Improving our existence, one idea at a time

Have you ever wished you could change the world? Well, stop wishing and start thinking.

As part of the IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition, students from across the globe demonstrated their engineering prowess and remarkable ingenuity in creating potential solutions to real-life problems. The contest was designed to recognize students who identify serious world issues and then apply their engineering, science, computing and leadership skills to develop ways to solve them. The main goal of the contest was to encourage students to use their knowledge and abilities in order to benefit their communities, inspiring a humanitarian approach to engineering.

Although the contest allowed participants to reach out to advisors for assistance and guidance in their projects, it was the responsibility of the students to choose the issue they wished to address and devise a potential solution to that problem. Among the 14 finalists in the competition there was an array of subjects, but most centered on using technology to improve the quality of life in more rural and underprivileged communities.

For example, three projects focused on mechanizing agriculture to increase food production and lessen the dependence on manual labor. Another popular subject was creating power supplies in rural areas that currently have little or no electricity, suggesting the creation of solar-powered charging stations where applicable. Other students concentrated on improving healthcare with developments such as creating Web and mobile-based applications to better transfer information between healthcare systems, a hand-held diagnostic laboratory for protein analysis, electronic aids for physically/mentally handicapped children, and guide robots for the blind. The winners will be selected by June 26, 2009 based on the results achieved and their impact on humanity, or, on a specific community.

The IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition is one of the many events offered as part of the celebration of IEEE’s 125th Anniversary. Over the years IEEE has become a leading authority dedicated to the advancement of technology for the benefit of humanity. The student competition follows this humanitarian tradition by urging upcoming professionals to consider how technology affects people, instead of advancing technology simply because we can. By addressing these world issues, these students have witnessed the impact their work has, not just on the engineering community, but on humanity as a whole.