EPICS in IEEE Funds Record-Breaking Number of Projects

IEEE’s Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) initiative had a record year in 2025, funding 48 projects involving nearly 1,000 students from 17 countries. The IEEE Educational Activities Program approved the largest number of projects this year, distributing US$290,000 in funding and engaging more students than ever in innovative, hands-on engineering systems.

The program provides students with the opportunity to engage in service-learning and collaborate with engineering professionals and community organizations to develop solutions that address local community challenges. Projects undertaken by IEEE groups span student branches, sections, society chapters, and affinity groups, including Women in Engineering and Young Professionals.

EPICS in IEEE provides funding of up to $10,000, along with resources and mentoring, for projects focused on four key areas of community improvement: education and awareness, environment, access and capacity, and human services.

This year, EPICS partnered with four IEEE societies and the IEEE Standards Association on 23 of 48 approved projects. The Antennas and Propagation Society supported three, the Industry Applications Society (IAS) funded nine, the Instrumentation and Measurement Society (IMS) sponsored five, the Robotics and Automation Society supported two, the Solid State Circuits Society (SSCS) funded three, and the IEEE Standards Association sponsored one.

The stories of partner-funded projects demonstrate the impact and effect of the projects on students and their communities.

Matoruco Agroecological Garden

The IAS student branch at Pontificia Bolivariana University in Colombia worked on a project involving water storage, automated irrigation and waste management. The objective was to transform the Matoruco agroecological garden of the Institution Educativa Los Garzones into a more lively, sustainable and accessible space.

These members of the EPICS in IEEE team at Pontificia Bolivariana University in Colombia are setting up a radio communications network that will send data to an online dashboard showing solar energy consumption, pump status and soil moisture for the Matoruco agroecological garden at Institución Educativa Los Garzones. EPICS in IEEE

Using an irrigation automation system, electric pump control and soil moisture monitoring, the team aimed to show how engineering concepts combine academic knowledge and practical applications. The initiative uses monocrystalline solar panels for power, a programmable logic controller to automatically manage pumps and valves, soil moisture sensors for real-time data, and a LoRa One network (a proprietary radio communications system based on spread spectrum modulation) to send data to an online dashboard showing solar energy consumption, pump status, and soil moisture.

Los Garzones pre-college students learned about the irrigation system through hands-on projects, received organic waste management training from university students, and participated in installation activities. The university team also organizes garden clean-up events to engage younger students in the community garden.

“We seek to generate a true sense of belonging by providing a place for students and faculty to gather for hands-on learning and shared responsibility,” says Rafael Gustavo Ramos Noriega, team leader and fourth-year electronics engineering student. “By integrating technical knowledge with fun activities and training sessions, we are empowering the community to keep the garden alive and continue to improve it.”

“This project has been an unparalleled platform to prepare me for a professional career,” he added. “Leading everything from budget planning to final installation, I have personally experienced every step of a true engineering project: scoping, resource management, team coordination, troubleshooting and delivering tangible results. All of this reinforces my goal to dedicate myself to research and development in automation and embedded systems and to contribute to innovation in the agricultural and environmental sectors to help more communities and make my mark.”

The project received $7,950 from the IAS.

The students tour the systems they installed at the Matoruco agroecological garden.

An intelligent braille system

In Pakistan, more than 1.5 million people are blind, including thousands of children who face barriers to accessing essential educational resources, according to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. To address the need for accessible learning tools, a team of students from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) and IEEE Karachi Section created BrailleGenAI: Empowering Braille Learning with Edge AI and Voice Interaction.

The interactive system for blind children combines cutting-edge artificial intelligence, generative AI and embedded systems, explains Kainat Fizzah Muhammad, project manager and electrical engineering student at MUET. The system uses a camera to recognize Braille touch pads and provide real-time audio feedback via text-to-speech technology. It includes gamified modules designed to support literacy, numeracy, logical reasoning and speech recognition.

The team partnered with the Hands Welfare Foundation, a non-profit organization in Pakistan that focuses on inclusive education, empowerment of people with disabilities, and community development. The team collaborated with the Ida Rieu School, part of the Ida Rieu Social Welfare Association, which serves the visually and hearing impaired.

“These partnerships have been instrumental in helping us plan outreach activities, gather feedback from experts and caregivers, and prepare for usability testing in various environments,” says Attiya Baqai, professor in MUET’s Department of Electronic Engineering. Support from the Hands Foundation helped ensure the solution was shaped by the real needs of the visually impaired community.

SSCS provided funding of $9,155.

The team of students demonstrates how the intelligent braille system they developed works.

Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, is one of the most polluted cities in Europe, particularly in winter, due to thick smog caused by temperature changes, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO reports that city air contains particles that can cause health problems without warning, known as silent killers.

A team at Sts. Cyril and Methodius University created a system to measure and publicize local air pollution levels through its What We Breathe project. It aims to raise awareness and improve health outcomes, particularly among urban children.

“Our goal is to provide people with information about current pollution levels so they can make informed decisions about their exposure and take protective measures,” says Andrej Ilievski, an IEEE student member specializing in computer hardware engineering and electronics. “We chose to focus on schools first because children’s lungs and immune systems are still developing, making them one of the most vulnerable demographics in our population.”

The project involved 10 university students working with secondary schools, teachers and the Society of Environmental Engineers of Macedonia to design and build a sensing and display tool that communicates via the Internet.

“Leading everything from budget planning to final installation, I have personally experienced every step of a true engineering project: defining scope, managing resources, coordinating the team, troubleshooting, and delivering tangible results. » —Rafael Gustavo Ramos Noriega

“Our detection unit detects particles, temperature and humidity,” explains Josif Kjosev, project leader and professor of electronics at the university. “It then transmits this data via Wi-Fi to a public server every 5 minutes, while our display unit retrieves the data from the server.”

“Since deploying the system,” says Ilievski, “everyone on the team has been excited about how the project is reaching the high school audience.”

The team hopes the students will continue to work on new versions of the devices and provide them to other interested schools in the area.

“For most of my life, my academic success was scripted,” Ilievski says. “But thanks to our EPICS in IEEE project, I finally have a real, physical object that I helped create.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to make this project a reality and be part of something bigger.”

The project received $8,645 from IMS.

Partnerships with society matter

Through partnerships with IEEE Societies, EPICS can provide more opportunities to students around the world. The program also includes corporate mentors and conference travel grants, enhancing the student experience.

Collaborations motivate students to apply technologies in IEEE Societies’ areas of interest to real-world problems, helping them improve their communities and fostering continued engagement with the Society and IEEE.

You can learn how to get involved with EPICS by visiting its website.