The creation of physical and material infrastructure is the cornerstone of human development
not surprisingly engineers and designers are often motivated and inspired in their practice to
improve the world around them to make things better for others and to apply their knowledge
for the good of mankind. These aspirations often get translated into engineering and design
curricula where students and faculty work on development related projects usually under the
category of community or service learning. This book presents an overview of such an education
and outreach program designed to empower stakeholders to improve their lives. The project
described here was an international multi-institutional undertaking that included academic
institutions non-governmental organizations and private firms. Within the academic setting
an interdisciplinary set of actors that included engineering and industrial design students and
faculty worked on the project. We concretize our work by presenting a design case study that
illustrates how different approaches can help guide the works of engineers and designers as
they create global infrastructures and localized artifacts. We emphasize the importance of
developing long term relationships with organizations on the ground in order to ensure
appropriate design as well as successful transfer and long term use of designed artifacts. We
discuss the life trajectories of the authors to provide a grounded perspective on what
motivated us to undertake this work and shaped our approach with the intention to demonstrate
that there are multiple paths toward this goal. Table of Contents: Introduction Development
of the Program: Personal Trajectories Meet Professional Opportunities Intellectual
Positioning of the Program: Sociomaterial Infrastructures and Capable and Convivial Design
Case Study: Quick Response (QR) Code Based Immunization Solution Design for Development
Course and Outreach Initiative Conclusion: Lessons Learned
