{"id":14237,"date":"2019-09-13T13:05:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=14237"},"modified":"2023-09-01T11:29:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T15:29:14","slug":"innovation-from-an-empty-bag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2019\/09\/innovation-from-an-empty-bag\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation From an Empty Bag"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
By Cameron Walker<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students in the <\/span>Textile Technology\/<\/span><\/a>Textile Engineering<\/span><\/a> Senior Design<\/span><\/a> 2019-20 capstone course began the year with a manifold challenge; working in teams, they used recycled rice bags to design prototypes meant to solve real-world problems. This year\u2019s winning teams transformed the bags into a menstrual pad, a fishing net and a solar lantern — functional designs that people in need can use and even construct themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis challenge puts the teams into an intense open-ended problem solving situation in the first week of class,\u201d said <\/span>Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science<\/span><\/a> (TECS) professor <\/span>Russell Gorga<\/span><\/a>, who co-directs the course with TECS associate professor Jesse Jur. \u201cIn this time, they not only need to think of the product they want to make and then go through the design cycle to establish the need through building and testing\/validating and iterating, but also hone an oral presentation to pitch their product and justify the need. In addition, it forces them to work as a team to a deadline in a short period of time. This enables the team members to learn about the way each team member (including themselves) works in a group.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The annual Rice Bag Challenge is sponsored by <\/span>Rise Against Hunger<\/span><\/a>, an international organization that annually distributes millions of meals around the world through community meal-packaging events. The rice for these meals comes in 50-pound bags; tens of thousands of these bags are thrown away each year, but Rise Against Hunger believes there is a better way. They hope that Wilson College of Textiles<\/a> Senior Design students can repurpose the bags in a practical way to make life better for meal recipients while reducing their environmental footprint.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c<\/span>They are looking for products that locals who receive the meals can actually make themselves and have utility in the community to improve quality of life and establish a sustainable enterprise,\u201d said Gorga.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Challenge<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Teams of Senior Design students were tasked with creating a useful prototype that would solve a problem in developing areas around the world, using a maximum $10 budget and two rice bags. In one short week, they researched, brainstormed, designed and executed their prototype. At the end of the week, they pitched their product to the judges: <\/span>Rise Against Hunger officials Edna Ogwangi, chief impact officer; Julia Banks, manager of donor strategy and operations; and Andi Dankert, director of donor relations and operations. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n