Research Progress Report #1
For this report, I am planning to focus on the effect of engineering (and specifically, “appropriate technology”) in Thailand. I traveled abroad with the Cal Poly program and did an independent study project with a partner to develop a means of cleaning up the drinking water filtration system. Many Thai citizens collect the water they drink for the entire year during their rainy season from March-June. The water is collected off their roofs, and many currently have it flow directly into the storage tank. This poses a problem because the debris that is now present in the tank can take hours to settle. Our engineering challenge was to develop a means of making a purification system that would not be overly bulky, it had to hold enough water to effectively get the debris out (estimated to take the first 60 liters), and it had to be of reasonably low cost. After deliberating on a solution, we came up with a tank that the water (and debris) would flow into initially. Once the water filled to the top of this initial tank, it would automatically divert into the storage tank, and be safe for immediate drinking. Having worked with the people to see what they needed, we were able to effectively work for a solution, while also working with the current filtration system they had, which consisted of a mesh net to catch the larger debris before it flowed into the main storage tank.
In this report, I would like to focus on the types of engineering projects going on in Thailand. I’d like to investigate engineering practices mainly in the smaller villages. I have researched projects done by Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and I am looking to do more research on Thai-company based engineering work. My proposed thesis I am focusing on is: How is the western world looking to the eastern world with respect to engineering and technology, and how can they help foster a more effective and appropriate engineering style for the systems already in place in the other country? If anyone has suggestions on how I can improve or better focus my thesis, I would love to hear them!
My goal in this paper will be to show how engineering done in the western world (mostly relating to the US), is not directly applicable to the life of a Thai person. Having lived there, I have experienced how the day to day interactions of Thais are very different in comparison to those we have here in the United States. My goal is to expose these differences, and hopefully determine an approach to engineering education and its ability to expand its focus to a more global outlook. From the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal titled Civil Engineering, there is acknowledgment for the need to alter our view of engineering and how we apply it: “As the trend toward a more global and more knowledge-based society continues, the practice of engineering must be changed, and this change must be accomplished through engineering education reform.” As professional societies like EWB and ASCE move toward a more applicable style of engineering, we may be able to see a heightened value of global engineering and alternatives to expensive building.
I am mainly going to journals found on the Cal Poly Library website, and the aforementioned society pages. I will also be looking into the anti-globalization arguments against the application of appropriate technology. If anyone has more suggestions on where to look, I’d be happy to hear them!
Patricia D. Galloway, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, “The 21st-Century Engineer: A Proposal For Engineering Education Reform”. Engineering Education Reform, Civil Engineering. ASCE. November 2007, Pages: 46-47
Morgan, this is a great project. It might be interesting for you to add in an exploration of the phrase "appropriate technology." I believe (in the U.S.) that many people point to E.F. Schumacher's *Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered* (1973) as a key text in the "appropriate technology" movement of the 1970s - and there is a huge (still very much alive) debate about a) has the appropriate technology movement failed (in the U.S.) and b) if it has failed, why? (Another somewhat related publication is Amory B. Lovins, “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?” Foreign Affairs 55 (October 1976): 65-96 - where Lovins advocates for what he called "soft energy paths.")
ReplyDeleteI also really like the goal of your paper in terms of providing suggestions to engineering educators in the U.S. about how to "produce" more "socially responsible" or more "context-appropriate" (future) engineers. I think doing an analysis of the existing visions of "socially responsible" technological development within U.S. engineering education would also be interesting project - so is there a difference between what the Colorado School of Mines calls "humanitarian engineering" and what is happening within EWB? Do different EWB chapters share exactly the same image? How is that image transmitted and how are EWB engineers "trained" via their chapters?
Another possible link is with the Malta project on water cisterns (Billy) or Mandy's focus on contemporary water collection in Africa.