A decade ago, Associate Professor Laura Hosman challenged her engineering students to create a device to provide a solar-powered library small enough to fit into a backpack. Made of recycled material, the device provides a Wi-Fi hot spot that needs no electricity or internet connection for users to download content to a smartphone, tablet or laptop. More than 600 of the devices have been deployed. Hosman, whose faculty appointments include a position in the The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, and technology adviser Bruce Baikie, an ASU adjunct faculty member, co-direct SolarSPell, which is working with numerous libraries and people in Arizona, Ethiopia, on the Hopi Reservation and with Peace Corps volunteers, among others, using SolarSpell to curate vast amounts of information customized for each group.

See also: This library device created by ASU professors, students named one of TIME’s 2025 Best Inventions, KJZZ News