Team Lighting Fall 2025 – Current Fall 2025 Lighting Team: Lex, Alex, Kashvika and Jazmin This project was suggested by William Carter, a senior officer at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), who provided guidance throughout the semester. In addition, we were supported by a group of students who brought it to life as an individual research project. It’s thanks to their efforts that the minimal lighting project can pursue its goal of lighting latrines in refugee camps. In an environment where electricity is a scarce resource, the lack of reliable lighting in refugee camps not only poses a safety concern but is also detrimental to the standard of living for the community. Existing solutions such as flood lights and solar powered street lights do not effectively solve the issue as they can provide too much lighting and result in unwanted congregation. At times, when refugee camps are first being established, lights may not be available and our project aims to provide a cheap and efficient transitional solution until a more reliable source of energy can be acquired. It’s thanks to monthly calls with our IFRC correspondent Mr. Carter that the team was able to gain insight into the reality of the location this project is aiming to help and accordingly tailor design choices based on their needs and experiences. Additionally, the calls with the HEAP panel have been crucial to gaining professional insight into the development of the device and solutions to any problems that were encountered during the semester. Student Experiences: “I enjoyed my time in HPD because it offered a unique opportunity to tackle real-world challenges affecting global communities! It was a meaningful way to apply engineering skills to solve impactful problems.” – Ayushi Kate “HPD challenged me to approach engineering problems from a new perspective that I hadn’t encountered in class before. It encouraged me to think beyond traditional solutions and consider real-world applications.” – Eric Ly “HPD was an extremely rewarding experience, as it allowed me to develop technical skills while making a meaningful impact. It gave me the chance to work on hands-on projects that combined engineering with social issues!” – Alex Jang “HPD matters to me because it merges innovation with impact, using engineering to improve lives, from refugee camps to everyday communities. I’m inspired to design solutions that bring meaningful change where it’s needed most.” – Lex Pham Previous Student Experiences: “I’ve really enjoyed getting to have really easy access to Professor Jones as we develop our design. He has always been available and happy to help us whenever we were stuck with a design challenge.” – Alan Hash “This has been an amazing project, and an even more amazing experience. It feels really good to be able to undertake such a great initiative and learn alongside industry professionals.” -Osiel Maldonado “It has been really fun to get to use skills that I learn in class in a real project that will hopefully help improve people’s’ lives someday” -Stefanie Thompson Prototyping: Osiel Maldonado preparing a prototype for sealing Stefanie Thompson (left) working on the light’s PCB schematic, Seema Kulkarni (right) researching new electronic components Alan Hash uses a heat gun to seal a clamped section of heat shrink plastic Stefanie Thompson creating the electronic schematic of the light’s PCB Stefanie Thompson showing the results of a folded seal test that will be used on specific points in the design where a wire needs to pass through the heat shrink seal Prototypes and Schematics:
