University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island
Strategic Partner: SENA Centro Nacional Colombo Aleman, Regional Atlantico, Colombia
Project Title: Sustainable Prostheses – An All Inclusive Approach to Designing in the Americas
The University of Rhode Island (URI) and the SENA Centro Nacional Colombo Aleman in Colombia will be partnering to create a new model that will engage their engineering faculty and students to collaborate in the creation of sustainable prostheses. Through this program, groups from both institutions will create affordable prototypes to address the enormous need for low-cost, light-weight prostheses in Colombian and the U.S. Faculty from both institutions will design this program as a virtual course taken prior to a two-week exchange. The reciprocal exchange of up to 20 students from URI and up to 20 students from SENA will work in cross-cultural teams and develop prototypes using each institution’s expertise. Teams will present their design ideas to a jury of faculty from both institutions, company representatives, and other stakeholders. To reach a wider audience, URI and SENA faculty and students will disseminate and jointly showcase the design model and process in global design teaming they created.