The Kuna are an indigenous Indian population of Panama.  Their ancestors have resided in Panama since before any Spanish presence in the country.  With few exceptions, current Kuna populations in San Blas maintain the same ancient subsistence techniques, including open-fire cooking and smoking food inside of cooking huts.  

In collaboration with Engineers Without Borders Panama, design teams from the University of Pittsburgh's Mechanical Engineering Department worked to scope the need for and perfect a stove design which:

• maintains Kuna cooking methods,

• ventilates particulate-heavy smoke out of cooking huts,

• keeps the user safe from burns,

• is made of sustainable materials, and which

• can be fabricated in Panama, given prevolent tool and material resources