Engineers Without Borders

Who We Are

Engineers Without Borders - Cornell is a group of passionate and highly motivated students who aim to create long-lasting solutions to problems in international communities. Members are given the opportunity to nurture their creative and technical expertise by designing and implementing sustainable engineering projects. Through collaboration with communities in developing countries around the world, our members are exposed to diverse cultures while gaining academic experience outside of the classroom environment.

Water Irrigation in Tanzania

Easy access to water is a commodity most people living in the developed world take for granted. However, many people in the developing world do not have the same access to this necessity. The community of Sunuka, Tanzania depend on their fields for their food and income but are forced to rely on unpredictable rainfall to water their crops. During the dry season farmers are tasked with the burden of bringing water from wells miles away, costing them valuable time that could be spent tending to their families, crops, or livelihood.

To enable the community with instant access to water, Engineers Without Borders Cornell is designing a gravity-fed irrigation system to transport water from the Rugufu river. Using a small pump, we will raise water from the Rugufu river to a higher elevation. From this point, irrigation canals will direct water to the fields. With the ability to transport river water to nearby fields, agriculture will have the opportunity to reach its maximum potential.

We had our first assessment trip in June 2018, and in April 2019, four of our team members traveled to Tanzania for our second assessment. The primary goal of the assessment trip was to collect data that will be used in designing the final irrigation system. With the COVID19 Pandemic, we began a remote implementation of the system in 2022, and within 2023, our members have traveled to Tanzania twice to monitor and finish the implementation. Finally in the Fall 2023 semester, the final extensions of the system are being implemented, and our team will begin looking for new projects within South or Central America.

SHUs (Sustainable Housing Units) in Tompkins County

The SHU (Sustainable Housing Unit) concept came about when the Domestic subteam of Engineers Without Borders: Cornell Chapter was in search of an impactful project to help both our local communities and those across the globe. As homelessness is rampant within Tompkins county and the country, our talented and diverse group of engineers were motivated to begin designing a tiny home that can be transported by car. This independence allows for individuals to travel with their homes, find stable work, have basic utilities, and save money for a future home or apartment. As these homes are temporary for individuals, it will allow the homeless individual to jumpstart their lives for the better.

Our team traveled to the community in Spring of 2022 to meet local elders and learn more about their needs. From there, the team has received approval for the work plan from CECorps, and they are now working hard to receive the final approvals for the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing construction sets from professional contacts within this next year.

Software Development

In the past, this subteam partnered with a local non-profit to build a sustainability-based app compatible with both iOS and Android. The app hopes to encourage the practice of carbon-offsetting, reducing emissions of CO2 in order to compensate for CO2 emissions made elsewhere. Our team hopes that our project will impact communities both locally and beyond the Ithaca area, ultimately having a lasting impact by making carbon-offsetting more accessible and encouraging sustainable practices. As of now, our team is working on finalizing aspects of the backend, and hopefully at the end of this semester, the app will be ready for deployment to the app store

As they transition from this project, this subteam is now partnered with Cornell Wardrobe, a group on campus that provides free business professional clothing for those who cannot access this, and we are excited to see what they develop. 

Digital Agriculture

Outbreaks of plant diseases, often left undetected, can be devastating for a local economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. To aid farmers, the subteam is building an airborne drone and a ground rover to assess large plots of crop fields in real time. The drone will provide a large aerial assessment of overall health which will then help the rover survey flagged parts for diseases underneath the canopy. Currently, our team is working hard to finish developing the algorithm for this solution alongside the mechanical aspects of the rover. As they begin to wrap up these designs, they are planning on an implementation trip in the near future to test this system. 

Business

This subteam is responsible for raising funds for both the international and domestic projects through fundraising, sponsorship, and events. This subteam is currently focusing on two projects. First, we are developing a reimagined website for EWB - Cornell, which will propel us to continue spreading our mission, amplifying our voice in the community, and recruiting new members. The second project we are working on is growing our presence on social media to raise awareness of our activities to create a more sustainable world. Alongside this, our business team has also included an engineering curriculum that is being implemented among young students in the local Ithaca area to learn about engineering principles and get them excited about STEM!

How You Can Help

Your support will help our projects listed above become a reality, and we are so excited to see each of them to completion in the coming months. Any support given will greatly help our team cover the costs for future trips and materials needed. Members of EWB-Cornell have the opportunity to nurture their creative and technical expertise through projects like an irrigation system to better the community of Sunuka, an app pushing for sustainability, housing units for homeless individuals, and much more. We are striving to create a long-lasting solutions all over the world in different communities just as we did with our last project in Calcha, Bolivia.

Your support will help our team cover the costs for educational experiences of our members through community outreach, global involvement, and fulfilling engineering projects. 100% of the funds from this crowdfunding campaign will go towards our future projects. Only with your help can we make this a reality.