Welcome to EWB-UVA! We are an organization that seeks to place engineering students in impoverished regions of the world to perform appropriate socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable projects. As an engineering student, you will have the opportunity to receive full funding for a project that will allow you to learn about foreign cultures and socially responsible engineering while getting course credit! Feel free to explore these pages and get involved!

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Upcoming Events/Deadlines:

November: Center for Global Health Scholarhsip Workshops

8-9 pm, Every Tuesday
IRC Fishbowl

December 1st: IPE Scholarship Deadline

December 3rd: CGH Scholarhsip Deadline
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DONATIONS - Donations are tax deductible! Send checks to:

University of Virginia Fund
P. O. Box 3446
Charlottesville, VA 22903
434-243-9008 (office)
Make checks payable to the University of Virginia fund and write Engineers Without Borders in the memo. You will be provided documentation for the tax writeoff. Thanks!

Meeting the Challenge

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.

Imperative

With a current population of 6 billion, the world is becoming a place in which human populations are more crowded, more consuming, more polluting, more connected, and in many ways less diverse than at any time in history. There is growing recognition that humans are altering the Earth’s natural systems at all scales from local to global at an unprecedented rate in the human history. Such changes can be understood only by comparison with events that marked the great transitions in the geo-biological eras of Earth’s history. The question now arises whether it is possible to satisfy the needs of an exponentially growing population while preserving the carrying capacity of our ecosystems and the diversity of our cultural systems.

In the next two decades, almost 2 billion additional people are expected to populate the Earth, a number roughly equivalent to the world’s total population in 1940. It is estimated that 95% of that growth will take place in developing or under-developed countries. This growth will create demands on an unprecedented scale for energy, food, land, water, transportation, materials, waste disposal, earth moving, health care, environmental cleanup, and infrastructure. The role of engineers will be critical in fulfilling those demands since most of the growth will take place in large urban areas and in the developing world.

It has been estimated that today 80% (5 billion people) of the world's population still live in poverty. Statistics show that as citizens of one planet, we are living off our support systems in an unhealthy, degrading, inequitable, and unsustainable manner. Examples of worldwide problems include:

20% of population lack clean water
40% of population lack adequate sanitation
20% of population lack adequate housing
70% of population are unable to read
20% of population earn less than one dollar a day
20% of population are underfed and 20% overfed
20% of population suffer from malnutrition (35% under age 5)

35,000 people die every day from hunger related causes
250,000 children die each week of malnutrition and preventable diseases
40% of population are at risk with respect to malaria
Deaths from AIDS have increased more than 6 times over the 1990s

Studies on the evolution of Earth's ecosystems have shown that as stewards of planet Earth, humans have a limited ability to comprehend their interaction with natural systems. In many instances, technology and engineering have contributed to the degradation of natural systems and in the making of a wasteworld rather than a promised technological wonderworld. Today, it is estimated that:

50% of the wetlands and 50% of the forests are gone
70% of the world's fisheries are in danger
65% of agricultural lands have seriously degraded soil
Freshwater availability per person is down 50% since 1950

Groundwater is over-pumped by 160 billion cubic meters per year

In order to address the global problems that planet Earth is facing today and is likely to face in the future, humans need to acquire a broader perspective. In general, most human-made projects involve the interactions of non-natural systems (built environment, anthrosphere) with natural systems (biosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere). Engineering, being a central element of human society, needs to understand and take into account the relationships between natural and non-natural systems when creating structures needed to sustain the quality of life of current and future generations.

A worldwide transition to a more holistic approach to engineering will require: (i) a major paradigm shift from control of nature to participation with nature, (ii) an increasing awareness of ecosystems, ecosystems services and natural capital preservation and restoration, and (iii) a new nature and human mutually-enhancing mindset that embraces the principles of sustainable development, renewable resources management, appropriate technology, natural capitalism, biomimicry, biophilia, biosoma, and systems thinking.

Another issue of equal importance is the education of engineers interested in addressing the problems that are most specific to developing communities. Problems include water provisioning and purification, sanitation, power production, shelter, site planning, infrastructure, food production and distribution, and communication, among many others. Since such global problems are not usually addressed in engineering curricula, we do not have engineering schools that educate engineers to address the needs of the most destitute people on our planet, many of them living in industrialized countries.

Furthermore, engineers have a critical role to play in addressing the complex problems associated with refugees, displaced populations, and large-scale population movement worldwide resulting from political conflicts, famine, land shortage, or natural hazards. Some of these problems have been brought back to our awareness on a daily basis since the tragedy of September 11, 2001. The engineer’s role is critical to the relief work provided by host governments and humanitarian organizations. It can take multiple forms ranging from creating physical infrastructures and sustainable and durable solutions that contribute to peace, welfare and security, to designing solutions that promote sound environmental management practices in order to reduce environmental degradation associated with displaced populations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), currently 1.8 billion people (30% of the world’s population) live in conflict zones, in transition, or in situations of permanent instability.

The Challenge

There is a need for training a new generation of engineers who could better meet the challenges and needs of the developing world. The challenge is the education of engineers: (i) who have the skills and tools appropriate to address the issues that our planet is facing today and is likely to face within the next 20 years; (ii) who are aware of the needs of the developing world; and (iii) who can contribute to the relief of the endemic problems of poverty afflicting developing communities worldwide.

Meeting The Challenge

The aforementioned problems require a new way of thinking, and a long-term approach. Quoting Albert Einstein, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when they were created". As important as international aid programs are, many community problems cannot be solved by short-term international aid programs. These problems will require the dedication of a new generation of engineers, working hand-in-hand with local communities, social scientists, economists, businesses, human rights organizations, other non-government organizations, and international development organizations. EWB-USA assists in training this new generation of engineers through hands-on involvement in new and ongoing national and international development projects.

Disclaimer

Engineers Without Borders - USA is not in any way affiliated with Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders is a registered trademark of Bureau International de Médecins Sans Frontieres.

04/18/2003