Panel: Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries “Personal AT Journey” Matthew G. Green Manufacturing & Design Lab Mechanical Systems and Design The University of Texas, Austin June 24, 2004 CEEC 2004 Salt Lake City, UT

AT Journey Chronology 1. Before graduate school 2. Graduate School – MS 3. Graduate School – PhD 4. (Future) Career Path: Teaching, Consulting, Publishing

AT Journey Chronology 1. Before graduate school 2. Graduate School – MS 3. Graduate School – PhD 4. (Future) Career Path: Teaching, Consulting, Publishing

Phase I: Before Graduate School  Childhood - Exposure to global context through visiting missionaries  3rd year student, Guatemala service project – First personal exposure to global need (still no concept of proportion of need)  Senior year - Growing sense of stewardship of education, gifting, and Western resources coupled with growing disillusionment with the pursuit of personal comfort

Phase I: Before Graduate School  Senior design – spaceship to mars, crisis of values. “Wouldn’t design for the poor result in `spin-offs` too, along with having a much greater impact on quality of life?”  Internship with EMI – growing understanding of global need  EMI trip to PNG Wycliffe base - first realization of technical opportunities I was active in my Christianfaith and missions-oriented with a BSME, yet this my first realization of the opportunity for engineers to help with these needs. I was active in my Christian faith and missions-oriented with a BSME, yet this my first realization of the opportunity for engineers to help with these needs.

Phase I: Before Graduate School Discouragement  Abandoned hope of graduate research in “appropriate technology”  I was told, “Graduate research is high-tech; development needs are low-tech.”  (Now I understand why – for years it was a difficult and lonely trail to blaze!)

AT Journey Chronology 1. Before graduate school 2. Graduate School – MS 3. Graduate School – PhD 4. (Future) Career Path: Teaching, Consulting, Publishing

MS: “Blazing the trail”  Research advisor encouraged pursuing the lost vision as “design for developing countries”  Major hurdle: uncovering the literature base (mostly non-academic)  Preliminary findings reported in paper “Publishing Engineering Research on Appropriate Technology”

MS: Internship w/ Development  GTZ-GATE – German technical inquiry service  General consensus - disillusionment with global poverty reduction initiatives  Advice: “Avoid a career in development at all costs”  Co-authored three papers: solar desalination, theory of solar crop drying, solar drying equipment.

MS: Humanitarian Design Projects  Senior design methods class  Ex: Waste heat water heater “Integrating Service-Oriented Design Projects in the Engineering Curriculum,” ASEE 2002

 Senior design methods class  Example: Hot Water for Medical Relief  Need in rural Mexico  Strict size, cost, complexity constraints  Waste heat from 5kW generator  Result: $50  150 o F Field-testing in Mexico MS: Humanitarian Design Projects

MS: Research – Remote Electricity “Small-Scale Electricity Generation: Selecting an Appropriate Technology,” MS Thesis, UT Austin, 2001

Solar PhotovoltaicWind Turbine Water CurrentMicro-Hydroelectric IC Engine Generator Grid Extension (reference) Viable Small-scale Technologies

Existing Selection Guidance Need: Comprehensive and unified selection method

AT Journey Chronology 1. Before graduate school 2. Graduate School – MS 3. Graduate School – PhD 4. (Future) Career Path: Teaching, Consulting, Publishing

PhD – IH Design Projects  International Humanitarian Design projects (presented in ASEE & CEEC)  Effectively introduced and mentored me into these projects from Christian schools “Service-Learning Approaches to International Humanitarian Design Projects: Assessment of Spiritual Impact,” CEEC 2004 “Service-Learning Approaches to International Humanitarian Design Projects: A Model Based on Experiences of Faith-Based Institutions,” ASEE 2004

PhD: Research Focus  Focus on product definition phase  Develop three types of design tools: 1.Knowledge modules 2.Ashby-style plots 3.DfX method (Design by Analogy) Provide tools to enhance the success of engineers designing products for contexts outside their experience and expertise.

Objective #1: Reverse Engineering Select products representative of a functional family  Primary function is a basic need  Set of products successful in mature market  Dominated by ME energy flows 1.Reverse engineer products in multiple functional families to document the product definitions and appropriate usage contexts. Product set for FF “broadcast light, with mobility”

AT Journey Chronology 1. Before graduate school 2. Graduate School – MS 3. Graduate School – PhD 4. (Future) Career Path: Teaching, Consulting, Publishing

(Future) Career Path  Teaching – training engineers to design products and systems, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of the world’s poorest individuals  Consulting – designing specific solutions for the needs of development workers and those they serve  Publishing – providing technical knowledge useful and accessible to development workers Engineering design to improve the quality of life for the poor in developing countries

Questions  How can students be trained to design for AT needs?  How can students pursue AT projects?  How can graduate students pursue AT related research?  What types of engineering careers are available in AT? What will enable success in a field where so many others have failed?