“This is an opportunity for students to practice their human-centred design skills and apply them to a real problem in a meaningful way.” Jake Howran (HESE, Level III) talks about ICE ³.
Tell us about ICE? What is it, and how can students learn about future ICE events/opportunities?
ICE ³ (Integrated Case Exploration) is a case competition that was born out of an exciting experience the third- and fourth-year HESEs had in our 4E06 class. In an attempt to expand this experience outward and provide more students in HESE and other iBioMed streams with the opportunity to engage in human-centred design without the risk of it affecting marks, we put together the case competition. We hope to make this an annual event and will be working with a new community partner every year to adjust the scope and scale of the cases that they present us with. Students can contact us on our Instagram (@hese_ice3) or email us at ice.exec@gmail.com if they have any questions about getting involved in future events.
What case(s) did students have an opportunity to work on with this particular event? What were the outcomes?
This year, ICE ³ worked alongside the coordinator of the 196 Youth Program, Adalia Hornsveld, from Mission Services Hamilton. The 196 is a program designed for students grade 6-8 who come from low SES, disadvantaged or underserviced neighbourhoods that may need a helping hand in finding their way toward secondary and post-secondary education. Like so many others, the program has faced many challenges in the face of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and so, we tasked teams with helping Adalia revitalize the program after the move to online. There was a myriad of unique solutions that were presented during the event, ranging from non-technical shared story-writing projects to keep kids engaged, up to machine learning and AI devices that could be implemented to support Adalia in her work. Overall, the judges and Adalia were very impressed with all of the work the students submitted, and the program was very well represented by all who participated! We are hoping that we will be able to expand in future years and collaborate with organizations such as Hamilton Health Sciences, Telehealth Ontario, and many more.
How many students participated, and from what program(s)? Was it all HESE students, or was it open to other programs as well?
For our first ever competition, we had a total of 28 students participate. A majority were HESE students (21), but there was also a good mix of IBEHS I students, and we even had students from Chemical and Electrical BME join in too. The competition was open only to iBioMeds this year, but there is room for expansion into the Engineering and Health Sciences faculties in future years if the infrastructure can be put in place for supporting such a big jump! I would love to see how future events will unfold on a larger scale.
Why is this event important? What is the benefit for students to get involved with ICE?
The competition offers an incredible opportunity for iBioMed students to practice their human-centred design skills and apply them to a real problem in a meaningful way. The students that get involved get to design for local organizations that express a real need for innovative thinkers. This is a time to practice technical and non-technical skills surrounding engineering design and learn more about the interdisciplinary applications of each iBioMed stream. Not only do the winners receive a monetary prize, but the partner organization will also be able to pick groups they are interested in working with to help implement their designs into practice.
The Winner of ICE ³ 2021: Chelsea Angeles (HESE IV), Raymond Tolentino (HESE IV) Elaina Lausic (HESE IV) with “The Solution: Digital Incentive Badge Systems (DIBS)”.
The judges of ICE ³ 2021: Dr. Nour El Shamy, Dr. Ken Owen, Adalia Hornsveld (Organization Representative), Lianna Genovese
The ICE ³Executive Team: Jake Howran (HESE III), Laila Aggag (HESE IV), Salma Abdelghaffar (HESE III), Fatima Gafoor (HESE II), Ibrahim Iftikhar (IBEHS I), Monica Banayoty (HESE IV)
