Student Group Travels To El Salvador To Put Engineering Educations To Practical Use

March 06, 2003
University Park, Pa. – Ask any student going on a trip with Engineers Without Frontiers and theyÕll tell you, their spring break is bound to be one of the most educational experiences of their lives.

Penn State's chapter of Engineers Without Frontiers – a young but growing student organization - is sending students to a developing community in El Salvador during the break (March 10-14). These students will work directly with the community to solve technology-based problems and employ locally sustainable solutions, which in turn will lead to an improved quality of life.

"Providing engineering students with the opportunity to use their education in a very real way will have a confirming effect on the students' desire to continue on in their engineering education," said Simon Lobdell, EWF vice president.

The group will embark on two projects during the break as it travels to Nueva Esperanza, a town in El Salvador founded ten years ago as part of the country's civil war peace treaty. At that time, war veterans and widows were given property to begin new lives as farmers. But it hasn't been as easy as it sounds. These farmers, many of whom have had limbs amputated, must wade in chest-deep waters two-thirds of the year to access these farmlands. Engineers Without Frontiers will spend the break conducting a preliminary study of the community's flooding problem. The group will then spend the rest of the semester working on a solution in class (Community and Economic Development). The group will return to Nueva Esperanza in May, when students, under the guidance of mentors and professional engineers, will construct their solutions – most likely a bridge. 

"Such real life problem-solving opportunities, as provided by Engineers Without Frontiers, allow students to develop and exercise initiative, judgment, and creativity while emphasizing the application of the engineering method, the capability for critical thinking, teamwork and the ability to communicate clearly," said Thomas Colledge, professor and EWF program developer.

While some of the students will observe Nueva Esperanza's flooding situation over spring break, others will work on a house-retrofitting project in the community. Shaken by an earthquake two years ago, many homes in Nueva Esperanza were either destroyed or severely damaged. EWF will work alongside the community to implement retrofitting measures to solve the structural damage and to make the homes safe once again.

            Both projects will be done in collaboration with counterparts from the University of Central America in San Salvador.

"From a purely cultural perspective, it is an invaluable experience the students will benefit from for the rest of their lives," Colledge said. "They view their lives, their career choices, and their world differently following such an experience."

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Contact: Allison Kessler, Department of Public Information, (814) 865-7517 or akessler@psu.edu.