KLH Hyderabad Campus of KL Deemed to be University, identified as one of India’s leading universities, chooses an important step in its commitment to community service and innovative education through the ‘Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)’ program. The EPICS program, in partnership with Purdue University, a prestigious institution from the United States, officially launched last year following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two reputed education hubs.

Dr. William C. Oaks, Director of the EPICS Programme and Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University, recently paid a visit to the campus to continue productive conversations. Dr. A. Ramakrishna, Principal of KL University, Dr. M. Kishore Babu, Director of International Relations, and Dr. M. Saidireddy, EPICS Coordinator, presided over the visit, which was accompanied by all esteemed academic members. The discussion focused on strengthening the two universities' connection by looking into opportunities for cooperative research initiatives, student exchanges, and faculty collaborations in a variety of engineering topics.

Er. Koneru Satyanarayana, Chancellor of KL Deemed to be University, stated on the occasion, "We believe in fostering a culture of innovation and social responsibility among our students in order to bring about positive change in society." EPICS, a patented initiative of Purdue University, is an exceptional program that brings together teams of undergraduate students to design, build, and deploy real systems, aiming to provide engineering-based solutions for local community service and educational organizations. As part of the EPICS program, KLH Hyderabad introduced the credit course titled “Social Immersive Learning” for all second-year engineering students, enabling them to actively participate in the community service initiative.

Building upon the success of the EPICS program, KLH Hyderabad is now offering the same course in Phase-II for all second-year students this year. Dr. William Oaks’ visit served as an affirmation of the program’s effectiveness and its potential to create socially responsible engineers equipped with the skills to tackle real-world issues. This year, over 340 students enthusiastically participated in the workshop, reflecting the growing enthusiasm for community service and engineering-based solutions among the student community. The ‘Social Internship’ aspect of the program will reward each student with two credits upon the successful completion of their projects. Notably, all expenses incurred in creating the prototypes will be borne by the University, reaffirming its commitment to supporting community service initiatives.