Nov. 11, 2010
Contact: Amy Hewes
805-756-6402; ahewes@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly Chapter of Engineers Without Borders Receives Two Awards
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Five years of working with the residents of a remote village in Thailand on a water filtration system has earned Cal Poly’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) two awards totaling $5,000.
Cal Poly received both the EWB-USA West Coast Region Outstanding Chapter Award and the first-place award in the inaugural Tyler Palmer Design Competition at the organization’s regional conference in October.
The Palmer award, which includes a $3,000 prize, seeks to inspire innovative and sustainable engineering designs. Cal Poly’s winning entry was a gravity-fed sand filter developed to provide clean drinking water to the 3,000 residents of the Thai mountain village Huai Nam Khun.
“The Thailand project was selected for the award because it’s unique and because of our commitment to the community of Huai Nam Khun over the past five years,” said Aaron Opdyke, director of the Cal Poly EWB chapter.
“In particular, the team showed exceptional work in creating a scalable technology sand filter that fits the surrounding communities and region. In addition, the system was designed with a user interface that makes maintenance and repairs possible from the local community.”
About Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders is a nonprofit humanitarian organization established to support community-driven development programs worldwide through partnerships that design and implement sustainable engineering projects. EWB-USA maintains 225 dedicated chapters including university chapters on 180 campuses in the United States. For more information about EWB-USA, visit www.ewb-usa.org.
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