Carolina Rojas

Since 2018, Carolina has been actively involved with Engineering for Change. First as a Research Fellow in 2018 and then as a volunteer in 2019. As a Research Fellow, she carried research on energy technologies for E4C´s Solutions Library, collected and integrated field experience and user feedback of Pay-As-You-Go solar energy solutions in remote indigenous communities in Panama, and started to develop a research report on the state of Engineering for Global Development in Latin America.

As a volunteer, she co-developed the organization and working structure of an E4C Corps that was later implemented in Marwadi University, KLS GIT University, and Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá. During 2019 she volunteered as co-leader of E4C Corps Panama and was the research group leader in a project focused on developing clean cooking technologies for indigenous communities in Panama.

As a volunteer for Panama Flying Labs throughout the past three years, Carolina has worked on the development of projects and workshops that have aimed to broaden the use of robotics, specifically unmanned vehicles, in social development projects. Some of these implementation and research projects have been related to the use of drones for medical supply delivery, photogrammetry for crop monitoring, photogrammetry for rural planning, and ethnographic mapping. Because of Carolina´s interest in working with indigenous communities, she has helped the laboratory develop paths of engagement with target communities.

During 2019, Carolina worked as an administrative assistant at the first Fabrication Laboratory of Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá. During this time she managed and developed educational programming activities, assisted with 2D and 3D digital fabrication projects related to the maker space, and supported with community engagement opportunities and day-to-day operations. During her time working at the lab, she started volunteering on a project focused on the design and fabrication of prostheses for animals, a project in which she now serves as a research group leader. Carolina is a member of a team that is working on the development of the dynamics and control of an autonomous maritime vessel, designed to deliver medical supplies for remote islands of Panama.