I am currently doing work on civilian shelters from bio. It is a lot about air filtration, particle migration through cracks and other things that are quite related to mechanical engineering. PPE is another aspect where understanding fluid dynamics and how to create products around that is important. There are probably other things I have not yet thought of.
Although I'm asking this because a friend asked me for ideas for her project, this post could be a valuable ongoing resource for others who have problems that can be solved with mechanical engineering and mechanical engineers seeking to do good.
A Mechanical Engineer friend of mine in her senior year of college just sent me the following:
are there any niche gadget product you wish existed that could be made in like 6 months more or less? We will be able to use the metal 3d printer so if its anything small or complex we good. But it can be big. Like literally anything
Minimal electrical
Mechanical mostly
But ye like not too much programming or electronics
I know you have some niche interests so maybe you know some problems that weren't addressed as a hardware solution yet
The task is to make a "world altering" product, so I came to the EA for ideas.
If you suggest a problem they can work on or a design they can make and they like it, then you essentially get a team of engineers working on that for free. Sounds like a good deal!
As someone who discovered EA while studying mechanical engineering, I have thought about this a lot. My initial plan was to work in renewable energy technologies, but I shifted towards working on plant-based meat technologies and developing more efficient processing equipment. Also, I have been able to use my background in mechanical engineering to help ALLFED as a volunteer by researching how various resilient food technologies could scale up in the event of a global catastrophe. I also recommend anyone interested in learning about the intersection of EA and engineering to check out High Impact Engineer's resources page: https://www.highimpactengineers.org/resources