Kerala, a southern state in India, has witnessed several flash floods due to heavy rainfall in the last few years. Sustainable Technology and Renewable Energy for Adaptive Management of Disasters (STREAM-D) was a new student workshop implemented by the IEEE Education Society Kerala Chapter (R10) as a training program that can upskill young minds to respond effectively during a disaster or emergency. The primary goal was to teach students to assemble portable emergency solar based mobile chargers and to distribute them to people in flood-affected regions. 

The program consisted of a two-day online training program on solar photovoltaic systems and circuit designing. The online portion was followed by equipping the participants in designing and developing a ‘Portable Emergency Solar Mobile Charger- PE-SMC’. The aim was to impart basic knowledge on the solar photovoltaic domain and circuit design with case studies. A kit was provided to each of the 35 student participants, and the program also recruited the involvement of four school teachers, two parents, and nine volunteers. The project included hands-on soldering and desoldering sessions, and students were also taught to use and take measurements on devices like multimeters. The students developed the product and also went through various processes like debugging, testing etc. Such a process helped the students to acquire more knowledge by realizing the errors themselves and rectifying them. 

The project achieved various science, technology and engineering aspects. It was held in a local area where the schools were not typically equipped with the ability to provide technical training to students. A feedback survey was conducted among the participants after the session. The program received positive responses from the students, and they commented on the need for such hands-on sessions in their academics. The most frequent feedback from the participants was to include such sessions on their academics, and the Kerala Chapter hopes to work with the local schools to grow this within the K-12 curriculum. 

Sustainable Technology and Renewable Energy for Adaptive Management of Disasters (STREAM-D) was a recipient of the 2022 IEEE Pre-University STEM Grant Program.

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