Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders- USA, UMCP is a student-run non-profit humanitarian organization is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable development through engineering assistance and training internationally responsible engineering students. The organization partners with communities all over the world to design and implement engineering solutions. Since its start in 2004, the University of Maryland Chapter has traveled on 24 trips over six years, completing 11 projects in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Thailand, Peru and right next door in Edmonston, MD. The hundreds of student members have influenced over 6,000 community members. with over 100 students having traveled thus far.
In June 2009, four UM student teams traveled to different aread to provide engineering assistance. In Addis Alem, Ethiopia, students set the foundation of a community center built from sustainable construction material that will provide a safe area for the youth to gather. At the same time students were busy working in Peru to provide the community of Compone with clean drinking water. Students of the Burkina Faso Health team also were in country to assess the electrical and sanitation needs of four health centers that serve the Dissin community. Meanwhile, back in America a project team worked to install a bioretention facility in nearby Edmonston to filter runoff from a parking lot that leads into the Anacostia Watershed. Three implementations and one assessment are planned for this coming winter, 2010.
For more information about Engineers Without Borders, visit the UM chapter's website.