January 22, 2007

Members of NC State’s Engineers Without Borders Work to Improve Conditions in Other Countries

Assembling food packages for Stop Hunger Now’s Operation Sharehouse is just one of several projects of the NC State chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) this year. EWB member Akeem Robinson and chapter president Troy Gould, both chemical engineering students, worked with other members to aid villages in Bolivia and Sierra Leone. (Photo: Daniel Kim)

In spite of the technological advances of the 20th and 21st centuries, millions of people around the world continue to live in poverty, lacking even the most basic necessities. At North Carolina State University, engineering students are using their skills to change the lives of impoverished people in other countries. The students are all members of the NC State chapter of Engineers Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization that uses the talents of engineers to address the problems of poverty around the world.

Officially recognized in 2005, the NC State chapter has grown to more than 50 members. The chapter is interdisciplinary, with members from engineering as well as the humanities and management, all eager to use their talents to help meet the needs of people in developing countries.

In spring 2006 students in the industrial engineering senior design class used their senior design projects to help Stop Hunger Now. (See story at www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/news_articles/StopHungerB.html.)

In fall 2006 the students worked on projects in Sierra Leone and Bolivia. Working with LemonAid Fund, a non-governmental organization that strives to eradicate poverty and support universal primary education, NC State EWB students set up a water sanitation project and used solar panels or wind turbines to power utilities for a school in Lower Allentown, Sierra Leone.

EWB members are also working with Save the Children – Canada on a project to help improve conditions in schools in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Members planned to travel to Cochabamba to assess water supply and treatment options with the community, perform hygiene education and conduct ethnographic surveys.

While the focus of the Engineers Without Borders is primarily on bringing engineering expertise to impoverished areas in other countries, the NC State chapter also volunteers closer to home. In fall 2006 members tutored students in math and science at A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh while 
continuing to work at Operation Sharehouse.

For more information about the NC State chapter of Engineers Without Borders, visit www.ncsu.edu/stud_orgs/ewb.

— weston —

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