Electric cars, robotic surgical tools, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity systems – these are some of the exciting advancements that probably come to mind when you think of what engineers and computer scientists do. The College of Engineering & Computer Science is encouraging students to engage in activities that require them to use the technical knowledge they’ve learned and apply it, through a social impact lens, in ways that help our local communities with issues related to food insecurity, transgender healthcare disparities, or non-ADA-compliant facilities.
“In the past, social injustice has been mainly addressed by social scientists and policymakers. However, we believe that we, as engineers and computer scientists, need to use our skills to create better tools for those policymakers to use,” says Garrett Struckhoff, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and coordinator of the Master of Science in Environmental Engineering program.
That’s why Struckhoff, along with Kristijan Kolozvari, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Paul Salvador Inventado, assistant professor of computer science, organized Cal State Fullerton’s inaugural “Engineering Social Justice: A Design Challenge,” which was held on March 16, 2023. The winners received monetary awards to take their ideas further.
The competition was supported by the Scott-Jewett Fund for Innovation and Student Success and featured 14 engineering and computer science student teams who pitched their ideas to address social injustice. Industry judges for the event were keynote speaker Xyla Foxlin, engineer, entrepreneur, and YouTuber; Joshua Rojo, structural engineer at Degenkolb Engineers; Google software engineer Joshua Caleb Dy; and Thea Merritt, owner and founder of Eco Now. Cal State Fullerton’s Mojgan Sami, assistant professor of public health, served as a faculty judge.
“We were very fortunate to have a panel of judges who were able to tease out some of the contextual information that our students lacked,” Kolozvari explains. “But interestingly, because of that unfamiliarity, our students were able to conceive and present ideas that are ‘out of the box’ compared to what more established researchers in the field might invent.”
Presenting Innovative Ideas to Inspire Social Change
The competition’s first-place, $6,000 winner was “Bag/Get” by Open-Source Pantry Solutions, which integrates analytics-generating inventory management software with a user-facing application so people in need of food can locate pantries, find walk-in hours, and book appointments. The application allows users – patrons, food bank representatives, and food providers – to access immediate and up-to-date information on the pantries’ current inventories. Its purpose is to ensure better communication and collaboration among patrons, pantries, food banks, and providers so that pantries receive products their community specifically needs and so people can access those foods.
The winning team included Rohan Kunchala and Alan Cortez, both computer science majors, and Cesar Rojas, a computer engineering major, mentored by Kanika Sood, assistant professor of computer science.
“Most importantly, around 70 students spent some of their time in school thinking about how the education they are receiving in ECS can be applied to problems of social injustice.”
Garrett Struckhoff, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering
The second-place prize, a $4,000 award, went to “TranscendCare: A Comprehensive Engineering Solution to Transgender Health Care Disparities” by Team Unicorn. This team interviewed transgender and LGBTQ+ youth and determined that a secure hand-held device – which they called myEgg – could serve as an effective personal digital assistant to connect transgender individuals with gender-affirming healthcare services. Their idea is that the device could let users know when they were near a trans-safe location and alert them when it is time to take a medication, among other features. Team Unicorn included Emily Crowl, Kirsten Ochoa, Felix Murray, Oscar Cisneros, and Daniel Truong, all computer science majors, mentored by Jin Woo Lee, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Inventado.
“OpenDoors” by Access Squad took home the $2,000 third-place prize. The Access Squad team conceived the idea for a web application that could spread awareness of buildings that are not ADA-compliant. The purpose of this application is to incentivize businesses to change their building layouts and processes to accommodate individuals with disabilities, as nearly one-third of buildings in the United States don’t meet those requirements. Katherine Chen, Stephanie Pocci, Alejandro Ramos, Nolan Delligatta, and Cesar Gutierrez, all computer science majors, were mentored by Lee and Inventado.
“I think that we all were motivated to start this competition because of the national social unrest of the past few years and a desire to do something to help solve social injustices that are becoming more visible,” says Inventado.
“Most importantly, around 70 students spent some of their time in school thinking about how the education they are receiving in ECS can be applied to problems in our community,” Struckhoff says. “We were also excited to see first-year and second-year students presenting really great ideas alongside more experienced students from all disciplines.”
