Long-term community service projects in the purdue engineering curriculum

Abstract

Purdue University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering has initiated a new program called EPICS: Engineering Projects in Community Service 2. Under the EPICS program, students earn academic credit for long-term, team projects that solve technology-based problems for local community service agencies. Each EPICS project team consists of seven to ten engineering students. The teams are vertically integrated - each is a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors - and a student can participate in a project for up to three years. The continuity provided by this structure allows projects to last for many years. Projects of significant size and impact are thus possible. The goals of the EPICS program include: providing students with multi-year, team-based, design and development experience; teaching students, by direct experience, how to interact with each other and with customers to specify, design, develop and deploy systems that solve real problems; and showing engineering students how their expertise can benefit even the most disadvantaged members of their community.