Borders USA Research Articles

Capstone Design in Engineering Community Engagement Course

Community engagement is a growing area of attention within civil engineering education due to student interest and evidence of its benefits in supporting learning outcomes, among other factors. At Purdue University, a large curricular community-engaged design program, Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), has partnered with Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) to give students academic credit for international civil engineering projects. EPICS and EWB-USA align in their utilization of multi-year partnerships between communities and vertically-integrated student project teams. The EPICS EWB-USA course section served as the capstone experience environment for a team of senior design students from the Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering in the 2019–2020 academic year. This paper provides a case study to illustrate how to meet the new ABET Criterion 3 (student outcomes), in the broad space of civil engineering and related fields, with experiences that incorporate community-engaged learning. The pedagogical techniques and assessment methods utilized to support the development and measurement of the student’s outcomes are described. Discussion is presented on the interplay of course components and specific student learning outcomes. We believe this example can serve as a reference for others working to integrate senior design and community-engaged engineering design, to support student learning outcomes as well as positive community partnerships and impact.

Community Engineering Corps Focuses on Underserved Communities

Community Engineering Corps (CECorps) is a collaborative program with the American Society of Civil Engineers, AWWA, and Engineers Without Borders USA to bring more than 200,000 technical professionals and students together to serve communities across the United States that don't have the resources to access engineering services. With a strong commitment to community‐driven projects, these volunteers work alongside community members to design solutions to identified problems.

An investigation of factors contributing towards failure or success of implemented EWB-USA water-well borehole projects

ABSTRACT This paper investigates 90 different factors contributing towards the success of Engineers Without Borders USA water-well borehole projects based on four indicators. Seventy-five per cent of the 22 well projects studied were successful according to at least three of the four success definitions. Different factors impact the success indicators in complex ways. Community engagement should be sought out, though not necessarily during implementation. An experienced travel team, surprisingly, tends to create less successful projects, but this is improved by performing periodic control checks or supplementary pre-implementation surveys.

Building on Hope

As we begin a new year—AWWA's 140th, by the way—I cannot help but feel hopeful. Even though there isn't a true bright line between years and we still need to wear masks to protect each other's health (at least as 2021 begins), I feel hope. From time to time I have been known to say, “The world is run by those who show up.” The last time I publicly used that phrase was at the Young Professionals Summit last February. The point I make with this phrase is that if you want to change the world for the better, you must engage in the solution—you must show up. From the number of tweets, it appears the phrase and the concept resonate with the young professional audience. That, too, provides hope. Almost seven years ago, AWWA, Engineers Without Borders USA, and the American Society of Civil Engineers banded together to create Community Engineering Corps (CECorps). CECorps’ noble mission is to bring underserved communities and volunteers together to advance local engineering solutions. Learn about the Community Engineering Corps at www.CommunityEngineeringCorps.org. Every year, CECorps “shows up” to change the world for the better. While the technical support CECorps provides to underserved communities is critical, the magic of CECorps is the power of hope its volunteers bring to the communities they serve. Two recent examples show how CECorps helped with water infrastructure solutions. The Culver Lake Water Company—despite the implication of its name—depends on a single well (not a lake) as its water supply. The well is situated in a 1910 concrete structure. The system was challenged in meeting New Jersey regulatory standards, and the company lacked the necessary engineering analysis and funding to address the infrastructure issues until a small team of CECorps volunteers from AWWA's New Jersey Section stepped in to help. Today, equipped with a detailed report and analysis from the CECorps team, Culver Lake Water Company has a clear path for financing and improving its system. In Seattle, the educational opportunities at Nathan Hale High School include a commercial-sized greenhouse and a half-acre school garden—known as the Nathan Hale Urban Farm. The educational idea is to provide students with hands-on experiences that connect them to the earth, the food they eat, and their community. With the program's introduction came increased water demand for the school and the need for a better water solution. CECorps volunteers provided a preliminary design and concept for a rainwater collection system to supply the garden with water. The preliminary design and concept were used as part of a grant application which, along with additional assistance from the CECorps team, successfully led to a finished project for the school. CECorps’ core values require it to go beyond the technical projects, knowledge-sharing, and providing hope to these communities and groups. CECorps members also are committed to addressing infrastructure challenges in a socially responsible way. This includes promoting solutions that improve equity in access to public infrastructure, considering the needs of diverse populations, and engaging volunteers who reflect the communities helped by CECorps. In 2020, in support of advancing social responsibility, CECorps entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). NSBE is a 45-year-old, student-governed, nonprofit organization. Cementing this collaboration is the fact that NSBE's mission also envisions hope for a better world. NSBE's mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and have a positive impact on the community. Even with great partners like NSBE, CECorps may not solve all the infrastructure challenges for all the underserved communities; but that will not stop us from showing up, providing hope, and solving what we can where we can. Steve Barr, who leads AWWA's CECorps work, puts it this way: “Solving these infrastructure challenges sometimes seems like pushing a big boulder uphill, but through CECorps I see the passion AWWA members have to help those who need help the most. I like showing up for that. It gives me hope.” It is a new year, so if you'd like to become a volunteer for CECorps, contact Steve Barr at sbarr@awwa.org to learn about how you or your section can get involved.

Learning and Impact Assessment of Water and Access Projects on Community Health: La Garrucha, Guatemala

While many infrastructure projects fail, many succeed. Unfortunately, we may never learn the important lessons to be gained because we fail to evaluate them many years after implementation. This study assesses two engineering projects implemented by the Engineers Without Borders USA, Marquette University Chapter projects: 1) a vehicular bridge that enhances access to health care, education and markets; and 2) a potable water distribution system that provides clean water to 1300 community members. The community’s primary goal for the program was to improve the health of its citizens, which they self-identified as “a crisis”. The assessment reviewed the pre-implementation and ten-year post implementation data for infant mortality, maternal mortality and school absences due to water borne diseases. The results show dramatic improvements in all three areas with the infant mortality rate per 1000 births being reduced from 38 to 2; the maternal mortality rate per 1000 births being reduced from 15 to 0 and the school absences per month moving from 310 to 2. The “best practices” of the program’s implementation and 10-year review are documented to assist other organizations implementing similar programs.

Issues of Privilege in University Service-Learning

Service-learning activities, such as development projects organized under the Engineers Without Borders USA organization, are popular on many university campuses as a mechanism for providing applied, global learning experiences for both engineering and non-engineering students. Existing studies have found that these experiences are meaningful for students and help them to apply what they learn in the classroom to the “real world” while learning valuable teamwork, communication, project management, and other skills. In this paper, we report on our ongoing research about EWB-USA participation and outcomes and, using case studies from our ethnographic research, discuss barriers to EWB-USA project participation among less privileged students. The implications this issue has for institutions interested in using service-learning to meet core learning outcomes as well as the need to diversify service-learning will be considered.

Challenges and lessons learnt from a sanitation project in rural Bolivia

ABSTRACTThe University of Arizona chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA has faced multiple challenges involving community participation in rural development, in the Andean community of Marquirivi, Bolivia, both in rural design and in community participation. Despite successful construction of a shower house in 2014, the EWB-USA UA team experience with community participation revealed the numerous complexities involved in engaging successfully with communities. The importance of previous aid in a community with development projects also emerged as critical in shaping actions. This article discusses lessons learnt and recommendations for rural infrastructure projects, as well as the EWB-USA model of sustainable development.

Sustainable Development in Rural Ghana

Since 2004, Columbia students have been partnering with Obodan, a rural farming village in western Ghana, to develop and implement engineering solutions to problems like water distribution and sanitation. The overarching organization, Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB), has been supervising both the technical details of the projects as well as the community development and adoption thereof, as it does for hundreds of similar projects around the world. Working in Obodan with my classmates and EWB has been the defining experience of my time as an undergraduate, as we learn the possibilities and limitations of engineering, the joys and pitfalls of development work, and how we can carry these lessons throughout our personal and professional lives. This photo essay aims to describe the activities of a typical EWB trip and reflect on the role our work plays in sustainable development.

A Methodology for Exploring, Documenting, and Improving Humanitarian Service Learning in the University

Through the use of service learning in higher education, universities hope to both provide real benefit to the partnering community and allow students to develop a greater understanding of course curriculum, their discipline, and their personal positioning within society. Through these educational activities, service learning seeks to engage students in critical thinking processes while simultaneously achieving a greater sense of civic and social responsibility through targeted participation in meaningful community service activities. However, in practice, service learning can take a variety of forms predicated on technical, cultural, societal, and political constraints. Thus, while some work shows positive effects on students’ attitudes, social behaviour, and academic performance, less research has demonstrated long-term community impact. Nor has much research shown that participation in service learning has a long-term impact on students' ethical perspectives and frameworks, and whether those ethical frames carry on to their professional careers. Moreover, as institutions partner with such humanitarian service groups as Engineers Without Borders USA, we know considerably less about the institutional cultures and climates that are developed through such partnerships and how sustainable they are, given those inherent technical, political and cultural limitations. As a first step towards these goals, this paper proposes a methodology for investigating the impacts of service learning activities on both the students and communities involved.

What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports some progress on the global problem of a lack of improved water and sanitation. Between 1990 and 2012, the number of people that gained improved access to improved drinking water reached 2.3 billion people, while the number of children that have died from diarrheal diseases has fallen from 1.5 million deaths to just above 600,000 deaths (1, 2). However, it is estimated that there are still 1.8 billion people using a fecally contaminated source of drinking water (3). In addition, 748 million people continue to lack clean water, 1 billion continue to practice open defecation, and 2.5 billion people still lack adequate sanitation (3). In response to this global issue, Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) began with a mission 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. Their 15,000+ members work with communities to find appropriate solutions to improve water supply, sanitation, energy, agriculture, civil works and structures. Their development approach is based on standard engineering methodology, including problem identification, assessment, alternatives analysis, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. EWB-USA began in 2002 and currently has members working in over 40 countries around the world. The majority of their work is focused in Latin America and Africa, but their programs are expanding to Asia and the Pacific Basin. Currently, EWB-USA members are working in 17 programs in six countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Nepal, and Fiji. Success in these programs is defined by measuring overall impact and learning from failure. Impact is measured through Standard Monitoring Indicators and learning is accomplished by documenting failures and lessons learned. Through this work, the organization has impacted 2.5 million lives through primarily water supply and sanitation projects by focusing on sustainable engineering solutions, community-education, capacity building, and appropriate technologies and local resources.

TACs, ARCs and Project Process at EWB-USA

Engineers Without Borders USA has been operating and evolving since 2002. As an organization with many student and professional chapters working around the world, EWB-USA has put in place structures to review proposed community programs as well as specific engineering projects. The Application Review Committee, or ARC, considers new program proposals put forward by communities, while Technical Advisory Committees, or TACs, evaluate implementation plans for infrastructure projects. ARC and TAC members are volunteers with relevant technical knowledge and experience, many of whom are also EWB-USA chapter members. EWB-USA technical and chapter relations staff review progress at key points in the project cycle; however, this paper reviews the mainly volunteer efforts at two important moments in the project process.

Institutional Hurdles to Student Humanitarian Groups: Lessons Learned from a Failed Project

This paper examines the authors’ experience with a small scale, community level development project and the challenges of working with a network of institutions. Small-scale development projects are supported by a network of institutions that are essential to project success but create an inherent level of complication that may be daunting to student-based humanitarian organizations. Through a thorough examination of this institutional system, its complexity, and mechanisms which can lead to a project failure, this paper contributes to the knowledge base available to the development community. First presented is the background and development of a University of Idaho Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders chapter and their initial project in Bolivia, which ultimately failed. Our discussion will focus primarily on the interactions between the chapter and the primary institutions that we worked with including the University of Idaho, Engineers Without Borders USA, and Engineers in Action Bolivia. This is followed by an analysis of these interactions, the hurdles that arose within each institution, and recommendations for addressing such challenges. By examining these institutional hurdles, our goal is to provide other organizations with information useful to navigate the complex environment of community development work.

Engineering for Change

This article elaborates about E4C’s website, www.engineeringforchange.org, which seeks to connect engineers and humanitarian organizations to create smart, sustainable development projects. Its focus includes projects on water, energy, health, infrastructure, agriculture, sanitation, and information technology. Its purpose is to serve the underserved populations of the world. The website makes it easy for engineers to volunteer their time and skills, and for humanitarian groups to find the engineering help they need. The site will also help them discover what others have done, so each new project does not have to reinvent past innovations—or repeat mistakes. E4C is an initiative of ASME and two founding partners, IEEE and Engineers Without Borders–USA. The site is divided into seven areas of interest: water, energy, health, structures, agriculture, sanitation, and information systems.

A Model for Sustainable Humanitarian Engineering Projects

The engineering profession should embrace a new mission statement—to contribute to the building of a more sustainable, stable, and equitable world. Recently, engineering students and professionals in the United States have shown strong interest in directly addressing the needs of developing communities worldwide. That interest has taken the form of short-and medium-term international trips through Engineers Without Borders—USA and similar organizations. There are also several instances where this kind of outreach work has been integrated into engineering education at various US institutions such as the University of Colorado at Boulder. This paper addresses the challenges and opportunities associated with balancing two goals in engineering for humanitarian development projects: (i) effective sustainable community development, and (ii) meaningful education of engineers. Guiding principles necessary to meet those two goals are proposed.