Vision and scope
The purpose of the IEPER is to create and promote a College of Engineering program for partnerships, education and research focused on emerging regions.
Existing and new activities such as the Engineers with Borders (EWB), the International Center for Materials Research (ICMR), and the Developing World Engineering seminar series have demonstrated a strong student interest from throughout the College of Engineering (COE) and the Bren School of Environmental Management. The IEPER gives a mechanism for the coordination of existing and new activities with an Emerging Regions focus.
Much of our work in this area is focused on student education in a very broad sense. The problems facing the developing world are difficult and diverse. The next generation of engineers can play an important role in addressing those problems. Our objective is to broaden the horizons of our students, giving them a much wider context to their research and development activities, and providing them with challenges in an environment that very few could otherwise comprehend.
Collaborations
UCSB Centers and Institutes
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Engineers without Borders (EWB), UCSB Chapter
EWB is a student led organization that undertakes engineering infrastructure work in the developing world. Roy Smith is the faculty advisor the for UCSB EWB group and also acts as an engineering mentor for their Kenya project. -
International Center for Materials Research (ICMR)
IEPER has collaborated with the ICMR's as a part of their international outreach activities. The ICMR has supported several EWB students in their work on materials related projects in Kenya and Peru. IEPER and ICMR have also proposed (to the National Science Foundation) a series of competitive travel and research project grants for emerging region activities. -
Center for Nanotechnology and Society (CNS)
One of CNS's the upcoming activities is a conference on "Emerging Technologies/Emerging Economies: [Nano]Technology for Equitable Global Development," to be held in Washington, DC, (4-6 November, 2009). Roy Smith has worked with Rachel Parker of CNS on programmatic aspects of this conference.The conference organizers (CNS-UCSB and the Woodrow Wilson Center) represent two broad social science research centers with interests and connections that span R&D, policy, innovation, toxicology, the environment and development. The Conference will convene leaders across sectors to discuss new pathways for appropriate technology-based solutions to problems related to Water, Energy, Food Security, and Health with the aim of facilitating possible solutions to some of the most pressing developmental challenges facing the planet.
University partnerships
The IEPER provides a more formal mechanism for university-to-university partnerships with other institutions with similar interests or directly with emerging region institutions. Collaborations of this form are expected to lead to longer term student exchanges and workshops on common research topics.
To date we have established collaborations with the following institutions:
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Materials Department, Iowa State University.
Curriculum development in the area of sustainable technologies for emerging regions. (contact: Richard LeSar) -
Universidad del Valle de Mexico and the State of Mexico's Science and Technology Council (COMECYT).
Invited plenary on Aerospace Technology Development. (contact: Rodrigo Hurtado). -
Emory University.
We are involved in a colloboration with Scott Lacy (Anthropology Dept.) on EWB Mali projects. We have also been involved in presenting Materials Research for the Developing World symposium presented at the Materials Research Society's Spring 2009 meeting.
Contacts
Director
Professor Roy S. Smith
phone: +1-805-893-2967
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Administrator
Jennifer Ybarra
Phone: +1-805-893-5850
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