OIRED

Virginia Tech – ESIH Program

Virginia Tech partnership with Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haìti (ESIH) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Year: 2008-2010
Granting Agency: USAID Mission in Haiti
Grant #: AEG-A-00-05-0007-00
Grant Amount: $552,000
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Virginia Tech is partnering with the Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haìti in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to strengthen the school’s computer science program. The three-year project is being executed by Higher Education for Development (HED) through a cooperative agreement with the USAID mission in Haiti. The long-term goal of the project is to build capacity in Haiti’s institutions of higher education.  The program allows for the training of ESIH faculty, and provides funds that are enabling several ESIH students to complete their undergraduate training at Virginia Tech.

Undergraduate students at Virginia Tech:
The first five students—two women and three men—transferred to Virginia Tech in June of 2008. Under the guidelines of the program, they will complete their final two years of undergraduate study at Virginia Tech and then return to Haiti to get jobs in the private sector or become teachers of information technology. The program requires that the students return to Haiti when their undergraduate training is completed. 

Faculty training opportunities:
Virginia Tech’s computer science faculty traveled to Haiti to review and critique course offerings and content at ESIH. In addition, four ESIH faculty members came to Virginia Tech for a month to learn how a large American university runs its computer science program.

Virginia Tech in the Caribbean:
Virginia Tech already has a program in the Dominican Republic, which combines with Haiti to make up the island of Hispaniola. With the IT program in Haiti, Virginia Tech officials hope to further expand the university’s presence in the Caribbean.

Virginia Tech faculty involved:

  • Patrick Guilbaud - IT Program Director for OIRED
  • Dennis Kafura - Professor, Computer Science
  • Doug Bowman - Associate Professor, Computer Science
  • Calvin Ribbens - Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Studies; Professor, Computer Science
  • Denis Gracanin - Associate Professor, Computer Science
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ESIH faculty members (Bernard Venet, Choute Donfred, Patrick Desselien, and Didier Desmangles) attend a session during their training and development trip to Virginia Tech.

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Hervé Jean-Charles (USAID), Patrick Guilbaud, Alex Deprez (USAID) and Patrick Attié at the USAID office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti 
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VT-ESIH students, Mario E. Calixte, Sherley Codio, Bernadel Benoit, Jennifer A. Francois, and Fabrice Marcellin working together on a CS problem. 

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Marilyn Crane (HED), Patrick Attié, Kim Beisecker, and Patrick Guilbaud visit VT’s Cranwell International Center.  

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 Don Back, Dennis Kafura, ESIH faculty members Bernard Venet, Didier Desmangles, Choute Donfred, and Patrick Desselien; Patrick Guilbaud at the Office of International Research Education and Development; Summer 2008.
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ESIH faculty member and research Didier Desmangles (l) listens carefully as Dennis Kafura (VT-CS) speaks about ongoing research activities in Virtual reality at VT.