Summer Institute

The EWH-Duke Summer Institute is an opportunity for engineering students to gain hands-on repair and design experience while providing support to hospitals that serve people in poor communities of a developing country. Open to students of engineering, physics and chemistry, the EWH-Duke Summer Institute begins with a one-month stay in Costa Rica or Tanzania in which students live with a host family. Mornings are spent learning Spanish or Swahili, while in the afternoons participants receive three hours of technical training in the operation and repair of medical equipment. Day trips to the country's breathtaking natural features punctuate the experience and give volunteers a time to bond.

After the one-month training, each student travels to his or her host hospital. Students work repairing and installing badly needed equipment. Whether they’re working on an infusion pump that helps treat a tiny infant, or an ECG that will aid in diagnosing someone’s grandfather, each student-engineer makes a difference in patients’ lives.

For more information about the Summer Institutes visit the official EWH website.