Three Syracuse University students will be presenting a project this spring at a conference that will bring together students from around the world to discuss global issues.

The students will present Project S.C.I. (Sustainability, Creativity and Innovation) at the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference (CGI U) at the University of California, Berkeley in April.

The project, an environmental and educational initiative started in October, aims to improve waste management on SU’s campus and help elementary students at local schools.

The three students involved in the project are Jezrel Sabaduquia, a sophomore in the School of Information Studies; Jannatulmawa Mizan, a freshman engineering and computer science major; and Yue Yun Zhu, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The students — who all attended Aviation High School in Long Island — collect water bottles and cans at residence halls, clean them and take them to local elementary schools to teach mostly third and fourth graders how to build model airplanes, Sabaduquia said.

The students bring markers and crayons so that the kids can express themselves creatively while being introduced to engineering, technology and math at a very basic level.

“We want to teach kids to think productively and out of the box,” Mizan added.

Sabaduquia said that he, Mizan and Zhu started the project in part because of Syracuse’s high poverty rate and its “subpar education system,” which he said is a consequence of the city’s poverty rate.

“We wanted to inspire kids to follow their passions,” he added.

Sabaduquia used the initiative to complete a six-week long project last year in “IST 195: Introduction to Information Technologies.” The project’s objective was to take an entrepreneurial idea and find ways that technology can help enhance the idea, said Jeff Rubin, an associate professor of practice in SU’s iSchool.

All three students are certified aircraft technicians, Sabaduquia said. He added that he “wanted to integrate his background in STEM” with his majors in the iSchool and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Mizan, who is studying to be an aerospace engineer, said she is exploring how to construct Project S.C.I. physically and conceptually.

This year’s CGI conference will unite 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students from 90 different countries, said Ragina Arrington, the CGI University outreach manager.

Arrington said CGI U searches for innovative ideas with “concrete, detailed plans of action, as well as passion and energy for a global issue.”

Arrington added that all CGI U student commitments should be novel, precise and measurable and address a challenge locally or globally within five focus areas: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation or public health. Sabaduquia’s team is focusing on education and environment.

Former President Bill Clinton launched CGI U in 2008 to engage the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs and innovators around the world, Arrington said, and nearly $2 million in funding has been granted to CGI U.

Published on February 21, 2016 at 10:32 pm

Contact Arva: ahassonj@syr.edu