Cooperation is at the heart of EPICS at Purdue.  A cohort of College of Engineering students spent Spring Break 2023 on a study abroad in La Guajira, Colombia where they supported different local projects. La Guajira is located on the Caribbean coast, and is well-known for its natural beauty, sunny climate, and being home to indigenous Wayuu communities. Situated between deserts and beaches, the Wayuu communities have faced and continue to face social problems related to education, health, and poor access to water - even though according to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, water is a basic human right. This means that it must be safely consumable and easily accessible for everyday use.  Through a new collaboration with the Universidad de La Guajira, which commenced Fall 2021, the EPICS Natural Disaster Preparedness (NDP) team got the unique opportunity to work on addressing some of the issues of access to water. The students began designing a sustainable water system for use by an indigenous Wayuu community known as “Pozo del Tigre”.  An initial system proposal was ready for feedback by Spring 2023. The design would supply roughly 250 people with water.  It would account for a total daily capacity of 8000 L, with 6000 L (75%) earmarked for general use, and the remaining 2000 L (25%) to be used for human consumption. While working on the project, the participating students and supporting staff had very moving experiences, which informed their work by adding an emotional element to a human-centered engineering design philosophy. 

To gain a better understanding of the problems at play and to help ensure the success of the project, the team visited various Wayuu communities and noted the varying living conditions and degrees of water access issues.  The water system proposal received valuable feedback from community leaders at “Pozo del Tigre” and professors at the Universidad de La Guajira. Furthermore, experienced local contractors shared their expertise and recommendations with the team based on work they had done on similar projects in the past. The Wayuu’s and local university students shared their cultures and traditions, including typical dances, foods, and languages, through their interactions with the Purdue cohort.  In addition to that, the Purdue team used their time to the fullest by gathering information for yet another project to be undertaken by the EPICS team Designing for Playing and Learning (PLAY). They conducted site visits to Wayuu schools to come up with ideas for curriculum development, surrounding the challenges between traditional performance indicators and cultural heritage preservation. In the end, the team returned to West Lafayette with a clearer understanding of how to continue developing engineering projects with a stronger sense of human connection, thanks to the invaluable and life-changing experiences they had on their study abroad.

All in all, this is a testament to the undeniable power of merging cooperation and community service for engineering education. It strengthens institutional relationships, provides cooperative support in confronting social challenges, and combines technical knowledge with social bonding experiences to aid and encourage the new up and coming generation of engineers. At this time, the outstanding interdisciplinary and international team behind the spring break trip to La Guajira deserves credit for their hard work and dedication to making the world a more habitable place.  An immense thank you to Purdue undergraduate students Brigid Atkins from the Natural Disaster Preparedness (NDP) team and Civil Engineering school; Addison Downey from Materials Engineering; and Daniel Boesing from Industrial Engineering. Many thanks to Colombian, first-generation PhD student within Purdue Polytechnic, and EPICS TA, Jorge Neira. Many thanks as well to the EPICS Lead Outreach Program Manager, Jorge Martinez. A big thank you to the PAGE & Global Fellows Program Manager from Global Engineering Programs and Partnerships (GEPP), Rhonda Von Werder. Special thanks to the Senior Administrative Assistant from GEPP, Rhonda Haan, for the logistical support in setting up the study abroad, and to our local partner Jose Quintero from the Research Group “Destacar” at the University of La Guajira, for providing his unwavering support to the program and establishing connections with the indigenous Wayuu communities.