I F E AT URE S TORY
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New MechE Global Educational Program Combines Service With Science
cultures firsthand—while also gaining hands-on engineering experience. The Department’s focus on combining course- work, research, and service with travel opportunities helps MechE students achieve an advantage over their peers. Not only can our students gain new insights into their own way of life, but they also learn firsthand that engineering challenges extend to the farthest corners of the globe.
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As part of the Department’s effort to provide all students with the opportunity to become better acquainted with the multi-cultural global workplace, the Department of Me- chanical Engineering has started a new global educational initiative. The International Service-Learning Engineering (ISLE) program intends to send a number of MechE (and possibly other Carnegie Mellon) students abroad each year to conduct service-oriented projects which leverage, and build on, their engineering expertise. “Through such projects, we hope to expose our stu-
dents to different cultures through full immersion with local residents and volunteers,” says Nadine Aubry, MechE Department Head and Founding Director of the ISLE program. “By sending them to other parts of the world, we will provide our students with engineering opportunities and challenges that will be both eye-opening and benefi- cial. Today’s engineers need to be prepared to solve formi- dable problems in any culture or part of the world. Such a global experience is unique and invaluable—and perfectly complements the worldclass curriculum and research they experience here in Pittsburgh.”
A Teaching Opportunity Becomes a Valuable Lesson In May, the Department kicked off the ISLE program with a two-week inaugural trip to the Philippines. Twenty-one Mechanical Engineering students, and one Civil Engineer- ing student, accompanied Adjunct Professor Robert Reid to Manila to teach engineering concepts to under- privileged children, as well as rebuild homes destroyed by tropical storms. “In planning the trip to Manila, my goal was to do some-
thing genuinely useful, by applying engineering skills to help impoverished people,” Reid says. “I wanted students to use their classroom knowledge to solve practical prob- lems, as well as broaden their perspectives and give them a more balanced view.” Reid accomplished these goals. While the student
participants expected to serve as teachers, they found themselves pupils—taking away significant life lessons they can now apply to their remaining time at Carnegie Mellon, as well as their future engineering careers.
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s the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the Department of Mechanical Engineering is preparing its students to succeed in today’s global society—both inside and outside the classroom. While MechE’s rigorous coursework and research projects provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to compete in international markets, growing opportunities to travel abroad allow MechE students to experience different
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