COS, ECO, ELE, EEB, HIS, MAE, ORF, WWS...
Read about the teams in this April 2007 article in the Princeton Weekly Bulletin.
Student teams meet and work throughout the academic year and must enroll in the 2-course sequence, e.g., EGR 250 AND EGR 251, to receive full credit for the EPICS course (either Fall/Spring or Spring/Fall). Freshman enroll in 250 & 251, Sophomores in 350 & 351, and Juniors in 450 & 451, respectively. If you have questions about registration for EPICS, please contact Victoria Dorman at vdorman@princeton.edu.
Two project teams are in place for the 2009-10 academic year. The Sustainable Buildings Team and the Time Team are both working with Isles, Inc. The Time Team is also working with the Princeton Regional School district.
Sustainable Buildings Team, Prof. Winston Soboyejo
This project will engage undergraduates in the holistic design of sustainable buildings and will include lectures, hands on labs and group projects that use buildings in Trenton as models for the development of sustainable solutions to problems of inner city towns such as Trenton. The project will be open to all students in natural and engineering sciences, as well as students in the humanities and social sciences. The program will include considerations of the human implications of sustainable buildings, holistic considerations of energy conversion, novel ways of designing sustainable buildings that are cost effective and environmentally friendly, and the implications of policy/code requirements.
Students will also be part of a Global Development Network (GDN), which is a team of Princeton University students that participate in global development projects that address global development problems such as problems of water, health, energy and affordable/sustainable housing. However, this will be the first time that the GDN has focused on a local problem of sustainable housing in the Princeton area.
The Time Team, Prof. Michael Littman
The team will continue its collaborations with Isles, Inc. and the Princeton Regional Schools. This year the team will continue restoring a turn-of-the-century Elgin bicycle, a player piano, and also finish restoring a tower clock at a former textile factory in Trenton, including the construction and installation of three clock-faces and hands. The team will revamp the existing Time Team website and has recently purchased a video-cam to allow remote viewing of the clock in operation. The team will also work with the Engineers Club at the John Witherspoon Middle School, and with science teachers to plan and implement a program of engineering related activities.
Greentrofit™ Team, Prof. Catherine Peters – project completed
Check out this Spring 2008 PWB article about the Greentrofit™ Team and read more about the project on the team's old site.
