List of Collaboratory groups

From The Collaboratory

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Communications

ACTS (Antennas, Communication, and Telemetry Services) is an organization which enables students to use their knowledge and skills in the areas of communications and signaling for service. The scope of ACTS includes many aspects of communication and telemetry, including satellite communication, HF, VHF, UHF, digital, and voice. ACTS has recently participated in a project to help test HF radios and digital messaging used to keep track of missionary pilots in remote locations. The system allows a ground station to automatically track small aircraft by GPS coordinates and status messages. ACTS also worked alongside a recent senior project team to develop a new device to help plot the locations of a missionary airplane on a computer map.

Disability Resources

The Disability Resources Group has been working with Handicapes en Avant rehabilitation center in Mahadaga, Burkina Faso since 1999. Our primary focus has been to make design improvements to an existing hand powered tricycle that is used by disabled persons in Mahadaga and surrounding villages. In 2003, work on an Electric Tricycle Project was initiated to meet the transportation needs of more severely disabled individuals who were unable to use the hand powered tricycles. In 2005, The Mali Water and Disabilities Study was initiatedas a partnership with World Vision.

Education

The Education Group was organized in the Fall of 2006, when three students majoring in mathematics with teaching certification began a mathematics education project as an independent study course. Their project was to write and develop an interactive counting book for elementary-school children at the Handicapes en Avant School in the village of Mahadaga, Burkina Faso. More information about this project can be found here. The project is part of the broader goal of the Education Group: to promote literacy and develop abstract thinking skills among children and families in communities where lack of education is an issue of justice; a roadblock to economic opportunity and occupational choice. Through participation in the Education Group, students studying either elementary or secondary education will strengthen their understanding of teaching and learning as they work on projects that put theory into practice, and as they improve their work through conversation with teachers and children in a variety of cultures. Future projects may include site visits to Burkina Faso, where students will study how disability, economics, language, history, and culture affect the learning process. Computer science and engineering students will work within this Group to build appropriate specialized computing devices, designed both on-site and on-campus, with input from education students and local teachers/missionaries in the field. Projects within the Education group will develop as Messiah College students and international clients provide input and direction.

Energy

The Energy Group has been a foundational part of the Collaboratory since its very amorphous beginnings which can be read more about at Dokimoi Ergatai. With approximately ten years of experience in solar power technology and the beginnings of a great program being laid in biodiesel technology, this group is ernestly working towards making great strides in the development of effective and sustainable solutions for a world facing many anxieties regarding energy resources. On an organizational level, this group plans to accomplish their goals through partnerships around the world, an approach to projects that demands both diligence and excellence, and a strong desire to be learners and servants of those whom God calls us.

Microeconomic Development

The Microeconomic Development Group is one of the newest additions to the Collaboratory. Currently, the group is continuing to work on organizational strategies and formation, forming partnerships with various international and domestic organizations, as well as expanding current projects like a Ukraine Business Trip and a Paper Making Project in Zambia. The MED Group desires to provide a venue for its members to apply classroom knowledge, and thus gain practical experience, while simultaneously impacting people around the world through economic development.

Transportation

Transportation is a recently established group in the Collaboratory. The Transportation Group is mostly comprised of members of the Genesis Solar Racing Team, which has been a part of the Department of Engineering at Messiah College since 1993. The team of Genesis has always had a dedication to hard work and close companionship between members, never settling for less than the best of each of the members. For over a decade, the Genesis Team has been racing solar powered vehicles in competitions, and in the fall of 2006, Genesis was given the opportunity to start on a more practical application of solar powered transportation, bringing around the development of solar powered commuter vehicles, including an electric motorcycle. In the spring of 2006, Genesis also accepted the Light Sport Aircraft Project of Messiah's Flying Club in which to build a new category of aircraft for future use in the missions field. The addition of these projects brings new challenges to the members of Genesis Transportation Group.

Water

The Water Group consists of the recently merged Water Access Group and the Water Purification Group. The Water Access Group was born as the "West Africa Pump Project" about ten years ago specifically serving the Handicap Center in Mahadaga, Burkina Faso. The Water Purification Group had been "Water for the World" and was an independent service organization advised by Carl Erikson. This group, which did purification work in Guatemala and served our local community children with educational activities, joined DE in 2005. The Water Group seeks to provide accessible water, through pump and conveyance designs, for agricultural and household use; and clean water, through water purification designs, for human consumption. This group has learned in a variety of classrooms including those in Frey and Jordan and in villages in Burkina Faso and Honduras.