Purdue students engineer ways to serve the community

One such project will involve the eight Purdue students who make up the Lafayette Crisis Center EPICS team. During the week of April 24, they will deliver an informational kiosk to Lafayette Urban Ministry and the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The kiosk, containing a touch-screen computer database of the various services offered in the community, was built by women at the Indianapolis Women's Prison.

EPICS is a service-learning engineering program designed to teach students leadership and community responsibility. Student teams work on technology-based projects for community organizations such as the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department, Columbian Park Zoo, Alcoa and the Greater Lafayette chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The Purdue EPICS program has also formed a working relationship with the Indianapolis Women's Prison.

"Everyone benefits from the program," said Pam Brown, EPICS Purdue program coordinator. "The service organizations gain access to new ideas in technology that they would not normally have in their pool of resources, and students get a rewarding experience and gain expertise they can take with them after graduation."

This year, there are 30 EPICS teams at Purdue working with local organizations. Projects cover a wide range of needs, such as developing computer-controlled toys for preschool-aged children with disabilities and developing heating cost solutions for a local historic neighborhood. Purdue staff and professional engineers from local corporations advise the teams.

The Purdue EPICS program has also formed a partnership with the Indianapolis Women's Prison. The downtown facility has a carpentry program that teaches the women skills they will be able to use when they return to the community. Teams having a project that requires something built work with the women on that stage of the project.

"Our students can take a project to them and they make it work," Brown said. "It has helped the projects look really professional. They do a great job and it's an excellent partnership."

The informational kiosk the women built for the team of students working to assist the Lafayette Crisis Center allows users to search the database for location information and hours of operation of a desired service. Users can then print off the information or make a call to the organization using a handset provided at the kiosk.

"Basically, everything a person needs to search for and contact resources is right there in the kiosk, right at their fingertips," said Ben Block, Lake Forest, Ill., a junior in industrial engineering at Purdue and a member of the Lafayette Crisis Center team. "This project has been in progress since the EPICS program started at Purdue, and we are very excited to see the kiosks working for the community."

The project will place several informational kiosks around the Greater Lafayette community over the next few years in addition to the one already in place in the Tippecanoe County Public Library.

"Part of our job at the Crisis Center is to let people know where to go for help in the community," said Jane McCann, information and referral specialist for the Lafayette Crisis Center. "The kiosks are a great way to help people get information about services available and to be able to see the differences between organizations and the unique services each offers."

Along with learning real-world applications for technology and community responsibility, students receive course credit for their involvement in EPICS. Students can join the program as second-semester freshmen or as sophomores, receiving one credit per semester. Students also have the option as juniors and seniors to double the credits they earn by increasing their responsibilities on the project. Students may participate for up to seven semesters.

"EPICS is such a great program and I'm proud to have been part of it," said Block, who also serves as an ambassador for the program by going into the classroom and sharing his experiences. "I've learned so much more than I could have possibly learned in the classroom alone."

EPICS was founded at Purdue in 1995 by Leah Jamieson, interim dean for the College of Engineering, and Edward J. Coyle, director of the EPICS Entrepreneurship Initiative. The program is now part of 15 universities across the United States. In 2005, EPICS received the National Academy of Engineering Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology.

Writer: Kiersti Kjonaas, (765) 494-2081, kkjonaas@purdue.edu

Sources: Pam Brown, (765) 494-0639, epics@purdue.edu

Jane McCann, (765) 742-0244

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Related Web site:
EPICS National

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