Engineers Without Borders (EWB)

The EWB team is part of the national EWB organization, whose mission is to build a better world through engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and equip leaders to solve the world's most pressing challenges.

Description: EWB currently has five design teams: Nakyenyi biogas, Colquechata technical, Colquechata cultural, leadership, and new member. The goals of the five teams are as follows:

• The Nakyenyi biogas team is in the monitoring and evaluation phase of their project. The team has implemented a biogas digester at a local vocational school in Nakyenyi, Uganda. This biogas digester captures methane produced by manure from cows at the school, and pipes it to the kitchen, where it is used as fuel. The motivation behind implementing this technology is that there is deforestation occurring in Uganda. The previous source of cooking fuel at the school was firewood, which the school had to purchase. Additionally the firewood created a smoke-filled and unsafe work environment for the staff at the school.
• The Colquechata technical and Colquechata cultural teams are both working together with EWB Purdue’s most recent partner, the community of Colquechata, Bolivia. The goal of this project is to design and implement a water distribution system for the mountainous community of Colquechata, which has approximately 175 residents. An assessment trip was conducted in May of 2018 and information was gathered about the community and its water sources.
• The leadership team consists of the president, vice president, treasurer, project manager, media, and fundraising officers for the team. The goal of the leadership team is to support the chapter and assist in successful completion of our projects.
• The new member team is lead by several EPICS-EWB students and is made up of new members to the EWB Purdue team. The goal of the new member team is to introduce members to our chapter and educate them on our projects and methods while they are contributing to the rest of the chapter.

Partners: Our biogas project partnered with a vocational school in Nakyenyi, Uganda, run by the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Busoda. For the Colquechata water project in Bolivia, our chapter partnered with Engineers in Action, a South America-based NGO, as well as Colquechata, a small Bolivian community in the Andes..

Mission: The mission of Engineers Without Borders is to build a better world through engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and equip leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. In addition to this national mission, the Purdue chapter aims to develop project development skills in members.

Delivered: A functioning biogas digester was delivered for the biogas project in Uganda in summer 2017. The biogas team is currently monitoring the system. The Colquechata water project in Bolivia is still in the assessment phase, meaning that data has been gathered and is being processed and analyzed in order to design a water distribution system.

Technologies: For the biogas digester, CAD was used to create 3D drawings of the design. On the assessment trip taken to Colquechata Bolivia, technologies used included a Topcon Total Station (survey equipment), Autodesk Civil 3D to generate topographic maps of the geography, and water testing equipment, such as Hach multiparameter and portable incubator, to determine data on water quality and water flow rate for springs that will be water sources for the project.

Disciplines: Agriculture AAE ABE BME ChemE Civil CS ECE Education EEE IE MSE ME MDE Nuclear HHS LibArts Management Pharm Polytech Science VetMed A&D

Area: Environmental and International Development

Spring 2022 Division: 41

Spring 2022 Schedule: Wednesdays 6:00 - 7:50pm