By Greg Varner

Engineering could appear forbiddingly troublesome to some would-be majors, however Royce Francis, an affiliate professor in GW’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), is working to make it extra inviting and accessible to college students who will then apply their data for society’s profit. He was just lately awarded a grant from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) that can assist him obtain his purpose.

In partnership with STEMcx (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Conference and Expo), a company in Baltimore, Francis will work with eight high-school college students chosen for paid internships this summer time to create a system monitoring city air high quality utilizing low-cost sensors. STEMcx is devoted to inspiring college students from underrepresented communities to pursue careers in STEM.

“There are fewer African American engineers and scientists and doctors than you would expect if you look at our proportion in the general population,” Francis stated. “STEMcx is trying to increase the number of Black engineers and doctors and scientists by engaging people before they go to college. I designed the experiential portion of the internship with the goal of introducing students who might be interested in environmental justice to the ways that technology and science intersect in the field of environmental engineering.”

Francis was first launched to environmental justice by Professor Kimberly Jones as an undergraduate at Howard University, the place he studied civil and environmental engineering. Professor Jones described instances the place waste administration amenities had been systematically situated nearer to communities of coloration, unfairly exposing them to the potential impacts of air pollution. In her course, Francis first discovered that many environmental administration selections rely not solely on scientific or financial calculations, but in addition racial, social and political components. Another pivotal second got here when he attended a lecture by Taft Broome, a professor of civil engineering with an curiosity in how engineering pertains to coverage.

“He talked about ethics and his example was designing a braking system for a tractor-trailer,” Francis stated. “He designed the question in such a way that we would have to make a trade-off between cost and the ability to stop within a certain distance. And there was a wrinkle because if you make the brakes too strong, the load behind the tractor-trailer could run into the cab and injure the driver. So, there were a range of trade-offs in addition to cost and the ability to stop within a certain time, and he made us think about not only this engineering calculation, but how that calculation is going to touch somebody’s life.”

Seeing that Francis is inquisitive about public coverage, Broome inspired him to use to a program at Carnegie Mellon University wherein Ph.D. college students selected an engineering or expertise downside with public coverage implications. Later, commuting from Baltimore to Union Station, Francis realized he was inhaling smoke from the diesel trains as they idled within the terminal. He grew to become inquisitive about air high quality whereas collaborating with Amanda Northcross, a former GW school member with experience in designing gear used for publicity evaluation.

Not all of his interns this summer time, Francis stated, will go on to grow to be engineers, however a minimum of they may have the expertise of working with expertise on a venture within the public curiosity. They can even study from visitor audio system who observe environmental justice advocacy, and start to see how expertise touches many alternative fields, quite than merely viewing it from a STEM perspective. They will see how parts of what engineers do may intersect with different profession paths.

“I’m hoping that for students who do pursue STEM, this will help them persist through the major until they enter their profession,” Francis stated. “A lot of schooling is kind of disembodied from practical experience. We do a lot of theory at the university level. There are some hands-on learning experiences, but there are a lot of courses that tend to be rigorous, difficult and theoretical, and those courses tend to put people off. Experiences out of the classroom, like these internships, improve the persistence of students through the major.”

The interns engaged on air high quality this summer time could have hands-on experiences which can be related to their communities and to social issues that they care about. As a consequence, they could discover that engineering will not be as intimidating as they maybe thought.

“I would rather see engineering as art—as art that touches different parts of people’s lives,” Francis stated, “and while I might not look like a typical artist in terms of the things that I do and how I present myself, I am hoping students interested in humanities would find our environmental justice program accessible.”

Eighteen universities had been awarded PIT-UN grants this yr. Susan Boerstling, GW’s assistant vp for company and basis relations, labored with Francis on his profitable grant proposal.