Upcycling and Sustainable Materials in Ghana

Virginia Tech and Ghanaian undergraduate and graduate students with interest climate change issues and research will collaborate on solving environmental problems caused by organic/carbonaceous waste that ends up in landfills, water bodies and beaches. The three-week program includes brainstorming potential and sustainable applied materials’ solutions and development of projects to work on together over the next several years. Additonally, students will visit historic sites, attend cultural events and meet fellow students in Ghana.

About the program:

The purpose of the program is to expose VT students to the effect that organic waste material disposal practices have on the lives and livelihoods of people in Ghana, and collaborate with their Ghanaian peers to look for solutions that involve the application of their training in the materials sciences to create needed and useful products from organic waste. Students are expected to learn from and gain experience in the underlying science and subsequent engineering involved with the development of applied materials from organic waste, providing sustainable solutions for the devastating environmental pollution/degradation caused by these materials in Ghana and elsewhere.

This is a co-curricular program. Participants do not earn academic credit.

Program Term: Summer
Estimated total program cost (including airfare; ground transport; lodging; meals; insurance; visa/passport; COVID testing) per participant after scholarship: $250-500 (depending on size of group)
All applicants who are selected for the trip will be granted scholarship support from the College of Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Department

Eligibility Requirements:

Full-time undergraduate (including international) or graduate students
Open to any major in the College of Engineering
Program visits remote locations. Participants must be able to walk at least 1 mile on rugged terrain
Maximum of 8 participants

This program is not currently accepting applications.

For more details: Contact Dr. Alex Aning at aaning@vt.edu or by phone at (540) 231-6849

Spend Three weeks in Ghana

Below are the universities and organizations involved with the program:

Academic City College, Accra
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi
Sustainable Enterprise and Capacity Building (SENCAB), and NGO, Accra
Vicalex Bricks and Tiles, Kumasi

Historic/Tourist attractions include:

Bonwire (Original kente weaving village)
Manhyia Palace (Residence of the King of Ashanti)
Elmina Castle (a 540-year-old castlr built by the Portuguese, later became an important stop on the route of the Atlantic slave trade
And many more..