|
|
|
|
May, 2007 - Newsletter and Meeting Notice |
|
Next General Chapter
Meeting:
Our next chapter will meeting
will be Wednesday,
May 9th at 7:00p at Rice
University in Room 253 of
the
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, which is Building 46 on the map. Agenda: 7:00
to 7:20 pm: Chapter updates 7:20
to 7:35 pm: EWB-USA Video
produced by ASME 7:35
to 7:50 pm: Dave Rubin will
describe his trip to Mexico as mentor for one of the EWB-Rice project groups.
7:50 to 8:30 pm: Project Breakout Sessions UPCOMING
EVENTS
May 16th: Dave presents to the National Management
Association in Clear Lake June 9th: EWB Training Workshop on Public Health and
Conducting Health Surveys June
13th: General Chapter Meeting mid-June
(Date TBD) : Professional Development Seminar on Urban Planning July
11th: General Chapter Meeting July
14th: EWB Training Workshop on
Project Management. UPCOMING TRAVEL April
24th - May 6th: El Salvador:
Colonia Esmeralda retaining wall inauguration and continued water testing May
6th - May 20th: El Salvador:
Member traveling as a mentor for EWB-Rice water project in El Pital May
26th-June 1st: Nicaragua:
Water and power supply project implementation in partnership with Rice
University EWB chapter July:
India: Water station
implementation in partnership with Southern Methodist University EWB chapter.
July
26th- August 5th: Bolivia:
Health Survey and water project assessment trip PROFESSIONALS NEEDED During the EWB-USA conference
last month, we discussed the importance of establishing the South Central
Region, which consists of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. The goal
of the region is to offset the burden on EWB-USA and support all the chapters
in our region by sharing resources and providing training workshops. One of the primary goals of
the region is to establish a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which
reviews EWB projects. The TAC meets every month by teleconference, and views
presentations by both student and professional chapters. They are the ones to
approve or decline project implementations. The time commitment is
approximately 5 hours/month. We are actively seeking more professionals to get involved in this role. Professionals should be qualified in a relevant field of engineering or development work (water, sanitation, electrical, geotechnical, structural, mechanical, medical, cultural, etc.). If interested, please contact Christine Chang (christine.t.chang@gmail.com) or Russ Ehlinger (russ.ehlinger@rice.edu), our regional VPs. EWB POLO SHIRT ORDER We're organizing a bulk order
of EWB shirts through EWB-USA. They are simple polo style shirts with the EWB
logo on the left side. Shirts are available in X-Small, Small, Medium Large,
X-Large, 1X, 2X, 3X. in the following colors: Men: Ash, Black, Maroon, Royal, White, Navy, Putty,
Red, Forest, Citrus, and Mango Women: Mint, Soft
Yellow, Sky
Blue, Lavender,
Pink, Ash, Black, Maroon, Royal, White, Navy, Putty, Red, Forest, Citrus, and Mango If you would like to order
one, please contact Sara at (sbeck@ewbhouston.org)
STUDENT MENTOR NEEDED EWB-Texas A&M University is
searching for a professional mentor for their project in Transmara, Kenya.
They are looking for professional mentors with experience with water systems,
construction, and/or sanitation for the project. Project Mvua wishes to
increase potable water supply to 330 children and extending family members at
Oloosinon Primary School by making water available to them in both the rainy
and dry seasons. This project most likely involves a rainwater
catchment system, although they are also looking at alternatives for when
this system will not be sufficient in the dry season. They have had trouble
finding professional mentors in College Station, and would love to pair up
with a mentor in the region to help. If anyone is interested or has any
questions, please e-mail Meg at mailto:megfdavis@gmail.com.
LEADERSHIP TRANSITION This June, the role of
president will transition from Sara Beck, one of the chapter's cofounders who
has been president since our start in Feb '05 to
Brian Davis, one of our most enthusiastic members who served as Project
Manager for two of our El Salvador projects. Please support Brian is his new
role! Sara will serve as VP for the time being. |
EL SALVADOR
The retaining wall in Colonia
Esmeralda has been successfully completed! The wall now provides
stability to the community's main road and has created a safe passage for the
area's many schoolchildren. The members of Colonia Esmeralda are
extremely thankful to EWB-Central Houston for its efforts in providing them
with a clean water supply and wall to stabilize their road.
|
|
INDIA
|
|
|
BOLIVIA The Bolivia project is now
preparing an implementation trip for late July - early August. The main goal
of this implementation trip will be to conduct health surveys in order to
establish a baseline for impact of the water project. Another trip objective
is to establish a deeper commitment with the communities by providing them an
opportunity to comment on the proposed design and become invested in the
project goals. The team will spend time prior to and during the trip on
improving the geological information on the area before beginning the
drilling portion of the project. As always volunteers, especially those with
water well drilling experience, are always welcome
on the project team. Please contact project team leader Marcos Flores mailto:marcos.flores@chevron.com)
with any questions. |
|
|
EL SALVADOR The Tiembla Tierra and Santa
Carlota pipeline project is underway. All of our documentation is available here. Our team meets every
other Saturday near 610 and San Felipe with a supporting telecon. Our next
team meeting is May 12th at 11am. Email Erin Lyons (erinklyons@gmail.com) and Sara Beck (sbeck@ewbhouston.org) if you're
interested in participating. NICARAGUA The EWB-Rice chapter is
currently constructing a straw-bale health clinic in Bernadino Diaz Ochoa,
Nicaragua. Later this month, three of our professional members, AnnMarie
Spexet, P.E., Sara Beck, and Ed Tom will travel to the clinic to supply the
water and power system. The water system will consist of rainwater catchment
supplemented by well water. The power system will consist of solar-powered
lights, a battery, an inverter, and AC electrical devices such as a
refrigerator and UV sterilizer. Thank you to the West Houston Rotary Club for
their support of this project!
|
|
|
DONATE! Like all EWB projects, our
projects are completely financed by donations. All donations are tax
deductible. You may contribute mail or use the internet at your convenience. To
donate by internet, go here. To
donate by check or money order: Address to EWB-USA, but write “Central Houston Professionals” in the memo field. Send your donation to: Engineers without Borders –
USA
|
PEACE CORPS INFO SESSION Peace Corps Information Meeting Tuesday,
May 22 nd 6:30
PM - 8:00 PM This event will focus on
mid-career professionals, as well as Americans who feel too young to retire
and might consider Peace Corps later in life. United Way Community Resource
Center
|
|
"If
a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who
are rich." - John F. Kennedy |
|
|
**To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this email list, email Pauravi Shah mailto:pauravi@alum.mit.edu EWB-USA is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that partners with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life, while involving and training internationally responsible engineering students and professionals. |
|
