UConn's EWB Hosts Northeast Regional Conference

During the Engineers Without Borders 2024 Northeast Regional Conference on March 24, more than 100 engineering students, professionals, and faculty advisors from across the northeast gathered on UConn's campus to celebrate and share their recent projects while attending technical sessions, interactive workshops, hands-on training, and professional development sessions.

Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that supports community-driven development programs worldwide through partnerships that design and implement sustainable engineering projects. Nationwide, 155 colleges and universities have EWB chapters, of which 42 are in the Northeast region.

"UConn's EWB Chapter was delighted to host the 2024 conference and learn about how other chapters are contributing their knowledge and skills to help communities around the world," says EWB-UConn faculty advisor Davis Chacón-Hurtado, assistant research professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute. "The conference provided an ideal opportunity to network and bring our ideas together while offering the undergraduates several skill-building sessions."

Held at the Innovation Partnership Building (IPB), the conference provided sessions on career development, resume writing, public speaking, fundraising, documentary filmmaking, and trip planning.

Special guests included hydrogeologist Nadia Glucksberg and geologist-environmental scientist Helena Hollauer who presented a talk on "Finding Water: How and Where to Set the Well." Both speakers are active with Engineers Without Borders. Glucksberg has made more than a dozen trips to developing communities where she's worked to provide potable water or infrastructure to support public health.

In addition, EWB partner organization Community Engineering Corps set up an information booth. The volunteer-led group works with communities across the U.S. that are unable to easily retain or afford traditional engineering services.

Conference attendees also shared their recent projects during a day-long poster session. While EWB-UConn did not compete, Worchester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts), Northeastern University (Massachusetts) and Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey) took the first, second, and third place awards for their presentations. The poster session also featured projects from EWB chapters as far as University of Maryland.

"The conference brought together students and professionals that want to use engineering to make the world a better place for more people," says Jeffrey McCutcheon, Centennial Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. "It's a very important change in the way that engineering is perceived and I believe better addresses the interest of our next generation of engineers."

"The conference brought together students and professionals that want to use engineering to make the world a better place for more people." - Jeffrey McCutcheon

Members of EWB-UConn spoke to other chapter members about their ongoing projects: a sanitation mission in Peru and sustainable, fresh water access in Kenya.

The event was sponsored by Pratt & Whitney, Fuel Cell Energy, Unilever, Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technology, and UConn Technology Park. Gabriella Frey '15 (ENG), senior scientist at Unilever, along with Josue Martinez and Uma Lakshman from EWB-NY led the organization of the 2024 conference. Frey served as a member of EWB-UConn for four years.

"The conference went wonderfully," says EWB-UConn president and mechanical engineering major Brian Machado '25 (ENG). "We had a very good turnout, and everyone seemed to have a great time meeting members of other chapters and professionals. Every chapter there was well represented."