Our Mission
Our Vision
PROJECTS
Educational program "AlterEnergy"
The main reason contributing to the creation of the “AlterEnergy” project was the importance of the development of Ukrainian alternative energy system. The existing Energy Strategy of Ukraine previously also provided increasing of renewable energy (up to 25% in 2035). This was facilitated by the task of harmonization and integration of the energy systems of Ukraine and the EU. All this led to a constant increase in the demand for highly qualified specialists in alternative energy.
Russia’s military aggression, which struck key industrial facilities in Kharkiv region and Ukraine, put the final point in all that. ‘We must do it!’ – we think.
It became clear: the renewal of these technical units should focus on new technologies, green industry and accelerate the trend of replacing fossil fuels for sustainable energy independence.
This is how the idea of the “AlterEnergy” project was born. The main goal of it was the needs to improve the qualifications of teachers of Ukrainian universities and the awareness of students in the latest engineering technologies from renewable energy.
As part of the implementation of the project, we gathered the best American and Canadian experts from various fields of renewable energy, representatives of Ukrainian business in one team. Together we created the training course “Sustainable and Renewable Energy. Essentials”. It was designed to improve the awareness of students and engineering professionals in various fields of alternative energy.
Currently, the project is undergoing the Piloting stage on the basis of one of the best technical Ukrainian HEI – National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”. We do it with 262 participants that joined the piloting stage. Among 70% of all participants are students and teachers of NTU “KhPI”. Another 30% is a teaching staff of various technical universities, colleges and representatives of business structures with a wide geographical representation. Such a sample will make it possible to pilot the course the best way. After that stage we are going to transform it into a MOOC on the largest Ukrainian online educational platform PROMETHEUS.
The creation of such a free open course will be of great importance, as it will make available the US experience in the field of alternative and renewable energy to thousands of specialists who need information on the latest scientific results in materials science, electronics, energy and electrical engineering and will allow improving the training of specialists in Ukrainian universities, where the technological sphere needs a significant upgrade.
Pre-incubation program "Innovation & Entrepreneurship Bootcamp"
The goal of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Bootcamp program was to help our young people build and successfully create their innovative startups, develop ideas for the development and improvement of various industries, be acquainted with successful modern projects, and fully understand the structures of the plan and construction.
The main idea of the project was to support and develop start-up projects, to provide assistance in the purchase of necessary equipment or to pay for consultation on issues in any field. Help in studying theoretical knowledge in order to improve the plan and develop projects. This information was provided with help of well-known American lecturers who have been successfully creating innovative projects for many years and successfully implementing them on the world market. Various technologies were used to teach information, master classes were held for better understanding and building of startups, group and individual conversations using Zoom. Students shared their fears, motivations and obstacles they face on the way to creating their own startup. When students have already developed their projects, they had the opportunity to present them to lecturers and possible investors for further development and attraction of external investments.
Based on the results of the program, winners who received financial support for the development of their project were chosen. At the request of the students, even after completing their studies, the lecturers provided assistance, explained unclear nuances, and supported our scientists. We were able to implement a large number of projects of our students, which reached the state and international level.
STEMCamp for EDUCATORS
Implementation of the project “Development and implementation of STEM education methodology “STEMCamp for EDUCATORS” consisted of two parts. The first part of the project was carried out during the fall school-break of 2019. The second part was supposed to take place during the spring school-break of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly arose, which forced the implementation of the second part of the project to be postponed to the fall of 2020 and to change the format of the event.
The goal of this project was to show pupils and students that science is very interesting and fun, and not boring, as most people think. To get interested in new methods of learning information and new technologies that are still little known and to help teachers find new methods of teaching the subject in order to increase the interest of young people in science.
We took the idea of presenting the material easily and interestingly (even if the topic is not simple) as the main goal. During three days, the teams (the teacher and several students) attended problem-oriented lectures and master classes: Epic Chemistry, Physics is simple, Math level up, Ecology, Robotics, Electronics, 3D Modeling, Energy, Art of presentation. The fourth day was devoted to the implementation of scientific projects and the preparation of a presentation. The fifth day – projects’ presentation and STEMCamp School closing.
The result of the project was that we interested our youth in studying scientific disciplines, creating new projects, most of which were implemented immediately after the end of the program. Teachers gained a lot of useful experience, which they successfully use in their schools, thus developing our teaching and education system, introducing modern methods and technologies.
Development and implementation of STEM education through university preparation #STEMCAMP SCHOOL
The goal of the project was to create an extracurricular, comprehensive and socially accessible educational space in the format of a summer school, using the successful American experience that contributed to the reform of the Ukrainian school, expanding the possibilities of informed choice of students for further professional education.
We saw as the main task not only an educational program that would provide new opportunities for Ukrainian education development, but also the unification of teachers, students and parents. So that each link of this structure understands the importance of its role in the educational process. We also considered an important nuance in the creation of the project to create all the opportunities for students in order to reveal their creative potential, and not to confine them to any framework.
100 schoolchildren from the city of Kharkiv and the region took part in the project, 15% of them were children with disabilities. The project lasted 2 weeks and included activities aimed at studying Ukrainian and American culture and their interaction. The project was implemented in several stages, which included both intensive training and game-type elements, such as a scientific quest, a presentation of one’s project, and a Science Festival.
One of the project’s mentors was the famous American teacher Christopher Chiaverina, an innovator in the educational and innovative approach to teaching in the STEM format and uses interactive hands-on materials to demonstrate the connections between the surrounding world and science. He was one of the lecturers at STEMCamp School and held two master classes for schoolchildren: “The Amazing World of Color” and “May the (Electromagnetic) Force Be with You”.
The result of this project was the unification of people of different cultures, greater interest of students in technical professions and understanding of the importance of these types of activities. In addition, the active inclusion of students in the educational process of the camp made it possible to implement an actual teaching method, which undoubtedly affected the high level of motivation and creativity in the implementation of projects. Practically all participants of the project have reached the final stage. This gives serious hope for the possibility of implementing similar pre-university camps at technical and classical universities on a permanent basis.
Flowerbed. Inclusion in cooperation
The project was aimed at creating new gardens on the territory of boarding schools in the Kharkiv region. After all, many institutions in our region have an inappropriate landscape, or in general, something that looks more like a landfill.
The main goal of this project is not only the improvement of the environment, but also trusting and understanding building, people with disabilities in the workforce adapting and existing barriers to social communication overcoming. So, with that project, we solved two issues at once: the problem of environmental obsolescence as well as communication tolerance development, social barriers overcoming.
The results did not make themselves wait in all directions, and even exceeded expectations. First, we landscaped the boarding schools, which the students can now freely walk through, and tell everyone which of these trees they planted with their own hands. However, we consider the greatest success to be the fact that we managed to establish communication, because all this time we worked as a team with a common goal. We managed to bring diversity into the lives of boarding school students, involve them in joint work and show the equality of all people.
OUR TEAM
Roman Tomashevskyi
Kseniia Minakova
Olena Avdieieva
Bohdan Vorobiov
Oksana Sevriukova
Serhii Radohuz
OUR PARTNERS
Address
NTU “KhPI”, 2 Kyrpychova St., Kharkiv 61002, Ukraine
Contacts
Prof. Roman Tomashevskyi
Tel.: +38 (050) 035-15-37