TBI - Global Innovation Summer

Details and Cost

About the Program

Change lives this summer with your creative solutions to real problems for real people in Kenya! This program is designed for students who have an interest in innovative designs and engineering geared towards the developing world. Using the Turkana Basin Institute as the base for their field work, students will work in interdisciplinary teams and try to make a positive global and local impact through fieldwork and case studies.

The foundation of this program is to help engineering students better understand the people they are serving: their culture, their way of life, and the challenges that they face. The field courses at Turkana Basin will expose students both the technical problems and the potential customers offer the local community at the Turkana Basin. The students will identify such problems in the proper socio-economic and cultural context by deep observation and engagement with the local community, and how to apply design thinking and mission-centric Lean LaunchPad methodology in innovative problem solving.

The courses will also introduce students to the main principles of engineering and discuss the details of providing a standard of living that is adequate for human settlement in developing countries. The discussions will be based on the social, geo-political, and infrastructural elements in Ileret, Kenya. Students will be exposed to a comparison between the resources available in developed countries and those available in rural areas and/or areas of limited resources. Understanding such differences will help prepare our students for future challenges at a global scale.

Location	Ileret, Kenya
Program Type	Faculty-Led Program
Program Term	Summer
Program Dates	Summer 2024: Session I TBD
Language of Instruction	English
Budget	View Budget
Living Arrangements	Students will live in comfortable, safe, dormitory-style accommodations at TBI's research facilities at Ileret, which overlook Lake Turkana and some spectacular fossil deposits. In this region live pastoral Dassanatch people, often seen herding their goats around the lake, who are employed locally as essential camp staff. Clean water, showers, flushing toilets, and electricity are provided, as are mosquito nets, towels, and bedding. Internet and cell phone service is available. Meals served fresh and varied, and very healthy. Vegetarian options are made available.
Additional Information	Faculty-Led study abroad programs may require group travel. Please reach out to your IAP Coordinator prior to making any travel arrangements.

Program Housing Statement: Stony Brook University is required to comply with the housing policies of the host country, partner institution and/or hotel/hostel. These policies may include requirements such as sex-based housing placement.

Requirements

GPA	2.0
Other Requirements	N/A
Application Deadline	March 1 (deadline extended to March 31)

Candidates may be interviewed to determine their qualifications for participating and representing Stony Brook University abroad.

Academic Information
Course Information

The program is comprised of 2, 3-credit courses at the upper division level:

Engineering for the Developing World (EAS 312)

This class introduces students to the main principles of engineering and discusses the details of providing a standard of living that is adequate for human settlement in developing countries. The discussion will be based on the social, geo-political, and infrastructural elements in Ileret, Kenya. Students will be exposed to a comparison between the resources available in developed countries against those available in rural areas and/or areas of limited resources. More specifically, students will be exposed to the obstacles encountered during the engineering process of developing means for infrastructure, water availability, and other essential components for sustainable human inhabiting. This experience will be enhanced by witnessing firsthand the conditions of the limited-resource environment in Ileret, Kenya.

Global Design Engineering Innovation (EAS 310)

This field course at Turkana Basin would expose students to apply the design thinking and mission-centric Lean LaunchPad methodology for discovering both the technical problems and the customers for the local community at the Turkana Basin. The students will identify such problems in the proper socio-economic and cultural context by deep observation and engagement with the local community by taking an empathy- oriented approach. They will be led to follow the engineering design cycle of need identification, generation of problem statement, product design specifications and criteria to creation, evaluation, and selection of conceptual designs. Examples of the problems could include activities of daily living (ADL), resource generation and conservation, and disability assistance. The multi-disciplinary, and -year students working in groups will collaboratively identify and define the problems and propose ethical, socially-responsible, and innovative solutions that maximize the value proposition of the innovation.

Academic Policies
- Credits earned on this program will calculate toward a student's GPA at Stony Brook University. Non-SBU students are advised to check their home university policy on grade and credit transfer.
- Students following the Stony Brook Curriculum (SBC) may request for GLO and EXP+ in addition to requirements fulfilled by their coursework.