FRONTLINE - College of Engineering - North Carolina State University

Members of NC State’s Engineers Without Borders
work to improve conditions in other countries
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, engineer-
ing 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 organi-
zation 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 inter-
disciplinary, 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 left.)
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 treat-
ment 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.
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)