Engineers without Borders USA
Georgia Tech
Engineers Without Borders – Georgia Tech is a chapter of EWB-USA, a large non-profit humanitarian organization. The goal of this organization is to support community-driven development projects worldwide through partnerships that design and implement sustainable engineering projects.
EWB-GT achieves its goals through collaboration between students and communities. To efficiently address issues in a variety of diverse communities around the world, EWB has in place a unique network of collaboration in which students, mentors, NGOs and community members work together to identify and address environmental and health issues.
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On-going Projects
Atlanta
EWB-GT will be working with HAES to build a greenhouse and start a STEM education program for students. The greenhouse and STEM education will provide students hands-on learning opportunities as well as providing fresh produce to a community in a food desert. The greenhouse will increase community engagement in the school through students, parents, and other community members. In the fall we will be doing site visits to HAES, kickstarting our STEM Education program, and doing research on greenhouse designs. This project will be very hands-on with the community and will include interactions with students and possible building opportunities later on.
Ecuador
EWB-GT’s first project in South America is focused in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, working in an underserved agricultural region to increase the capacity of their local healthcare center. We work in collaboration with an NGO called Hombro a Hombro which has run the clinic since 2014 and serves as the region’s critical healthcare provider. Currently, Hombro a Hombro provides care to 10,000 patients annually but there is a population of over 50,000 potential patients. With plans to rehabilitate and expand the facility, this project aims to allow Centro de Salud Hombro a Hombro to serve more people, with the ability to provide new, critical services such as psychiatry, gynecology, and physical therapy. Currently, we are in the Pre-Implementation phase of our project as we develop designs to construct a new children’s waiting space and kitchen while we raise funds, strengthen ties with our community, and ensure our building complies with local standards.
Nepal
The new EWB-GT Nepal project is a water supply and sanitation project that includes the assessment, design and construction of a new sustainable water source for a community of approximately five hundred residents. Potential solutions discussed include improvements to an existing shallow well, a new drilled well, supplemental rainwater catchment systems, or other contextually appropriate solutions as determined by our project. The project will be starting from scratch and we will be in the beginning assessment stage which will include creating the pre-trip technical plan, pre-trip plan details, and fundraising money for the project. Our goal is to go on an assessment trip during spring break of the Spring 2025 semester.
Nicaragua
The previous GT-EWB Nicaragua project aimed to develop a comprehensive and sustainable water distribution system capable of reliably providing potable, contaminant-free water to the 405 individuals residing within El Riego. In order to accomplish this, we intended to implement a drilled well with a chlorination and distribution system. This project explored the effect of water safety measures on the wellbeing of the community, specifically to: (1) increase the amount of water quality parameters within the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended range, (2) decrease bacterial contamination of primary water sources, (3) mitigate the health impacts faced by the community, and (4) increase resilience of the system.
Wish for Wash
The Georgia Tech Engineers Without Borders Wish for WASH team has the ultimate goal of bringing innovative research, design and education solutions to global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) problems that plague society both domestically and abroad. Our work aligns with the United Nations' 6th Sustainable Development Goal that seeks to ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Our EWB-GT team's current projects are as follows:
1. Bioreactor Engineering Research & Development Project which seeks to help drive innovation in the local Circular Sanitation Economy. They will be building a fully functional bioreactor.
2. Design Thinking Team - Over the past 4 years Wish for WASH has been running design thinking workshops and courses with partners such as OpenIDEO, The Paideia School, The Weber School, Girl Scouts of Atlanta, and the Museum of Design Atlanta as a part of our educational and advocacy workstream. Through our workshops and curricula we seek to empower the next generation of STEM learners, design thinkers, and human-centered problem-solvers to use empathic, interdisciplinary and iterative tools to build sustainable and inclusive innovation in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, helping the world reach the 6th Sustainable Development Goal by 2030.
3. Menstrual Health and Bioplastics Research Team looks to investigate further the sustainability of menstrual products in the US and the EU and publish a paper based on these findings. We are also looking into partnering with a lab for future prototyping and testing for sustainable menstrual health products.
4. Septic Innovation Research Team seeks to research and develop a new septic systems to replace those failing in coastal regions due to climate change and increased flooding.
Bolivia
EWB-GT’s Bolivia Project is a new water supply project looking to connect the approximately 95-person community of Catuhuaya with a consistent and sustainable supply of potable water. Our team will work with the community to assess, design, and implement an appropriate solution. Discussed potential solutions include development of a gravity fed system that would connect the community to existing natural spring sources. This project was adopted in December 2024, and is currently in the beginning of the Assessment Phase. Our focus this semester will be planning for our team’s assessment trip to the community, including writing the Pre-Trip Technical Plan and fundraising for the trip.
If you are passionate about humanitarian engineering and are interested in helping us raise the funds to complete our project, we’d love to have you! We are looking for new members, preferably with fundraising and corporate sponsorship experience, to join our finance team. Remember, you don’t have to be an engineer to join our team!
Chapter Finance and Gala Planning Team
This is a new team that will work at the chapter level to help fundraise for all the projects. Since this is a new team, there is a lot of opportunity to work with the Fundraising chair, vp of corporate relations, and the treasurer to delegate tasks. The team will focus on three main parts, Corporate Sponsorship, local fundraising, and Grants, allowing them to gain financial skills in raising funds and networking within EWB and professionally.
But that's not all...
