UW News

April 3, 2008

Engineers Without Borders students in Bolivia

UW News

The UW student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has made three trips to Yanayo, a remote community in Bolivia. Their ongoing work reflects the EWB motto: “Building a better world, one community at a time.”

Faculty mentor Susan Bolton and two engineering students made an initial visit in October 2006 to assess the community’s request for help with an irrigation project. In July 2007 a team of 10 people, including students, faculty and a professional mentor, spent a month in Yanayo. Working with the local community, the team installed the irrigation system, built custom-designed ventilated stoves to help with indoor air quality and constructed metal roofs for the kitchen buildings.

A recent follow-up trip, in March 2008, showed that the systems were working and almost all homes were still using the cooking stoves. The chapter plans to travel to Yanayo again to help stabilize mountain roads and bring the stove design to neighboring communities.

In March, the UW hosted the fifth EWB-USA international meeting, where dozens of chapters will present their work from around the world. EWB is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of individuals in the developing world through sustainable engineering designs and training.

For more information, see http://students.washington.edu/ewbuw/.