Positively impacting the community by solving the world’s toughest problems is an often-stated aim of the National Society of Black Engineers. This year’s Region I Fall Regional Conference, held in Albany, NY, gave international members of Region FIRST an opportunity to prove the statements are more than only words.
At a workshop titled “Advancing STEM Beyond Borders,” eight presenters showcased research projects that demonstrated their brainpower, STEM knowledge, STEM skills and passion for improvement of the quality-of-life of people in underserved communities and elsewhere around the globe.
Highlights of three of the high-impact projects follow.
Solar Pulse Initiative: Revolutionizing Rural Primary Healthcare Through Solar Energy
“Nigeria faces one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with one in 13 women dying during childbirth,” wrote NSBE member Samuel Chibuoyim Uche, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and founder of Next Generation Technology Support Foundation (NGTSF). One major cause of the high mortality, Uche says, is the lack of electricity in the rural primary healthcare centers (PHCs) that many pregnant women, newborns and seniors depend on for care. Uche launched NGTSF’s Solar Pulse Initiative in 2025 to reduce maternal and infant mortality by providing solar-powered systems and locally built vaccine refrigerators to PHCs across southeastern Nigeria. The vision of Solar Pulse is to power 100 of the centers by 2030, reaching more than 100,000 pregnant women. Beyond improving childbirth outcomes and access to health care, the initiative is also creating local jobs by training and employing young engineers and technicians who build and install the solar-powered systems.
“My next plans for the Solar Pulse Initiative are to secure more local and international grants to help us expand the initiative into new earmarked primary healthcare centers (that have an) extreme lack of access to electricity, Uche says. “Also, we are at the ideation stage for our locally sourced solar-powered vaccine refrigerators. These grants will also cover the production costs for this product.”
GSM-Controlled Automatic Transfer Switch With GENSET Auto-Start
Assan Dibba is a student in the undergraduate Engineering program at The Gambia University of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology (USET), and a member of The Gambia Secretariat of NSBE’s Banjul Chapter. His prototype Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)-controlled Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) aims to enhance power system reliability and ensure uninterrupted electricity supply. The goal of his project is to support critical infrastructure and remote installations, thus preventing downtime, data loss and equipment damage.
Dibba’s proposed system has a microcontroller-based design developed to achieve seamless automatic switching and remote monitoring. When the main power supply fails, the microcontroller detects the voltage drop through the sensors, sends an automatic start signal to the generator and transfers the load once a stable voltage is achieved. When main power is restored, the load is automatically reconnected to the grid, and the generator is shut down. Users can send Short Message Service (SMS) commands to remotely start or stop the generator, monitor system status and control the switching process.
“For future development of this work, I plan to expand the GSM-controlled ATS system into a more advanced, data-driven power management platform,” Dibba says. “This includes integrating IoT (Internet of Things) capabilities for real-time monitoring, cloud-based data logging and predictive maintenance using sensor analytics… Ultimately, my goal is to evolve this prototype into a robust smart-grid solution that improves energy resilience in both residential and industrial environments.”
Piezoelectricity-Generating Floor Tiles Using Lead Zirconate Titanate
James Camara — Assan Dibba’s peer in USET’s Bachelor of Science in Engineering program — is seeking an innovative microgeneration solution to help meet the growing global demand for sustainable, renewable energy sources. Piezoelectric energy harvesting has attracted attention as a means of complementing conventional renewable energy sources, because of its ability to convert mechanical stress into electrical energy. Camara’s project focuses on the development of an electricity-generating floor tile employing piezoelectric sensors to harness energy from pedestrian footsteps. His primary objective is to evaluate the feasibility of such a system as a supplementary power source for low-energy applications in smart infrastructure.
Camara’s methodology uses lead zirconate titanate (PZT) discs as the piezoelectric material. The discs are embedded beneath a durable tile surface and connected to a rectifier-capacitor circuit to convert the alternating current output into stored direct current. The system produced outputs in the millijoule-to-joule range per footstep, sufficient to illuminate low-power devices such as LEDs and sensors.
The results reveal both the potential and limitations of piezoelectric energy harvesting, Camara wrote. Although the energy yield per step is modest compared with conventional renewable technologies, its scalability across high-traffic areas offers cumulative benefits.
“In continuation of this study, I intend to further enhance the existing energy-harvesting piezoelectric tile by improving its performance efficiency, output stability and durability,” says Camara. “…. Smart integration using IoT (Internet of Things) technology will be explored to enable real-time monitoring and data collection, supporting the advancement of sustainable energy solutions for modern infrastructure.”
