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Civil engineering and other students recently returned from life-changing experiences to Ghana, Europe
and Japan -- expanding the international scope of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's educational opportunities.
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Making Friends in Ghana: Kristin Miller, a 2007 civil engineering graduate, visits with two Ghanan youngsters during this summer's adventure. |
Five 2007 civil engineering graduates joined civil engineering professor John Aidoo in recently visiting a Ghana village to investigate site locations for a proposed agricultural training facility. The initiative was completed as part of a senior-year design project.
Meanwhile, eight students visited locations throughout Germany during a cultural trip organized by Andreas Michel and Heidemarie Heeter, associate professors of German. Japanese Professor Maki Hirotani has escorted the student group to
Japan's Kanazawa Institute of Technology for a six-week summer program.
These adventures are another example of the benefits Rose-Hulman students can gain from international educational experiences, according to Rose-Hulman President Gerald Jakubowski.
"These trips show why international experiences have to be part of Rose-Hulman's future academic strategic plan. The benefits for our students and faculty are enormous," the president said.
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Opening New Worlds: Yaw Aning, a 2007 civil engineering graduate, and a young resident of Obodan, Ghana, admire a digital photograph taken by another member of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology student team. |
The Obodan Sustainable Development Center, led by Ghanaian humanitarian Dr. Anthony Akunzule, sought an agricultural training center to be constructed to promote rural development for villages surrounding Obodan, Ghana. Sixty percent of the areas population is employed in agriculture. The facility will include a computer training center, conference hall, caretaker house, hostel, office space and executive chalets.
The project included creating floor plans, site layout, structural design and foundation design for all buildings, and examining septic, storm water management and utility systems. Completing the project were Joel Anderson, Yaw Aning, Matthew Childs, Richard Franko and Kristin Miller. The faculty mentor was Aidoo, who earned his bachelor's degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana.
The Rose-Hulman group made technical presentations to the district chief executive (mayor) of the Nsawam village and members of the Obodan community, including the Chief, Queen Mother and all the elders of Obodan. After the presentation, the students and Professor Aidoo planted a tree at the future development site as a symbol of the relationship between Rose-Hulman and Obodan.
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Presentation Ideas: Members of Rose-Hulman civil engineering student team presented their design project ideas to the district chief executive (mayor) of the Nsawam village and members of the Obodan community in Ghana. The Rose-Hulman team included Joel Anderson, Yaw Aning, Matthew Childs, Richard Franko and Kristin Miller. |
Last year, members of Rose-Hulman's Engineers Without Borders (EWB) student organization designed and started the construction of a poultry building, which will be part of the compound. Also, in 2005-06, a civil engineering group participated in the first international student design course project for a village in Trinidad and Tobago. Next year, another civil engineering team will design a cancer treatment center for Obodan -- part of a sustained relationship between the Department of Civil Engineering and KNUST.
In a post-visit report, the student team summarized the trip as "eye-opening and life-changing". "Each one of us has been able to experience an aspect of engineering which 95 percent of our peers will never be able to see . . . we will forever remember the people that we met and the multiple priceless experiences that we were lucky enough to have had," the report states
Also, Anderson stated: "We were there to help give the people a means to sustain themselves, but unexpectedly found the greater benefit gained by us. John Aidoo Sr., father of Dr. Aidoo, said, '. . . it's all in the scheme of things' for us to see an area in which all wealthy people are educated but not all educated people are wealthy, where there is more traffic but less road rage, where there are less comforts but a more comforting life, and where friends are made with a handshake. He made us realize we need to work to live, not live to work, because everything happens for a reason, including our time spent there. It wasn't until returning to the U.S. when we realized how eye-opening the experience was, but eyes once opened are only closed by time."
Students participating in this year's 11-day European cultural adventure included Elizabeth Deike, Ashley Erffmeyer, Carolyn Horn, Thomas Kelley, Justin Parks, Stillman Pugh, Kelley Ruehl and Theresa Selcke.
Last year, students visited Spain, led by professor John Gardner, while
another group of students traveled to Japan in 2005 in a trip organized by Scott Clark, professor of anthropology, and Caroline Carvill, chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Students from any major can participate in these educational programs. |
