Senior David Shields is an aspiring engineer who focuses on making a difference locally by volunteering with the University of Pennsylvania chapter of Engineers Without Borders. 

Hailing from North Caldwell, N.J., Shields is a mechanical engineering and applied mechanics major in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. 

“Usually, people think of overseas outreach when they think of Engineers Without Borders,” Shields says. “The international committee is far larger than the local one and offers exciting opportunities to do good in places like Guatemala or Cameroon.” 

At Penn, the local committee of Engineers Without Borders is a group that believes a big difference can be made in their own backyard. 

“There are many opportunities for outreach right here in Philadelphia,” Shields says. 

Every week, he and his fellow Engineers Without Borders travel to Walter Biddle Saul High School in Philadelphia’s Roxborough neighborhood to give short, sustainability-based science lessons and to conduct interesting experiments as a part of an after-school program. 

Activities involving building structures are popular, he says. Students in the after-school program at Saul really like the experiments that evoke competition, such as “egg drops involving a cushion,” dropping an egg without breaking it to teach impulse and momentum. Balloon races to illustrate the concepts of drag and thrust are another favorite. 

“When the students get involved, that’s when they learn the most,” says Shields. “It’s amazing how enthusiastic the students can get sometimes, which makes any experiment really cool for me. 

“I feel like I’m giving back to the science, technology, engineering and math community and hopefully encouraging others to continue onto great STEM careers,” he says. “If we can even inspire one student, it’s a success.” 

When Shields first joined Engineers Without Borders as a freshman, Saul, an agriculture-oriented high school, was ready to address an ecological challenge. They wanted the run-off water from their crop-washing stations to be used to irrigate the school’s greenhouse. Their goal was to conserve water and stop allowing the pools of water from attracting mosquitoes. 

The Engineers Without Borders–Local Committee teamed up with the after-school students to design and complete this irrigation project at Saul, which took coordination and planning with professional engineers to make sure it would work and that it had legal clearance. 

The successful project was completed in the summer of 2013 and since then Saul’s rainwater run-off has been re-directed to water the produce growing in its greenhouse.

Hoping to build on the success there, Shields says the group is looking to expand to other schools and projects around the city.

They have also discussed the possibility of creating a mentoring program at Saul. Many of the volunteers already act as unofficial mentors. Anytime a Saul student has questions about things like college applications, life on campus or experience as a mechanical engineer,  Shields is happy to give as much advice as he can. 

Engineers Without Borders just hosted its annual trip to Penn for the Saul students showing off the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s labs and facilities and interesting projects like Robockey, robot hockey, as well as sharing University life overall.

The club is open to all Penn students, in all 12 schools. 

“An interest in science and sustainability and a passion for community outreach is all it takes,” Shields says.

His own interest in the environment and sustainability extends to his work as an undergraduate research assistant in assistant professor Irina Marinov’s climate studies group in the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Earth and Environmental Science. There, Shields performs data analysis and condenses information into organized, easy-to-understand charts.

Shields brings his interest in science to other activities at Penn, too. 

A thorough understanding of engineering concepts like aerodynamics comes in handy in his role as the co-captain of the men’s Void Ultimate Frisbee team, and he is a teaching assistant in aerodynamics. Shields hopes to go into that field after he graduates in May 2016. He is also considering naval engineering as a future possibility.