Students Build Sustainable Solar Panels

By Angeles Oviedo

Seniors Sammy and Charlie Pontrelli and sophomores Nick Leasure and Erik McAdams will be spending their summer in Uganda, volunteering with Energy Made in Uganda, a nonprofit organization that plans to teach students how to make solar panels by hand.

EMIU is a collaboration between students, professors, engineers and volunteers dedicated to making solar energy accessible abroad. This summer, the organization plans to implement a solar energy program at the Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development in Uganda, an extension of the largest university in Africa.

For the past few months, the students have been preparing for their trip by learning how to make solar panels firsthand from industry professionals, working straight out of Sammy Pontrelli's garage-turned-lab, as well as at TechShop, an engineering workshop in San Jose. Much of the process involves testing out different techniques to learn how to most efficiently build the panels.

Along with helping students learn how to build solar panels, Leasure and McAdams will be documenting the experience with the hopes of making a documentary. For both of them, the trip will be their first time traveling to Africa.

According to McAdams, the trip will be a great opportunity to tackle engineering experience and travel. "I wanted to do something with engineering this summer, but at the same time I didn't want to have an internship or a desk job."

Not only will these students be applying what they have learned in contexts outside of Santa Clara, but they will also be experiencing a different culture. The students depart from the states on June 29 and return September 1.

Contact Angeles Oviedo at AOviedo@scu.edu or (408)554-4849.