Outreach / Service

• The Technology Takes the Wheel event explores the opportunities and challenges presented by the growing adoption of electric vehicles and examines the readiness of Ohio’s infrastructure, workforce development and manufacturing.
• Presented by AAA Club Alliance at Owens Community College CFPA in September of 2023

Assembled a Globally Distributed Remote Team to Design and Build Emergency Ventilators For Pandemic Response in The Congo (2020)

• Global leadership activities profiled in The Blade newspaper on May 26, 2020 reporting how Dr. Mubenga recognized a need in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which is a country of 80 million that had only a few hundred ventilators when the pandemic hit.
• Found an article about a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that was building a ventilator, and reached out to learn more.
• Posted a video to her Twitter page seeking help to develop an emergency ventilator that could be built in the central African country using the limited materials and manufacturing resources available there.
• Used Twitter to assemble a team from her network in the Congo — her own nonprofit, STEM DRC, and the Loyola University of Congo.
• In about a month, a team assembled from around the world collaborated to design a prototype that students at the university in the Congo helped build on-site with their 3-D printer and available materials.
• The design uses open-source plans from MIT to automatically pump a resuscitator bag that is readily available in most hospitals but is usually operated by hand.
• Additional coverage provided by UTOLEDO NEWS on May 15, 2020, where Jonathan Ntiaka Muzakwene, who teaches engineering on the faculty of Loyola University of Congo, says the cost of conventional ventilators is prohibitive in an underdeveloped and improverished nation. “He says that Dr. Mubenga’s work will save lives.”

TED Talk at TEDx Montrouge, an independently organized TED event (2019)

• Dr. Mubenga was honored to present a TED Talk at the TEDx Montrouge event on November 9, 2019 where the event theme was “The Spark” referring to the brilliant moment of creativity or the fire of passion where individuals come up with sparkling ideas and offer alternative, positive and inspiring paths that influence others.
• The talk addressed the value of STEM education for all, especially girls, and highlighted the power of STEM Technology to improve the world.

Founded a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization Supporting STEM Education, Funding STEM Scholarships

• Broke ground on STEM DRC Centers for co-working, and laboratory spaces for collaborative research such as those sponsored by the NSF.
• Recruited qualified collaborating subject matter experts to staff mentoring program and incubator space in the DRC to help entrepreneurs in the STEM field to start their business.
• Promoted the organization at TEDx Montrouge, an independently organized TED event
• Supervised fundraising efforts, engaged sponsors, funded 60 Scholarships in 2019.
• Engaged Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi, wife of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and the First Lady of the DRC, as Ambassador.
• Organized Board of Directors and currently serves as president of the STEM DRC Initiative.
• Founded the STEM DRC Initiative with the purpose of encouraging STEM Education for worthy students in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

University of Toledo, Dept of World Languages: (2019),  Public Roundtable Discussion: Languages Mean Business

• University of Toledo, Carlson Library 1005, Thursday, October 3, 2019, 10am-2pm
• Discussion of the role of foreign languages and intercultural competence in today’s global marketplace.
• World language proficiency and intercultural competence are increasingly important for business collaborations.
• Dependent sectors include health care services, cutting-edge collaborative scientific research, and national security.
  
• Dr. Mubenga and distinguished panelists include regional government, business, and education leaders.