Engineering Public Service Experience: Student Profile

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Lauren Schneider Year: 2006/co-term Major/Dept: Civil Engineering - Structural Engineering & Geomechanics Summer 2006 Experience: Haas Summer Fellowship with SEEDS Location: Shimla, India Project: Structural retrofitting of schools for seismic safety

1 – What was the nature of your experience?

Sponsored by a Haas Summer Fellowship, I traveled to Shimla, India to work with SEEDS, an NGO based in Delhi focused on disaster preparation and mitigation. I already had a connection with SEEDS after working with them on an ESW-sponsored internship the previous summer doing tsunami relief. I kept in contact with them after that experience, and worked with them to develop this second internship. I applied for a Haas Fellowship, which they opened up this past year to graduating seniors and coterms. I worked for nine weeks in SEEDS’ Shimla office on the School Earthquake Safety Initiative, Shimla (SESIS). SESIS is focused on raising awareness of the dangers of earthquakes in schools, and also developing a methodology and skill base for retrofitting schools to make them seismically safe. My work was focused on the structural retrofitting aspect of SESIS. My work involved traveling to schools within the Shimla district and performing rapid visual surveys. Working with other local engineers, we decided which schools were worthy of being retrofitted, and we then tested those buildings for strength, ran analyses, and came up with designs for the retrofits. Additionally, I prepared a handbook for engineers and contractors to use as a reference in the different retrofitting analysis and design techniques.

2 – Why did you choose this engineering and public service experience?

Having previously worked with SEEDS, I knew that their work was aligned with my ideals for how development projects should be organized and implemented. SEEDS focuses on leaving skills with the local people, and ensuring that communities will be able to sustain any projects initiated by SEEDS once they leave. Additonally, I personally have been shifting more towards the engineering side of things, having done my undergraduate work in Architecture, and this position they offered me seemed like a perfect opportunity to test out my potential as a structural engineer. The opportunity to work with local engineers, while frustrating at times, was so valuable. Finally, having spent the previous summer in India, I knew I wanted to go back there. So much of working in an international setting is acclimating to the culture, and it makes a lot of sense to me to focus on one area of the world, so that each time you go back there are fewer and fewer cultural issues.

3 - What did you enjoy the most about the experience?

I really enjoyed the opportunity to do a lot of work in the field. At least once a week I would go out to schools with some of the engineers to take measurements, talk to the school officials, or just survey the area. We also spent a lot of time travelling to different technical institutes to get input on our analyses and designs. Being able to interact with the community on so many levels – the schoolkids, the teachers, the principals, the public works department, the engineers, etc, was so enlightening; I definitely learned a lot about the infrastructure and bureaucracy surrounding projects like SESIS, which will hopefully help me execute future projects more effectively.

4 – What was the most challenging aspect?

It was very difficult for me to accept the fact that the local people working for SEEDS didn’t have the same altruistic intentions that I had, or even that the people in the SEEDS Delhi office had. Many people working for NGOs don’t work there because they want to save the world; a lot of them work there because they need income in order to support their family, and it doesn’t make a difference to them what type of work they do. This situation resulted in a lot of apathy about the work in the office, which was very difficult for me to accept and work with. Coupled with the generally slower work pace in India, it was very difficult to not get frustrated. However, this situation taught me patience, how to work autonomously if necessary, and over the course of the summer, I learned tricks of how to get people motivated to work.

5 – What recommendations would you have for other students wanting to work through this or a similar experience?

Make sure you have something unique and valuable to offer any office or community you plan on working with. The presence of foreigners and the cultural differences that come along with that can impede a lot of work. Differences in expectations and miscommunications can cause a lot of problems, and if you’re not contributing more than you’re detracting, it’s not worth it for you to be there. That being said, I think most Stanford students have something unique to offer to developing countires – technical skills, strong work ethic, uncorrupted interests, etc. I just urge everyone to keep in mind that every decision you make while working in a developing country should be for the best of the community, and not necessarily what’s best for yourself.

Pictures courtesy of Lauren Schneider