UCLA Engineering: UCLA Engineer Magazine

UCLA Engineering Students Partner with Local, International Organizations to Provide Computers to Underserved Communities

Project ThinkLab

The UCLA chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is helping high school students in Los Angeles and younger students in Guatemala increase their knowledge of computers through two innovative programs titled Project BOOTUP and Project ThinkLab.

Earlier this year, EWB worked with students at Dorsey High School to teach them how to build and maintain their own computer. Volunteers from UCLA who had completed a EWB workshop on building computers were matched with 15 high school students and worked with them through the spring and summer quarters in a series of weekly meetings.

The high school students kept the computers when they were finished, providing a greater incentive to participate in the after school program. Working together, the students also built several computers for the school’s computer lab, so that others would have access to computers.

“I wanted to do something that emphasized our chapter’s values and dealt with community outreach and education,” says chemical engineering major Christine Lee, who directed the project. “Instead of throwing away items that still have good life in them, this project helps to reduce waste and rechannel these computers to people who don’t have them and could really benefit from them.”

Dorsey High was identified for the program by a youth and family community organization in South Los Angeles. The computer parts used in Project BOOTUP came from personal and corporate donations, as well as departments at UCLA replacing older but still functional computers.

During the same period, the UCLA student organization collected donated laptops and software for use in establishing a small computer network at a school in Jocotenango, Guatemala. Jordi Ros, a senior software engineering at Broadcom who is pursuing his MBA at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, led the outreach project.

“Jordi wanted to select a location where the students would most benefit from the introduction of technology into their community,” explains Lee. “When he found El Buen Samaritano, he knew he wanted to work at their center in Jocotenango.”

In addition to Ros, Lee, Mike Bruce, and Charlie Fan traveled to Guatemala in August to set up the computer network. In a series of classes directed by the team, the UCLA volunteers taught them how to use the computers. After a three-week crash course, members of the advanced class were able to set up a Linux network with a firewall and network address translation capabilities. The beginners’ class recently completed their first homework assignment: create a Yahoo! account and send an e-mail to Lee and Fan who were the first to return to the United States.

On site, Alice Lee, the primary volunteer coordinator, and Director Magda Torres helped make all the arrangements for the visiting students, including creating a secure space for the lab in the school and scheduling the classes.

The group received a donation of solar panels from BP, which they plan to install at the Jocotenango school later this year. The energy savings will provide funds to pay for Internet service and the additional energy costs of the new computer lab.

“We went to a city that was completely foreign to us,” notes Lee. “I learned some technical skills in preparation for Thinklab, but, more importantly, I learned about the human condition. They made us feel so welcome and we were happy to be there.”

The UCLA chapter of EWB includes graduate and undergraduate students from a wide range of majors who are interested in sustainable technology solutions to real-world problems. In 2004, members of the organization traveled to Thailand to help build a medical clinic in a remote village. Later this year, EWB expects to partner with El Buen Samaritano again on water projects in Mexico and Guatemala.

For more information on the project or to make a donation to Engineers Without Borders, please contact Christine Lee at chrlee@gmail.com.

- Marlys Amundson

- Photo courtesy of Christine Lee, EWB