Chiang Mai University May 13-15 with PURPLElab!

Written by: Weronika Myslak

This week, we began our program at Chiang Mai University!! Most of us arrived in Thailand last Friday and we were still adjusting to the time change, new climate, and the incredibly large number of scooters zooming about in the streets of campus. By jumping into preparations throughout the weekend and gaining familiarity with our new home for the next three weeks, we realized that there are so many people to meet, so many Thai phrases to learn, and so many things to do in these upcoming few days. On Monday, we met many PURPLElab students for the first time, learned about the Faculty of Engineering at Chiang Mai University (CMU), Thai culture (customs, must-see places, and food!), explored the campus!

Exploring the CMU campus with PURPLElab students on the first day of our program.

On Tuesday, we began our formal Opening Ceremony with opening remarks by Professor Juggapong and Professor Chinapat. Both teams had the chance to introduce their projects, BLUElab explained our prototypes and needs statements in more detail, and we presented an introduction to Socially Engaged Design.

Introductory Socially Engaged Design Presentations with PURPLElab students

We also had the chance to interact together through group activities, such as a discussion about what each team would like gain from this experience and goals for their projects, as well as reviews of each others designs.

Design Review Activity in small groups, with BLUElab and PURPLElab students providing feedback on each others designs.

After conducting trip planning for the trip to Mae Chan taking place this Thursday, we had a big welcome dinner with PURPLElab students and CMU faculty to try Northern Thai cuisine, see traditional dancing, and have the chance to talk to each other! Some of us joined the dancing on stage after dinner, and that was yet another form of entertainment for the rest of the audience, since most of us were foreigners who had no idea how to dance.

Welcome dinner on Tuesday with PURPLElab and CMU Faculty.

Wednesday was a day that was dedicated mostly to the preparation for the Mae Chan trip on the next day, with a short Socially Engaged Design presentation in the morning, along with a group observation activity around the CMU campus. Throughout these three days, an important component was to prepare our prototypes for the upcoming trip to our partner community. Our design team was busy with visiting various machine shops, supply stores, receiving design feedback from PURPLElab, and making sure that all materials are prepared for the trip. We are able to bring along all of the prototypes that we want to test, so we hope to get a better idea of which direction we should move with our designs in the future.

BLUElab design team putting together one of our prototypes to prepare for the Mae Chan trip.

As we prepare to leave early on Thursday morning, we have many unanswered questions about our designs that we are excited to explore during our trip! We are excited to visit Mae Chan and meet the stakeholders, such as Khun Nahkorn, with whom we worked with last year. With PURPLElab students assisting us and observing our team dynamics, we hope that the trip will be an exciting experience for them as well, as well as a way to build friendships!