Engineers should embrace unconventionality

By Aakash Shah     9/17/14 12:39pm

I did not take a private, Wi-Fi-equipped shuttle to work for my engineering internship this summer. Instead, I walked, squinting into the sunlight as I passed numerous fruit and vegetable stands on the dusty road that led to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. I was as far from Silicon Valley as I could be; the Internet connection, when it functioned, was painfully slow, and I worked in a hospital so strapped for cash that it couldn’t afford to buy spare parts for the dozens of broken oxygen concentrators that were desperately needed to keep babies alive. The constant chatter of “disruptive innovation” that fills the air in tech circles and universities these days was nowhere to be heard. (And there was no Snapchat, either.) But even without all these things that characterize modern day engineering, I was in Malawi to learn how to be a better engineer.

My eight-week internship was made possible through Rice Beyond Traditional Borders, an institute focused on designing health technologies for low-resource settings. The internship, along with the Global Health Technologies minor, aims to improve students’ understanding of challenges to health in resource-poor communities in hopes that the students will design better-informed health technologies in the future. During my stay in Malawi, I had the opportunity to work on the implementation of the bubble CPAP, a low-cost device designed by Rice students that helps neonates with respiratory problems breathe by using mild air pressure to keep their airways open. I had an incredible experience, and I came back with not only a better understanding of the constraints facing global health technologies in Malawi, but also with a deeper appreciation for what it takes for any technology to succeed anywhere.

Surprisingly few engineers pursue these types of international experiences. The BTB program is one of the only international internships offered to Rice engineering students, although it has historically catered to BIOEs (and they are trying to change that). Engineering students of all types more often apply for the prestigious internships at Google, Dropbox and Exxon than they look to go abroad. From the moment new students step on campus for Orientation Week, it is implied by both student and faculty advisors that studying abroad is designed for social science and humanities majors who have more flexible schedules. According to the study abroad office, humanities majors at Rice study abroad at more than twice the rate of engineers. For students studying a discipline that emphasizes change and innovation, it is surprising — scary — how many are content to stay within their bubble.

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One weekend this past summer, my fellow interns and I decided to take a trip to a local tea plantation. While we were walking around, we met a Norwegian architecture student who was working on designing a safer house for security guards to stay in while they were on night duty. We asked him about his plans for the future, and he told us about his decision to stay and work in Malawi instead of pursuing a Master’s degree that would make him more employable to European firms. While getting a Master’s degree made more sense on paper, he said he was intrigued by the prospect of creating something by himself, something that would meet an urgent need.

Living in the United States, we are fortunate enough to have many things already done for us, systems already in place, strong institutions that have been around for centuries. But because many things are already done, we don’t question how they work. We can’t take the U.S. banking system apart and try to put it back together like we did with our dad’s expensive DVD player. We accept it for what it is, and implicitly assume it cannot be changed. In other words, we think exactly the opposite of how engineers should think. The only way to shatter these assumptions is by seeing another perspective and learning how other systems work. By working abroad. It is much easier to think outside of the box when you’re physically outside of the box, and ultimately, spending time in other countries will lead to better design. As students at a university that prides itself on “unconventional wisdom,” it is our duty to pursue these experiences.

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