D-Lab Spring Student Showcase & Open House 2015

Students from D-Lab: Design, D-Lab: Earth, D-Lab: Energy, and D-Lab: Dissemination WASH-Env will be presenting projects. In addition, several UROPs will present the work they have done this semester through D-Lab. See below for projects that will be presented.

To kick things off, students will give brief presentations. Attendees will then be able to view all the working prototypes on display throughout the D-Lab space! All welcome.

Courses & Projects

D-Lab: Design addresses problems faced by underserved communities with a focus on design, experimentation, and prototyping processes. (Instructor: Matt McCambridge. TA: Jessica Artiles.)

Student Projects:

• A means of fermenting Cacao in small batches to make it possible for small farmers to sell rare varieties at higher cost (Puerto Rico)
• A means of manufacturing durable, high-traction crutch tips locally (Guatemala)
• A device to allow riders who have only one arm to propel a wheelchair (Guatemala)
• A means of separating the fine-grained sawdust used to manufacture ceramic water filters (Uganda)
• A means of producing high-grade avocado oil at the village level (Tanzania)
• A means of extracting essential oils for adding value to locally produced cosmetics (Ghana)

D-Lab: Energy offers a hands-on, project-based approach that engages students in understanding and addressing the applications of alternative energy technology in developing countries where compact, robust, low-cost systems for generating power are required. (Instructors: Libby Hsu & Amit Gandhi)

Student Projects:

• An energy assessment of an off-grid village, with a plan for bringing electric lighting options to community members (El Salvador)
• A new biodigester design targeted at key community members or future dissemination (El Salvador)
• Testing of a passive heating strategy for a high-altitude school (Peru)
• A solar cooker design targeted towards the needs of residents of the Andes (Peru)

D-Lab: Dissemination WASH-Env focuses on disseminating Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) or water/environment innovations in developing countries and underserved communities worldwide. (Instructor: Susan Murcott.)

Student Projects:

• Initiative WASH (Burkina Faso)
• Water Ecuador (Ecuador)
• Change: WATER (Jordan)
• SoapMagic: Waterless Hand Hygiene (Ghana)

D-Lab: Earth is a hands-on, multi-disciplinary exploration of the dynamic nexus between global biodiversity and human well-being. (Instructors: Eric Reynolds & Ariel Phillips)

Student Projects:

• Creative Capacity Building Workshop with City Growers (Boston)
• Alternative Waste Streams (Bangkok)
• Ecotourism (Nepal)
• Awesome Aquaponics
• Permaculture and Land Restoration (China)
• Affordable Soil Sensing
• Water Filtration/irrigation System (Bali)
• COMACO Case Study in (Zambia)

UROPs, IROPs, and Independent Studies: Each semester, through the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) several students engage in research at D-Lab. This semester, students working with D-Lab research scientists Rich Fletcher, Dan Sweeney, and Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar will be featured at the Showcase. 

D-Lab UROP Projects from Dan Sweeney's Biomass Fuel and Stoves Group:

• MIT Engineers Without Borders Charcoal Project (Uganda, Tanzania)
• Charcoal UROPs Justin Carrus and Sally Miller (joint presentation) (Botswana)

D-Lab UROP Projects from Rich Fletcher's Mobile Technology Group:

• USB for Android (India)
• Digital Farming (India)
• Diagnostic Platform for Pulmonary Disease
• Induction Stoves (India)
• Mobile Fluorometer for Low-Cost Diagnostics (India)

D-Lab UROP, IROP, and Independent Studies with Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar

• Waste Free Myanmar (Myanmar)
• Kepler-MIT Lab (Rwanda)
• Cocina Cohetres  (Peru)