Using ICT and Energy Technologies for Improving Global Engineering Education

Information, communication, and energy technologies have the potential to improve engineering education worldwide. With the availability of low cost, open-source microcontrollers/microcomputers, such as the Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms, and a wide variety of sensors and communication tools, a range of engineering applications and innovations may be developed at a low price. Furthermore, the cost of solar panels and LED lamps have also dropped dramatically in recent years and these also allow for improved energy support in regions that lack energy access or require autonomous monitoring/processing. Also, low-cost 3D printers are now widely available for making simple prototypes of hardware. Finally, low-cost educational software tools have also become available. Combining these technologies enables engineering education to be brought into traditionally inaccessible communities in the world. In this book chapter, examples of how ICT and energy technologies are being used to teach students engineering technologies in underserved communities will be described. Application areas to be described will include environmental monitoring, clean water systems, and remote learning.

Method of formation of loading cycles for performing forced bench tests of suspension elements at the stage of technical design

Ensuring the required vehicle service life is one of the most important and topical global engineering challenges. Automobile manufacturers and research engineers around the world are actively working to improve safety and durability testing methods of vehicles, their components and systems. This article touches upon the main issues of comparing the modes of vehicle road operation and the method of forming an adequate program for extreme testing of suspension elements. The developed method has been actively applied in FSUE “NAMI” in the field of research on durability of vehicle components and systems, in particular, of hub units, with the use of mathematical modeling tools and the test base capacities and capabilities.

Affecting HEK293 Cell Growth and Production Performance by Modifying the Expression of Specific Genes

The HEK293 cell line has earned its place as a producer of biotherapeutics. In addition to its ease of growth in serum-free suspension culture and its amenability to transfection, this cell line’s most important attribute is its human origin, which makes it suitable to produce biologics intended for human use. At the present time, the growth and production properties of the HEK293 cell line are inferior to those of non-human cell lines, such as the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and the murine myeloma NSO cell lines. However, the modification of genes involved in cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism, glycosylation, secretion, and protein folding, in addition to bioprocess, media, and vector optimization, have greatly improved the performance of this cell line. This review provides a comprehensive summary of important achievements in HEK293 cell line engineering and on the global engineering approaches and functional genomic tools that have been employed to identify relevant genes for targeted engineering.

A Body of Knowledge and Pedagogy for Global Engineering

Global engineers must be taught to consider the historical and present causes of persistent poverty and systematic barriers to prosperity. Such training will better inform the choices engineers make and help move the engineering sector away from a product and community-level focus towards working to address the root causes of poverty. A framing for Global Engineering has recently been proposed by the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, building on over 15 years of curricular efforts. Global Engineering, as taught by the Mortenson Center, positions the field as a complement to Global Health and Development Economics while further embracing a historically contextualized and anti-colonial training.