General Information
We usually have general meetings every other Thursday at 6:30PM. These meetings often consist of club updates, project and club planning, budgeting, fundraising, and educational guest lecturers related to engineering and EWB. Please contact our secretary, jocelyn.pickhardt@uvm.edu to be added to our Listserv for more information and email updates.
Mission Statement
Engineers Without Borders USA supports community-driven development programs worldwide by collaborating with local partners to design and implement sustainable engineering projects, while creating transformative experiences and responsible leaders.
We feel that everyone has the right to the fundamental necessities of life. Our goal is to use our knowledge and creativity to work with developing communities to overcome the barriers preventing them from obtaining these basic needs.
Visit www.ewb-usa.org to find out more information about EWB-USA.
Our most recent Project:
In early March of 2020, our chapter traveled to Arusha, Tanzania to scope out a solar lighting project at the LOHADA orphanage and pre-secondary school. We met stakeholders, established relationships with a few trusted in-country partners and handlers and took initial measurements on the school grounds. Our project’s goal would be to install a PV solar system to provide lighting and outlets to the girls’ dormitory and eldest age group classrooms. The headmistress (Happiness Wambura) requested lighting for the girls’ dormitory for their safety at night and for the classrooms so students could study for secondary school entrance exams after dark. As most know, the pandemic halted nearly all global travel. However, once the pandemic subsided, we started to refocus and come up with a plan to return to LOHADA. Over winter break 2022-23, a group of four student members and our advisor, Marc Companion, traveled back to Tanzania to implement the project. While there, the intended solar module system was installed, education on solar energy was shared with the children of LOHADA, and our group was able to learn more about sustainable engineering implementation and Tanzanian culture. This trip was successful in terms of the project, as well as experiencing engineering in the real world for the students who attended and those who helped coordinate from Vermont over the few years that the project took place.
What else do we do?
Aside from working on international projects, our club also strives to make relationships locally, participate in local hands-on volunteer opportunities, stay involved with the UVM CEMS community, attend EWB national conferences, and learn from local engineering companies. If these sound of interest to you, please join us in our next general meeting!