CE students prove that research can really be fun

| TOP OF ISSUE | TOP OF SECTION | NEXT STORY |

CE students prove that research can really be fun

By Joe Harder and the Orphanage Research Team

Special to The 'Nique

Sparkling beaches crystal clear water tropical breezes island people Sounds like a dream spring break vacation. Add eighteen orphans, open sewers, sporadic electricity, and Chihuahua-sized mosquitoes, and you have the experience of a lifetime. Though not a typical resort destination, Monte Cristi, a small rural town in the Dominican Republic (DR), is where Darren Pence, David Kowalsky, Annie Pearce, and Joe Harder, all students from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, visited to collect data for ongoing research in the field of sustainable development.

Research in the Caribbean over spring break sounds kind of like a vacation in disguise. That is what Dr. Jorge Vanegas, Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, must have thought when approached with the idea in December of 1996. Dr. Vanegas, a professor who is very responsive to student driven research initiatives, made the call: "The project is an outstanding educational opportunity--go for it!"

The origin of the project dates back to a year ago, when Mike Mullett of the Atlanta branch of Orphanage Outreach, a non-profit volunteer organization that provides funding for four orphanages in the DR, approached Dr. Vanegas with the idea of involving Tech students in the development of a prototype sustainable design for orphanage facilities in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Georgia Tech's early involvement with Orphanage Outreach included a student project to design an alternative power system for the Monte Cristi orphanage, as well as several proposals to create a resource guide for orphanage decision makers to obtain help with specific technical questions. However, these early attempts to create a sustainable design only highlighted the need for more specific contextual information about the facility, its community and country, and its people.

In December, Annie Pearce, a doctoral candidate in the Construction Engineering and Management Program who is doing a dissertation in measuring the sustainability of built facilities, put together a proposal for the funding of students to create a framework for data collection required by the scope of the project. After its creation, the students were to test the framework by collecting the data from an actual facility and surrounding community needed to design and plan sustainable solutions from a remote location such as Georgia Tech.

The data required for the project consisted of a survey of the orphanage facilities, site, civil infrastructure, and local resources, with respect to the three elements of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental issues.

Armed with a draft framework, tripod and transom, and enough video equipment to produce a B-level Hollywood flick, the group set off on its journey. The trip itself was a lesson in cross-cultural exchange and contrast between the United States' "yesterday is too late" philosophy and Latin American "Ma ana mellowness." As it turned out, getting the necessary data was anything but scientific and methodical according to United States standards. The difficulties included obtaining precise appointments with key government officials, extreme heat and humidity, inability to speak the language, and lack of transportation. Despite their lack of urgency (which can be contagious), the local people helped the group to overcome all these obstacles through their willingness to help the group in its efforts to help them. And the eighteen orphans managed to capture the hearts of even the most cynical among us.

After leaving Atlanta on March 20, the group changed planes in Miami and arrived in Puerta Plata, DR at about 11 p.m. Little did they know that a three hour ride in a fifteen year old school bus on what might be considered the world's worst road stood between them and their destination: Monti Cristi's Hogar de la Esperanza de los Ni os (Home of the Hope of the Children). Over the next five days, we visited Monte Cristi's water and wastewater treatment plants and landfills, talked with city planners and local contractors, surveyed the orphanage facilities and site, helped to install ceiling fans and fix the plumbing, played with the kids, and learned to dance the merengue.

They also got to see how palatial Monte Cristi was in comparison to life in neighboring Haiti during a visit to the Haitian border town of Da Jab n, where they shopped in the open air market, bought supplies for the orphanage, and watched armed guards argue with Haitians trying to sneak across the border to a better life in the DR.

When the time came for the group to return to the States, they left with tears in their eyes and promises to the orphans that they'd be back as soon as they could.

In addition to the data collected for the research work, they each learned a great deal about Third World conditions and about themselves, including the fact that maybe a hot shower every day isn't as important as they thought. They are continuing to work toward their goal of developing a facility survey guidebook for sustainability to be used in future surveys, and they will be giving a multimedia presentation about the trip, open to the public, on June 3 at 7 p.m. in the Mason Civil Engineering Building. Light refreshments will be served. Anyone interested in learning more about this project can contact Dr. Jorge Vanegas (jvanegas@ce.gatech.edu), Annie Pearce via e-mail at gt0338d@prism.gatech.edu, or Orphanage Outreach's Laura Dennison via e-mail at Laura_Dennison@hear.net.