FRS 001Y — Sec. 001 — (1 unit) — CRN 35585 — T 5:10 – 6:00 pm — 3102B Engineering III
Appropriate Engineering Technology in Developing Communities

Instructor:
Bill Fleenor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering

Description: The course will present the student with the concept of the need to use technologies appropriate to the community being served. The material will include both the need for considering cultural sensitivities as well as the need for the technology implemented to be sustainable within the community. The course will include design, testing, and implementation of a project in a developing community. Besides the enrolled students, the class will include participation by upper-class students and graduate students as mentors. The objective of the class is not only to contribute to new and ongoing development projects in an effective way, but also to expand the dimensions of experience for emerging engineers. It is our vision that this is a primary path to achieving a more sustainable world, without suffering the consequences of engineering projects that are socially, culturally, or economically inappropriate.

Format: The seminar will meet one hour each week. The time will be divided between informal lectures by the instructor, graduate students and practicing engineers with developing community work as well as discussion of various reading materials supplied to the students. There is no text for the class. Grading: Students will be required to write a report on the laboratory tests performed which will account for (1/3) of their grade. The balance of the grade will be based on quality and frequency of class participation on the assigned reading (1/3) and the work performed on testing of the project implementation (1/3). Implementation of the project will be carried out by a small number of students.

About the Instructor: Bill Fleenor is a Research Engineer in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department with experience working on remote field projects both in the US and abroad. His research interests include the interaction between fluid transport and mixing processes with water quality in natural and engineered systems using a combination of field experimentation, detailed laboratory studies and numerical modeling.