IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2019 - 20

exposure to computers were working at the same pace as students who
accessed them weekly.
T he re sult s were a stou nding.
Students were exploring previously
unheard of concepts. Every one of
the 66 students improved in at least
one area of STEAM knowledge, and
all 10 teachers reported feeling more
confident in teaching STEAM-related
subjects. The camp was documented
and designed to be continued in future
years, making it possible to apply
t he camp format in other developing countries.
The STEAM Camp gave teachers,
students, and organizations with a
passion for these disciplines the opportunity to gather for a week and ignite a
flame that will hopefully last for years
to come. This effort could not have
been possible without my experience
with IEEE Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN),
the U.S. Peace Corps program, and
the extremely inspiring and powerful
STEA M-minded teachers and other
Peace Corps Lesotho volunteers.

A Personal Perspective
"On our way to the impossible, we
might just find something eminently doable."
-NASA
HKN is founded upon a commitment to service, a value that I tried to
instill into others during my time with
the Gamma Theta Chapter at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), and it is something
that I still remind myself of every day.
In the tech world, it's easy to forget the
struggles of others, whether they are
of another gender or another culture
entirely. My experience of service with
HKN and STEAM disciplines at Missouri
S&T were incorporated into my drive to
turn words into actions and solutions.
I believe this story will inspire
younger STEA M professionals like
myself, who may come from a small
college town, are first-generation college students, or are first-generation
Americans, to use our privileged college experience to find a way to help in
the world. Keeping cultural diversity in

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mind and using the right tools, we can
find ways to weave cultures from all
around the world with the spirit of discovery through STEAM education.
STEA M instruction alone cannot lift a developing nation. But with
the hands of generations of teachers,
students, and other helping nations,
the margins of international disparity
can begin to shrink. An HKN member should live out the value of volunteerism and service while a student
and continue such activity as a professional. Whether the service is across
the globe in a developing nation or in
your local community, you have the
ability to make an impact.
Author's note: The views expressed
in this article are the author's own and
do not represent the views or opinions of
the U.S. Peace Corps.
- Kayla Ninh

Partners in Scholarship,
Character, and Attitude
IEEE affiliates expand at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal

The three tenets of IEEE Eta Kappa Nu
(IEEE-HKN)-scholarship, character,
and attitude-have taken hold at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in
South Africa as the IEEE-HKN Mu Eta
Chapter and the university's IEEE Student Branch joined forces to grow student
involvement, foster academic excellence,
and impact their community in a greater
way. This partnership has been so successful that the combined membership of
the Mu Eta Chapter and the IEEE Student
Branch is now the third-largest IEEE student entity in IEEE South Africa.
Over the last two years, the UKZN
HKN Mu Eta Chapter and UKZN IEEE
Student Branch grew from just a few
participants to nearly 30 active members. The recently established HKN
chapter and the pre-existing IEEE Student

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2019.2902995
Date of publication: 8 May 2019

JUNE 2019

Branch have worked closely together to
take advantage of academic excellence
and leadership development opportunities promoted by IEEE-HKN and
the Student Branch, respectively, and
increase IEEE activities and their attractiveness at UKZN.
Led by HKN member Shaun Barnett,
plans were set in motion to rekindle the
Student Branch. Working closely with
the previously established IEEE HKN
Mu Eta Chapter, the Student Branch
strove to bring the knowledge and benefits of IEEE membership to the greater
student body. The branch endeavors to
inspire students and enrich their experience to the benefit of their communities
through collaboration with organizations on relevant events and opportunities. Furthermore, it was only through
close cooperation with the Mu Eta Chapter Executive Committee for 2018 (President Sulaiman Patel, Vice President
Dauda Ayanda, Treasurer David Parker,
Corresponding Secretary Mary Ahuna,
and Recording Secretar y Naymah
Adnan) that traction could be gained in
the direction of reactivating the UKZN
IEEE activities.

Motivating the Next Generation
of Engineers
For IEEE Day celebrations in October,
Dr. Upasana Singh organized Women
in Technology and Engineering Careers
talks for more than 200 local high
school female students. IEEE Student
Branch and Mu Eta Chapter members
Dauda Ayanda and Naymah Adnan
spoke at the event, aimed at inspiring young women to enter these fields.
You can learn about other activities
the UKZN HKN Chapter and Student
Branch sponsored by reading The Bridge
at www.hkn.org.

Preparing Students for the Job Market
One of the IEEE affiliates' successful
joint endeavors was a Skills Development Workshop, aimed at preparing students for the job market. Dr. Han van
Loon, a knowledge management expert
from Switzerland and a representative
of several international standards-setting bodies, was the guest speaker and

http://www.hkn.org

IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2019

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