Civil and Environmental Engineering Department 420 Westwood Plaza

5732 Boelter Hall

Los Angeles, CA 90095

How to Get Involved

• Come check out one of our general meetings.

We meet on Tuesday nights during the school year, from 6pm-7pm in Engr IV 38-138. We will go over some general

club topics, then split up into project groups. If it is your first time, just talk to Suzanne, the president , after the meeting

and she will answer any of your questions.

• Become a member of Engineers Without Borders USA.

Help make a difference by becoming part of a nationally renowned group of volunteers that partner with those in need

around the world. Our members are building bridges and reliable shelters; they are working with the communities to

access clean water and electricity and are utilizing their education and skill sets abroad. Become a member and change

a life! What are you waiting for? Get involved with Engineers Without Borders USA today!

Visit http://www.ewb-usa.org/get-involved/membership for more details.

• Consider being a sponsor for any of our sustainable projects.

Your financial support plays an integral role in helping us see our plans into action. Whether you are part of the Bruin

family, a trusted friend, or a corporate supporter, you can help us MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Our students take on the

entire project, from conception, all the way through assessment, design, construction, and follow-up. Now we need your

support to help us continue the effort. Credit card donations allocated to the University of California LA Chapter can be

made online at http://ssl.charityweb.net/ewbusa/. Checks written to “UC Regents” (with the memo: EWB-UCLA) can be

mailed to the address on the left. Thank you for helping us build a better world by engineering sustainable solutions.

ENGINEERS

WITHOUT

BORDERS

STUDENT CHAPTER EWBUCLA

CONTACT

OUR MISSION

EWB-USA supports

community-driven

development programs

worldwide by collaborating

with local partners to design

and implement sustainable

engineering projects, while

creating transformative

experiences and

responsible leaders.

OUR VISION

A world in which the

communities we serve have

the capacity to sustainably

meet their basic human

needs, and that our

members have enriched

global perspectives through

the innovative professional

educational opportunities

that the EWB-USA

program provides.

Helping communities meet their basic human needs.

EWB-UCLA STUDENT CHAPTER

Here at UCLA, we are furthering the EWB-USA

mission one project at a time. In 2005, we helped

start a health clinic in Samli, Thailand. In 2006, we

set up a sustainable computer lab for a children’s

center in Jocotenango, Guatemala, and donated

computers to an orphanage in Lira, Uganda. From

2007-2010, we built a retaining wall in Mexico, a

rainwater catchment system in Guatemala, a

schoolhouse in Thailand, and latrines in Nicaragua.

Today, we are working on a schoolhouse for a

community in Las Breñas, Nicaragua, and finishing

up our rainwater catchment system in Guatemala.

Our BOOTUP Project, which was started in 2005,

donates refurbished computers to local schools in

the Los Angeles area.

this issue

Mission, Vision, & Past Projects P.1

Guatemala Water Project P.2

Nicaragua S.E.D. Project P.4

BOOTUP LA Project P.6

EWB Testimonials P.7

How to Get Involved P.8

I S S U E

S P R I N G 2 0 1 2

01

EWB-USA

Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is a

nonprofit humanitarian organization established to

support community-driven development programs

worldwide through partnerships that design and

implement sustainable engineering projects. EWB-

USA members, comprised of professionals and

students of engineering or other disciplines, work

with local communities and NGOs in over 45 coun-

tries around the world on projects such as water,

renewable energy, sanitation and more. EWB-USA

has grown from little more than a handful of mem-

bers in 2002 to over 12,000 members today and

has over 350 projects worldwide. EWB-USA main-

tains over 250 dedicated student and professional

chapters, and has touched the lives of more than

one million people.

Kukra River, Nicaragua Latrine Sanitation Project. Completed in 2009. Above: digging out the topsoil. Right: in front of the finished latrine.

Chocantiry, Guatemala Rain Harvest & Water Distribution Project

Began construction in 2010 No Lae, Thailand Schoolhouse Project, completed in 2009

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

420 Westwood Plaza

5732 Boelter Hall

Los Angeles, CA 90095

ewbucla@gmail.com

HTTP://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/SITE/EWBUCLA/

HTTP://WWW.EWB -LA.ORG

PRESIDENT

Suzanne Brown

Special thanks to the following organizations for their support:

8 1

“Having spent four years in Model UN and three in a debate club, I found a growing passion for the issues that often popped up in these clubs. Ranging from pota-ble drinking water to providing primary education (essentially, the Millennium Developmental Goals), the hardships faced by a large portion of the global popula-tion every year depressed but encouraged me to learn more and to do more. Coming to UCLA as an electrical engineer major, I understand that the likelihood of my future career crossing paths with my passion is small. Thus, I came to Engineers Without Borders as a way to pursue my passion. This club fit exactly into what I was looking for - a way to continue my passion but through an engineering related route.”

Derek Meng First Year Electrical Engineering

Since coming to UCLA this year, I’ve made an effort to try out just about every civil engineering club on campus. As much as I’ve enjoyed being a part of these different projects, my time spent with En-gineer Without Border’s Nicaragua Project has definitely been the most rewarding. When you work with EWB, not only do you get to develop engineering skills, you have the opportunity to use these skills to benefit others as well. This is what makes EWB such a unique club and what has led me continue to be involved in the Nicaragua project. I’m proud to be a part of EWB, and I’m excited to travel with the team to Nicaragua this summer to put our design into action!

Crystal Lin Fourth Year Chemical Engineering

"I'm involved in EWB because it benefits not only myself and other EWB members, but also people in need on a global scale. EWB gives us the chance to take what we have learned in class and apply it to a project for a community in need. In high school, I was able to partake in my church's annual trip to Mexico where we would build a few houses for families in need. It was such a great experience getting to know the families and building the house, and EWB has allowed me to continue volunteering and helping and giving to others where I have been blessed. I can't wait to go to Nicaragua this September!"

Nico Chaves First Year Civil Engineering

“I joined Engineers Without Borders be-cause I wanted to participate in a project that would give me the opportunities to both help others in need and apply my engineering education that I’ve learned in the classroom. After a trip to Ethiopia in 2008 to study the success of different drinking water systems and well projects, I came back wanting to go in a certain di-rection in my life. EWB provided that route. I am happy to say that as an under-grad, I learned as much about the Nicara-gua Project through volunteering. As a graduate student, I have continued partici-pating, but I feel far better equipped to help realize the projects goals.”

“It is easy to get jaded living in the United States. Life here is quite comfortable and it is easy to over exagger-ate personal problems until stepping into someone else’s shoes and see how they live. Although there is poverty no matter where you live, participating with Engineers without Borders (EWB) gave me the opportunity and challenge to utilize my engineering skills for a country/community not familiar to me. On a more local level, par-ticipating in EWB has been very rewarding. Teaching fellow members who are willing to step up to the chal-lenge and learn more about building construction, has been one of my best experiences in UCLA. Their passion and energy to help complete strangers motivates me and gives me confidence in what I do. Finally our mentors are more than willing to teach us how to become better engi-neers as well as encourage us to become better people. Even though one person cannot solve all the world’s problems, but hopefully our collective effort through EWB nudges the world towards a more positive direction.”

Dasha Gloutak Second Year Mechanical Engineering

WHY ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH EWB?

Each member has his or her own story behind why they are involved with Engineers Without Borders.

Maybe their reasons will inspire you to become an active member as well. Read on to find out more.

Eugene De Valle, P.E. Ph. D. Candidate Structural Engineering

Henry Phan Masters Student Environmental Engineering

“Simply put, I left my heart in Nicaragua, and I want to see this project through. I want little Diego, Noelia, and Carla to benefit from our schoolhouse. I am also attracted to the interdiscipli-nary engineering partner-ships formed through EWB. Working with Civil E, Mech E, and EE students has been rewarding and valua-ble.”

Provide meaningful en-

gineering and project

management experience

that is well rounded in

nature.

Momostenango, Guatemala

PROJECT STATUS

PROJECT IMPACT

Number of persons affected

Directly: 90

15 Tanks Constructed

LOCAL NGO PARTNER

CassSito is a non-profit organiza-

tion that helps to provide solu-

tions and incentives to Guatema-

lan communities to encourage

their children to attend and finish

their education all the way

through high school.

PROJECTED COSTS

The total cost of the project for

this year is $12,000.

PROJECT & TRAVEL TEAM

- Project Lead -

Brandon Lanthier

- Engineering & Technical Lead -

AJ Rieck

- June Travel Team -

Maanya Condamoor

Megan Webar

Diego Rubalcava-Alvarez

Tiffany Chang

Ivneet Bhullar

- Professional Mentor -

Tony Antich, P.E.

Since the project construction’s start

in 2008, our team has completed

four phases of the project, fund-

raised, and constructed a total of 15

ferrocement water tanks.

FUTURE WORK

The travel team plans to complete a

fifth phase in summer of 2012 of

building additional water collection

systems in the community. As we

want to further promote the local

sustainability of this project, we are

beginning to reduce our direct in-

volvement in the community and are

currently putting together an instruc-

tion manual with integrated transla-

tions, pictures, and diagrams. Our

local partner NGO and the communi-

ty’s elected representatives have the

framework set for expansion. Expan-

sion will not only provide more

households with drinkable water but

will also help build economic re-

sources within the community.

G U A T E M A L A R A I N W A T E R C A T C H M E N T S Y S T E M S

C H I C A N T O R Y W A T E R P R O J E C T

THE NEED

In the town of Momostenango, Gua-

temala, appreciable rainfall occurs

only six months out of the year.

When there is no rain, women and

children must walk several kilome-

ters a day, sometimes on multiple

trips, to collect water from rivers and

streams that are unsuitable for con-

sumption. This daily chore of finding

water causes children to miss school

and women to leave their homes.

The water they do retrieve is not

safe for consumption. There is a

large amount of heavy metal and

organic contaminants that lead to

gastrointestinal diseases. This sick-

ness cripples a family’s ability to

perform work. Children become too

sick to attend school, mothers be-

come too ill to care for their family,

and fathers become too sick to go to

work and earn money for them.

EWB-UCLA RESPONSE

To support the local development of

the community, our project’s goal is

to provide families in Momostenango

with a reliable, constant source of

clean, drinkable water during the dry

season.

Communication with the local area

first began in 2006, when a team

from EWB-UCLA traveled to meet

with community-elected representa-

tives, water professionals, local

NGOs, and contractors about creat-

ing a sustainable solution.

We’ve developed a rainwater collec-

tion system consisting of a 7,500-

liter concrete water tank that collects

rainwater routed from the houses’

roofs. These water tanks hold

enough water to supply a family with

more than a third of their clean drink-

ing water for the entirety of the dry

season.

Left: Guatemala team members create the iron frame for the above ground tank.

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

2 7

Partnering with

local communities to

design and implement

sustainable engineering

solutions.

Las Breñas, Nicaragua

PROJECT STATUS

PROJECT IMPACT

Number of persons affected

Directly: 60

Indirectly: 100

LOCAL NGO PARTNER

FUNCOS (Nicaragua division of

Sustainable Harvest

International) is a non-profit

organization stationed in

Bluefields, Nicaragua. They

provide local farming families

with both the proper training and

the necessary tools to preserve

the natural forests, while helping

them overcome poverty.

PROJECTED COSTS

The total cost of the

schoolhouse project is $35,000

for completion. We have an

immediate need of $10,000 to

build the foundation.

PROJECT & TRAVEL TEAM

- Project Leads -

Oren Freiberg

Henry Phan

- Engineering & Technical Lead -

Eugene de Valle

Jonathan Wright

- December Travel Team -

Warren Kadoya, Albert Yang,

Charlotte Insull, Dennis Nguyen,

Crystal Lin, Wesley Mercado,

Gerard Convento

- Professional Mentors -

Mike Dadik, P.E.

Paul Friedlander, P.E.

TRIP RECAP

INTO EL RAMA

We took a 6 hour bus ride from

Managua to El Rama.

INTO BLUEFIELDS

From El Rama, we took a 2

hour boat ride to Bluefields, and

spent the night at FUNCOS.

INTO LAS BREÑAS

During a 9 hour boat ride into

the community, we capsized!

SCHOOLHOUSE SITE

The community members

helped us dig out the topsoil.

The team dug out drainage channels

along the edges of the excavation

site to account for the rainy weather

that would come before the next

return trip.

FUTURE WORK

The travel team plans to return in

Summer 2012 to begin construction

on the schoolhouse

foundation. There is

still a need for the

purchase of materi-

als such as concrete,

cement, and various

construction tools.

Your partnership

would help us move

forward with the project.

The community members eagerly

await the start of construction. This

summer, all of us hope to be one

step closer to seeing the school-

house completed for the children.

NICARAGUA S.E.D. PROJECTBudget Breakdown Schoolhouse Phase : FOUNDATION

Price Per

Unit Units Needed

Estimated

Cost

$200 30 containers $6,000

$10 50 bags $500

$60 3000 lbs $2,000

$5 5 boxes $25

$890 0.5 m3

$500

-- -- $1,000

$10,025

Price Per

Unit Units Needed

Estimated

Cost

$690 8 travelers $5,520

$17.50 8 travelers $140

-- -- $410

$10 8 travelers $80

$6,150

Housing & AccommodationsPrice Per

Unit Units Needed

Estimated

Cost

$15 8 travelers $120

-- -- $50

$170

Nicaragua Project Need

$16,345

$6,400

$9,945

Housing & Accommodations Sub Total

Food at Project Site (rice & beans)

Hostel in Managua

We greatly appreciate any donation you could offer us. We guarantee that 100%

of your donation will be put towards our project. Engineers Without Borders-

USA is a registered 501 (c)3 organization.

All donations are tax deductible.

Airfare

Bus/Boat Tickets (to Bluefields, Nicaragua)

Gas & Driver Fee for Private Boat to/from Project Site

Visas

Travel & Logistics Sub Total

Item Description

Total Expenses

Amount Raised

Schoolhouse Materials

Travel & Logistics

Wood, 1x12 beams, 8'

Contracted Labor

Current Need

Item Description

Concrete

Cement

Rebar

Nails

Schoolhouse Materials Sub Total

Item Description

EWB UCLA

N I C A R A G U A S A N I T A T I O N E D U C A T I O N & D E V E L O P M E N T

( S . E . D . ) P R O J E C T

THE NEED

Currently, many of the children of

Las Breñas only attend school for

half the year, if at all. The heavy

rains and the long distance to the

nearest schoolhouse prevent them

from getting their education. Our

project’s goal is to provide the

children access to education by

giving them the means and ensuring

their safety.

EWB-UCLA RESPONSE

In June 2010, the implementation

and assessment phase of the

schoolhouse was completed.

The team met with the community

members of Las Breñas Sector III

regarding construction and project

guidelines. The team also met with

FUNCOS directors to discuss the

design and construction logistics of

the schoolhouse. A centralized loca-

tion was chosen based on the com-

munity’s preference,

and preliminary soil

tests were taken. In

December 2011, the

travel team made a

second assessment

trip and surveyed the

proposed schoolhouse

site. The team then

began excavation with the help of

the local community members. The

schoolhouse design plans were

redesigned and updated to reduce

the amount of manual labor, while

still strictly adhering to U.S. building

guidelines.

“It’s refreshing to see

how much the

community appreciates

and enjoys life despite

lacking the basic

comforts that we take

for granted in the US.”

-Warren Kadoya

Travel Team

A L O O K I N T O T H E C O M M U N I T Y

3D Drawing of Schoolhouse Design

Side Front

*Drawings made by Albert Tang, fourth year Mechanical Engineering student, Travel Team

Left: Mentor Paul explaining the schoolhouse design to the local community

5 4

PROJECT STATUS

PROJECT IMPACT

Number of persons affected

Directly: 30

Indirectly: 50

PARTNER SCHOOLS

New Los Angeles Carter School

PROJECT TEAM

- Project Leads -

Rohit Mathew

Sandeep Bhateja

EWB-UCLA supports education through technology

in the inner city of Los Angeles

BOOTUPLA

WHAT IS BOOTUP?

BOOTUP is a project within EWB that works to bring the

educational advantages of computers to underprivileged

students in Los Angeles’s unfunded inner city schools.

Computers and computer equipment are accepted from

donors who find out about the program through advertis-

ing or word of mouth. The BOOTUP team then refurbish-

es the computers and donates them to a local school,

where the students can use them for everything from writing essays to researching topics for their science

projects. We usually take computers that are 3-10 years old and in working condition. It is generally best to

take donations from small businesses that want to get rid of large amounts of computers and equipment at

once. We do also accept donations from individuals. Once we have collected enough computers for a refur-

bishing session, everyone gets together to fix up the computers and prep them for donation. We schedule a

time and date to deliver the computers to the school, and we make sure that all the computers are working

before we leave the school.

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

BOOTUP meets on a need-basis. To get involved with BOOTUP no prior experience is neces-

sary, all you need is approximately 10 hours to give per month to refurbish computers and help

set them up at the recipient schools. We will teach you all you need to know about refurbishing

computers, just come with an open mind! We usually meet in the EWB office on the 6th floor of

Boelter Hall. Please contact either Rohit or Sandeep, and we will let you know when the next

meeting is.

GUATEMALA WATER PROJECTBudget Breakdown Monitoring Phase : WATER TANKS

Spring

Preparation

Summer

Implementation Estimated Total

$2,000 -- $2,000

-- $1,600 $1,600

-- $1,000 $1,000

$4,600

Spring

Preparation

Summer

Implementation Estimated Total

$4,750 -- $4,750

-- $800 $800

$200 $300 $500

$80 $80

$6,130

Spring

Preparation

Summer

Implementation Estimated Total

-- $450 $450

-- $900 $900

$1,350

Guatemala Project Need$12,080

$5,000

$7,080

Item Description

Item Description

Tank Materials

Travel & Logistics

Housing & Accommodations

Airfare

Ground Transportation

Miscellaneous

Visas for 8 Travelers

Travel & Logistics Sub Total

On Campus Prototype Tank

Materials for 8 Tanks

Tank Materials Subtotal

Contracted Labor

Lodging for 8 Travelers

Total Expenses

Amount Raised

Current Need

Housing & Accommodations Sub Total

Meals and Food

Item Description

We greatly appreciate any donation you could offer us. We

guarantee that 100% of your donation will be put towards our

pro ject. Engineers Without Borders-USA is a registered 501 (c)3

organization.

All donations are tax deductible.

TRIP RECAP

PROJECT PROGRESS EWB’s Guatemala travel team

completed two more tanks

during their September Imple-

mentation Trip this past fall.

A completed above ground

water catchment tank.

CONSTRUCTION

EWB team members begin

cementing the wire frame.

PROJECT SUCCESSES

The team found that families

that own a tank save 6 man-

hours a day during the dry

season and that their water

quality is safe for consumption

EWB UCLA

A L O O K I N T O T H E C O M M U N I T Y

6 3