HCM CITY– Three student teams at HCM City University of Technology, HCM City University of Technology and Education, and Đà Nẵng University of Technology won prizes in this year’s Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) contest.

Students at HCM City University of Technology developed an anti-theft alarm for improved public safety, while the team at HCM City University of Technology and Education made a smart walking cane for the elderly.

Students at Đà Nẵng University of Technology also make a smart walking cane which can help the blind to walk.

EPICS is an international award-winning, design-based, service-learning programme founded at Purdue University in 1995.

During EPICS, student teams partner with a community organisation to design, build and deploy systems to solve engineering-based problems.

The program guides student teams through design innovation, team management, testing, and presenting in technical English.

EPICS projects span the spectrum, including finding solutions to challenges in human health care, energy, sustainability, and more.

More than 150 participating STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Maths) students from six engineering and technology universities on January 18 presented their innovative ideas in the final showcase of the five-month programme following the EPICS curriculum model.

EPICS is a model of service learning where students not only learn by doing, but also by creating.

This is the third EPICS programme held in Việt Nam and the second year of collaboration with the Dow Vietnam STEM Program which provided funding for students’ projects, faculty support, and industry-based mentoring to ensure the success of more than 150 students and the 27 competing student teams. 

Working together, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Building University-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology (BUILD-IT) Alliance, Arizona State University and the Dow Vietnam STEM Program support student-led innovation and service learning at Vietnamese universities.

The USAID BUILD-IT Alliance is a five-year public-private partnership founded to support world-class engineering programs and create work-ready graduates in Việt Nam.

The Alliance has over 16 industry partners and 11 Vietnamese university partners. Collaboration between the Alliance members strengthens university-industry linkages, and introduces project-based learning programs such as Engineering Projects in Community Service into Vietnamese STEM programs. –VNS