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Engineers Without Borders - A Brief Introduction |
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Mission:
EWB helps disadvantaged communities improve their quality of life through implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects, while developing internationally responsible engineering students.
Vision:
EWB’s outward vision is of a world where all people have access to adequate sanitation, safe drinking water, and the resources to meet their other self-identified engineering and economic development needs.
More than one-fifth of the world's population lacks access to an adequate water supply. A third lack adequate sanitation. Many lack the basic services or infrastructure needed to improve their lives and secure a future for their children. As engineers, we have a role to play in assisting individuals and communities with their ongoing efforts to provide sanitation, build schools, secure water supplies, and extend the benefits of the rich countries to the poor of the global South. We believe in sharing our abilities and working with local people where needed and invited. In this way, we hope to improve lives and provide hands where they are most needed. We do this through EWB projects that are approved on the national level by the organization, initiated either by our chapter or another.
Engineers Without Borders projects also benefit the volunteers. Engineering education and practice in the United States is very much geared toward our needs in this country, to the refinement and sophistication of already adequate services and facilities, to further developing nations whose basic needs are generally met. Engineers Without Borders recognizes that the needs of the world do not stop at borders. There has arisen a mismatched distribution of engineering knowledge and basic needs - EWB attempts to bridge this gap through culturally aware, technically sound projects abroad. Every volunteer who works on an EWB project will come away knowing they've made a difference in the world.
Engineers Without Borders is NOT JUST FOR ENGINEERS! Though most EWB projects are technically oriented, and even though the organization name implies it, we will not be taking along our slide rules and high-waters. Many of EWB's projects require few specialist skills beyond dedication and hard work. We need volunteers from all disciplines, from every profession, of any age who are interested in the work we do. Having said that, we will strive to connect our volunteers to EWB projects that will add to their competence as engineers, provide some experience in traveling and working abroad, and help build practical problem solving skills as part of a team.
We are also very interested in forming links with professional engineers and firms in North Carolina. Ongoing involvement and collaboration both with other student chapters AND the professional engineering community is one of the most important parts of our work.
To find out more about EWB's projects, visit the national site at www.ewb-usa.org.
The chapter will not discriminate in any way on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender. |
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