In Africa

1. Cooking with the Sun in Uganda

Students in physics Professor Pete Schwartz’s Appropriate Technology Class have been developing solar-powered cook stoves. Madison Fleming (Industrial Technology, ’18) (right) and a team of students traveled to Uganda in 2017 to deploy a prototype. Presenting on the project in 2018, Fleming placed first at MIT’s annual Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Women in Clean Energy Symposium.

2. Improving Small Solar Systems in Nigeria

An interdisciplinary team of Cal Poly students worked with San Luis Obispo school children and physics professor Pete Schwartz to find ways to decrease the cost of a suitcase-sized solar-powered system. The non-profit We Care Solar deploys the systems to remote medical clinics around the world, including those in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The project is part of Schwartz and his students’ overall research focus on providing inexpensive solar electricity for the global poor.

3. Investigating Lichen in South Africa

Biology Professor Nishanta "Nishi” Rajakaruna examined the diversity of lichen species in South Africa with funding from the National Geographic Society. His project focused on how rainfall and temperature interact with rock chemistry to influence the diversity of rock-dwelling lichen species.

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