Engineers Without Borders

General Meeting, May 7, 2008

This term’s third general meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm in room 1003 of the Kelley Engineering Center and will feature a talk by Lisa Farmen, president of Crystal Clear Technologies, a small start-up company based in Portland. She has been working to develop a low-cost water purifier to remove both heavy metal and biological contaminants from drinking water. Her research has applications for the third world and areas of the United States that have clean water issues. Lisa will present her research, its application, and a prototype of a human powered pump that will remove water contaminants. For more information on the company, see the following website: http://www.simplyclearwater.com/

Election results and pizza as well!

Elections for 2008-09 Officers are Open

Elections for EWB-OSU’s officers for the 2008-09 school year are now underway. To vote, go to http://ewb-osu.org/vote, enter the code “officers2008″ (no quotes), and fill out the ballot. Once you submit your vote, you will be given a unique identifier string, which you must email, along with your name, to treasurer@ewb-osu.org. This is to ensure that only the votes of paying members are counted. All identifiers will be disassociated from names to ensure confidentiality. The ballot will be open until 7:00 PM on Friday, May 2, at which point the results will be made public.

Info about the candidates and video clips of their nomination speeches and the Q & A session at the nomination meeting can be found below.

Continue reading…

Travel Team to Speak at General Meeting, April 9, 2008

Our team of four returned last week from their week-long site assessment trip to El Salvador. They’ll tell us all about it at the General Meeting on Wednesday, April 9, scheduled to start at 7:00 PM in room 1003 of Kelley Engineering Center.

At the meeting, we’ll also discuss upcoming officer elections and begin the nomination process. As always, there’ll be pizza and soda.

General Meeting, Feb. 27th, 2008

More info is coming on the general meeting for Wednesday, Feb. 27th, which is scheduled for 7:00 PM in room 1001 of the Kelley Engineering Center.

General Meeting, Feb. 13th, 2008

At the general meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 13, we’ll hear from Julie Clark of the OSU Organic Growers’ Club who will talk about organic farming and some of the OGC’s practices. The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 PM in room 1005 of the Kelley Engineering Center. As always, pizza and soda will be provided.

General Meeting, January 30th, 2008

January 30th, 2008, 7:00pm

Kelley 1001

I. Project Applications for March Due

Due Friday Feb 1. Several applications received, all are welcome to apply!

II.International conference

Great opportunity to learn about EWB’s efforts, as well as some excellent opportunities. 3 days, end of spring break, Seattle. We are seeking to completely offset the cost of the trip with COE funding.

- Sign-up sheet with David Mandrell. Stay after to talk and plan. Anyone can go!

III. Looking for new Membership Coordinator

Nick Taylor has a time conflict with meetings this term, is asking for someone to fill his shoes.

Involves taking attendance, collect annual dues, report to the board 1x/month, and filling out forms nationally.

Birdie will perform Membership Coordinator duties for all Wednesday meetings.

Membership dues are $15, allow you to vote, plus you get a free EWB bracelet! (Stop by Doug’s office if you want one.)

IV. BioDiesel Initiative

• Seeking to sustainably solve the problem of limited petroleum fuels worldwide.
• Method: meet the needs of current generation without compromising the needs of future generations.
• Test case for system: Narukunibua, Fiji
  • Current PCV in the village is a former member of the Biodiesel Initiative at OSU.
  • Currently have diesel generator for cooking, lights internet; generator is only local course of electricity.
• Idea is to use local crops, already-available land, local labor, and adapt biodiesel technology.
• By-products of biodiesel production include soap, fuel for heat, biodiesel, animal feed, compost.
• Technical issues:
  • obtain oil feedstock (high quality)
  • determine catalyst
  • obtain high purity alcohol
• High-quality produced fuel meeting ASTM standards
  • Sustainable methods
  • Village accepts solution to problem
  • System produces reliably and in sufficient quantity
• Letters of support from Peace Corps, village already received
• Mentor is Dr. David Hackleman
• Groups:
  • Assessment group
    • engineering conditions
    • cultural impacts
    • environmental impacts
    • available resources
  • Research group
  • Oversight
  • Travel team
• Schedule
  • Current goal (Winter) is to complete environmental impact assessment
    • Is biodiesel the BEST solution for the community? What other technologies could be applicable?
    • If biodiesel is, then exact process and raw materials must be determined, technology decided.
  • Spring Term:
    • design, build, test prototype
    • acquire funding
  • Summer: go to Fiji and build
• OSU Biodiesel Initiative: http://biodiesel.oregonstate.edu
• P3 Program web site: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/
• Questions:
  • How big of a generator?
    • Depends on fuel demands, exact technological process. Likely a small room.
  • How robust is the process/equipment? Will the village be able to maintain/not destroy the equipment?
    • Technically simple process that villagers should be able to perform with little difficulty. Simple maintenance, yes. Mixing, washing, and some cleaning are the typical user operations that are required.
  • Have biodiesel generators been installed in similar situations in the past?
    • Several systems particularly in India have been installed and continue to function. There is even another project on a similar island near Fiji.
  • Has there been discussion of go/no-go points in the process?
    • Determining that the technology is not the best solution, or that there are significant negative cultural or environmental impacts would be the type of problem that would stop us. That should all be determined by spring break with the env assessment.
  • How much crop is needed?
    • Fuel usage is currently low, and it depends on the fuel type. Cutting down forests or using existing food sources is not an acceptable source. Growth-times are being taken into account for the various crops as well.
  • Sometimes coconuts have difficulty with lites(?) that go through and kill the entire grove. Diversifying could be very important.
    • We certainly need to determine a backup source or alternative in case of low annual yield anomalies. Village located close to national capital and therefor used vegetable oil sources.
  • What if something breaks down significantly?
    • The system is able to be deconstructed back to the current diesel generator status.
  • How much crop oil for the biodiesel?
    • Abt 1 gallon for 1 gallon.
• Partnership Agreement
  • Membership vote will proceed online to decide on whether to join the diesel initiative formally with a partnership.

Minutes prepared by: Evan Miles, Janurary 30th, 2008

General Meeting, January 16th, 2008

January 16th, 2008, 7:00pm

Kelley 1001

I.Elections

Towards the end of this term, we will be holding elections for our four elected board positions of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Also the unelected positions will be open for reassignment.

II. International Confernce

The national conference will be held in Seattle March 28 thru 30. Find more info on www.ewb-usa.org.

There is a rather large registration fee. We need to fill out a proposal for funds from the college of engineering and the engineering departments. This would be a great option for helping out with the clubs fund raising opportunities.

III. T-shirts

If you have recieved a polo and haven’t paid for it please pay Evan.
If you don’t have a polo and are looking to do presentations or would just like one.

IV. Habitat

They shoveled gravel and dug trenches in the mud. There are more opportunities every Wednesday and Saturday from 9 - 3.

V. Bio-diesel club trip to Figi

Look for upcoming information about this potential new EWB project that will be constructing a village-scale bio-diesel plant in Figi.

VI. Speaker - Aparna Shrivastana - El Salvador Water Project

Project goals are to provide safer water and make it more accessible. Currently EWB-OSU has currently facilitated the implementation of the Potters for Peace Filtration Units which uses colloidial silver(March 2007).

The December 2007 trip saw several goals tackled. A rain water catchment system was constructed on a primary school in La Cumbre. A seperate team of students collected a lot more health and GPS data, mapping each house in the community and notes on each house’s roof for future water catchment system implementaion.

Upcoming Goals

• Develop a map that will include all houses and structures for future water delivery system analysis.

• Design other solutions to water delivery
  • gravity-fed systems
  • spring-box construction

There is a trip coming up this next spring break to El Salvador. Their meetings are Monday at 7pm. Aparna will be bringing chocolate for the upcoming meeting.

Minutes prepared by: Kelly Wilson, January 16th, 2008

Spring Break Travel Application

We are currently seeking applicants from all majors to travel to El Salvador during Spring Break 2008. Selected applicants will be responsible for the continued implementation of a sustainable water delivery system in El Salvador. We are looking for individuals who are ready to work alongside community members and spend time in a developing country.

Continue reading…

Organic Growers Club Project Work Dates Set

Our Organic Grower’s Club project has been officially approved by the OGC, and the first work date will be Sunday, October 28. We will be meeting at 1:00 pm in Kelly Engineering enter (north side entrance). From there we will carpool to the site. For the stragglers, you can meet us at the site, which is the second left after the golf course going east on Hwy 34. Here is a map.

A second work date is scheduled for Saturday, November 3, at 10:00 AM. We’ll meet at Kelley Engineering for for this one, too.

If you don’t know what the OGC project is, check out this post about it.

Continue reading…

General Meeting, October 24

October 24th, 2007, 7:00pm

Kelley 1003

I. Banquet Update and Thanks

Netted around $3000. Special thanks to Kendra Brown and Brad Eagleson

II. Organic Growers Project

Tenatively this Sunday will be the first day of construction on the project with continuing construction next Sunday.

III. Tentative 2 Travelers to El Salvador

Find applications on the website or in your email. Applications sue in Rogers 222 (Dougs lab) by Monday, October 29th.

IV. Football Parking

7-11am and 11-3pm shifts , contact brad to volunteer. You will get a free ticket to the game.

V. Booth at Homecoming Tent

Still need one more person new to the group to volunteer for this Saturday 11-3pm

VI. Polos

Cost is $20.15 for a polo. Travelers to El Salvador should have one.

VII. Dues

Pay 15$ for dues for entire year.

VIII. Featured Speaker - Peter Nunn from Rotary’s Wasrag and Notrh

From North Tillamook County Rotary club.

Peter graduated as a civil engineer in England in 1968. After working around the world(papa new guinea and Australia) “settled” working with Bechtel (London, abu daub i, Beijing, Indonesia, Maryland, ) working in structural design, oil and gas, environmental cleanup, telecommunications, and railways.

Rotary is an organization with 1.2 million members around the world in 32,000 rotary clubs; the motto is service above self. They fund projects around the world through the local clubs in countries around the world. EWB’s and Rotary’s mission overlap in their goals of helping developing communities. In 1985 rotary adopted eradicating Polio from the world; Polio incidence is down to hundreds of people a year in sudan, afganistan, india and egypt. The next project Rotary is looking to is improved drinking water and sanitation. Another program Rotary has good success with is in the area of Micro-finance.

Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group - Purpose to facilitation the completion of water and sanitation projects by local sponsors. This involves looking at setting up a project, scoping considerations, budgeting and funding and looking at sustainability. The funding process works through starting with minimal funding from the local clubs (~$100) and through matching processes from the other local clubs, regional rotary and Rotary International (up to ~$15000).

IX. Breakout sessions

Information Technology

Public Relations

Fundraising

Minutes prepared by: Kelly Wilson, October 24th, 2007