Uploaded October 2011 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
In the summer of 2011, five students from the Princeton Engineers Without Borders Ghana team traveled to Ashaiman, Ghana, to finish the construction of a community library. This trip was the culmination of a three-year project to provide the area with improved education and digital resources. The finished structure is now fully operational and open to the public. The library features electric lighting and fans, 37 netbooks and a charging station, and more than 7,000 labeled and catalogued books.
The EWB Princeton students were in Ashaiman for two months in 2011. This video chronicles their experiences with construction, community outreach, cultural immersion, and personal growth. Over the course of their time in Ghana, the members of the EWB team were involved in hands-on construction tasks, oversight activities, educational sessions with students and teachers, and forays into Ghana's culture, history, and natural beauty. The travel team members were Buse Aktas '14, Jeremy Blair '13, Cole Freeman '14, Elizabeth O'Grady '13, and Akhil Reddy '13.
Funders for the EWB Ghana library initiative include the Class of 1978 Fund, the Fred Fox '39 Fund, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, the Norman D. Kurtz '58 Fund, the Princeton Environmental Institute, the Princeton Grand Challenges Initiative, the Woodrow Wilson School for Public Policy, the Thornton Tomasetti Grant Foundation, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Video by Jeremy Blair.
In the summer of 2011, five students from the Princeton Engineers Without Borders Ghana team traveled to Ashaiman, Ghana, to finish the construction of a community library. This trip was the culmination of a three-year project to provide the area with improved education and digital resources. The finished structure is now fully operational and open to the public. The library features electric lighting and fans, 37 netbooks and a charging station, and more than 7,000 labeled and catalogued books.
The EWB Princeton students were in Ashaiman for two months in 2011. This video chronicles their experiences with construction, community outreach, cultural immersion, and personal growth. Over the course of their time in Ghana, the members of the EWB team were involved in hands-on construction tasks, oversight activities, educational sessions with students and teachers, and forays into Ghana's culture, history, and natural beauty. The travel team members were Buse Aktas '14, Jeremy Blair '13, Cole Freeman '14, Elizabeth O'Grady '13, and Akhil Reddy '13.
Funders for the EWB Ghana library initiative include the Class of 1978 Fund, the Fred Fox '39 Fund, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, the Norman D. Kurtz '58 Fund, the Princeton Environmental Institute, the Princeton Grand Challenges Initiative, the Woodrow Wilson School for Public Policy, the Thornton Tomasetti Grant Foundation, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Video by Jeremy Blair.
![Jason Aramburu: Edyn [Princeton Entrepreneurs]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xjgCSujY5Fs/mqdefault.jpg "Jason Aramburu: Edyn [Princeton Entrepreneurs]
Jason Aramburu is the founder and CEO of Edyn, which produces a “smart” sensor system for agriculture and gardening that wirelessly tracks soil moisture and fertility. The technology allows a farmer or gardener to monitor plants and crops on an iPhone and thereby manage natural resources more efficiently. Aramburu is also the founder of re:char, which specializes in technology that helps small farmers in East Africa boost their crop yield and (and simultaneously) fight climate change.
Although Edyn is an engineering-focused company, Aramburu says that the company culture is different from that of a traditional Silicon Valley startup. “We’re creating a company culture that is laid-back and focuses on innovation but it is innovation with a social and environmental benefit,” he says. “We’re not trying to create the next Facebook or Instagram. We’re trying to create something that can meaningfully impact how people grow food, and how we use our resources in the world.”
Aramburu is one of Forbes Magazines 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs, an Ashoka Fellow, a 2009 Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow, a 2010 Echoing Green Fellow and a grantee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is also one of Business Weeks Top 25 Social Entrepreneurs in America. After studying ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, Aramburu worked for several years on projects in Panama’s rainforests and with farmers in Africa. He graduated from Princeton University in 2007.
For more about entrepreneurship at Princeton, visit http://kellercenter.princeton.edu/
PRINCETON ENTREPRENEURS
Executive Producers:
John Danner
Chris Kuenne ‘85
Derek Lidow ‘73
Ed Zschau ‘61
Editorial Director:
Teresa Riordan
Video Editors:
Evelyn Tu
Ben Abrams
Technical Consultant:
Delaney Granizo-Mackenzie ‘14")
