Salud del Sol staff in Sabana Grande de Totogalpa, Nicaragua during the Summer of 2008 are working under the auspices of the ETHOS program of the University of Dayton, School of Engineering. See the link below for a compelling video by students who have participated in ETHOS.

Salud del Sol was the first place winner of the University of Dayton's School of Business Administration 2008 Business Plan Competition. (See our News & Events for complete coverage.) The SBA is working in collaboration with the ETHOS program for the development of Salud del Sol.

 
In the spring of 2001, the ETHOS program was developed by an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate engineering students in partial fulfillment of a capstone engineering design course for the University of Dayton’s School Of Engineering. The students that designed the ETHOS program, founded it on the belief that engineers are more apt and capable to serve the world more appropriately when they have experienced opportunities that increase their understanding of technology’s global linkage with values, culture, society, politics, and economy.

The ETHOS program has grown to provide experiential learning through international technical service-learning immersions, student organization activities, collaborative research and hands-on classroom projects that support the development and facilitation of appropriate and sustainable technologies for the developing world. Such experiences expose students to alternative, non-traditional technologies that are based on fundamental science and engineering principles, but have tangible and immediate impacts on improving the lives of those who use them. Such exposure, both inside and outside the classroom, allows students to recognize the far-reaching effects, positive and negative, of engineering and technology and thus the responsibilities of being an engineer in an ever-increasing global society.

Of the various educational opportunities offered by ETHOS, the international technical service-learning immersions are believed to have the biggest impact on the attitudes and perceptions of the students. Many students describe their ETHOS internship as “life changing.” Since its inception in 2001, ETHOS has sent more than 60 engineering students to developing countries to participate in technical immersions with development organizations and communities. The ETHOS international technical immersions are typically ten to sixteen weeks in length, during which time the students work with collaborating organizations and communities to assist in finding appropriate, sustainable and effective solutions to technical challenges through guided research, development and projects. Students use their engineering knowledge to address real world problems, while gaining a better understanding of the interface between technology and global society.

• More about Salud del Sol

  • The News & Events page has postings to Salud del Sol news coverage. You can read about the Business Plan Competition that we won, and background in our product research for solar autoclaves.

  New! Solar Cooker Construction Manual, 2008 by CJ Colavito, Grupo Fenix volunteer

  • The Solar Cooker Construction Manual, complete with photos and detailed diagrams for building your own solar box cooker, is now available. Download the English version (4Mb PDF) here:
    
  
  Download the manual en Español (4Mb PDF) here: