Faculty and students use engineering technology to addresses humanitarian needs

When Dr. Douglas Smith, associate professor and graduate program director for mechanical engineering, came to Baylor in 2013, he brought an idea. And after Baylor students attended an interest meeting in 2014, they responded with an excitement to match Smith’s own, and the Baylor BUV organization was born.

Baylor BUV is a humanitarian organization for undergraduate engineering students that seeks to utilize classroom knowledge as well as technical training to construct a Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV). BUVs are simple, durable, lightweight and low-cost vehicles for rugged landscape and heavy payloads. Their simplistic construction and materials ensure they can be produced by entrepreneurs in developing countries—improving community life and generating local jobs.

“I was very impressed with the amount of support from the students,” Smith said. “They liked the idea of building cars…but when that’s coupled with the humanitarian effort, and that’s part of what drew them to Baylor, now they had a program where they could use their engineering talents to help other people.”

Each year, Baylor engineering students compete with other universities to design and build more efficient BUVs in an event sponsored by the Institute for Affordable Transportation (IAT). This organization, whose founder first envisioned the BUV, currently operates the vehicles in 22 countries, serving as medical vehicles, distributing water and food, transporting children to school and more.

Undergraduate students, with Smith acting as advisor, build each BUV from scratch, generally recycling parts from local junkyards and salvaged vehicles. The design phase of the project often takes the entire fall semester and continues on into the spring when building commences.

Baylor BUV gives students an opportunity to put the knowledge and skills they learned in the classroom to a practical purpose.

“In this case, students are designing a vehicle. They’re mechanical engineers, and the fact that they can put their hands on something and build, I believe, makes them more effective as mechanical engineers,” Smith said.

Baylor BUV has recently formed two different partnerships with the goal of getting their BUVs to those who need them. Tools for Hope is one of these partnerships. A nonprofit organization working to aid subsistence farmers in East and Central Africa, Tools for Hope has connected with Baylor BUV to bring a BUV to Rwanda, where the vehicle will be used to transport crops from farms to market.

Baylor BUV is hoping for and seeking additional funding to make the dream of transporting the BUV to Rwanda a reality.

The other partnership was formed this spring with Jimmy Dorrell of Mission Waco. Baylor BUV is building a vehicle to serve Urban R.E.A.P (Renewable Energy and Agriculture Project), which will include an aquaponics greenhouse and other sustainable components. According to Smith, the hope is that the BUV might also make its way down to Mission Waco’s site in Haiti to replace an old pickup truck as the primary source of transportation.

“The whole goal of this is to make a reliable, cost-efficient, rugged vehicle to help people who don’t have the means to haul things. That whole mission aspect makes Baylor BUV important,” Smith said. “It brings together so many things that are Baylor.”