Vicki McDonald co-founded Marquette's chapter of Engineers Without Borders in Spring 2005 after traveling to Guatemala for an engineering class with one of her professors.
McDonald, a senior in the College of Engineering, said her travels with the organization have become her passion and defined her undergraduate career.
Marquette's Engineers Without Borders is a chapter of the national organization—Engineers Without Borders-USA—created to combine students' engineering skills with their interest in social justice.
Gina Earles, managing director of EWB-USA, said the organization started five years ago and has 193 student and 73 professional chapters.
"EWB-Marquette has an outward vision of a world where all people have access to the resources needed to meet their basic human needs," McDonald said in an e-mail. "This may include typical engineering projects such as potable water projects, bridges or renewable energy sources, but it also includes components that address health, education and communication."
McDonald said the group participates in local outreach by tutoring students in Milwaukee Public Schools and also sends students on international engineering trips. The group of about 40 students will send groups on six trips this year to four different locations: Kiln, Miss.; Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala; La Providencia, Guatemala, and Los Toros, Dominican Republic, McDonald said.
In Mississippi, students will participate in Hurricane Katrina recovery work. In Santa Cruz del Quiche, students will implement a solar powered water pumping station. Those traveling to La Providencia will build a hydroelectric water wheel to provide power for the village. In Los Toros, volunteers will work to rehabilitate the village water system, McDonald said.
Neal Styka, technology chairperson for EWB-Marquette, said some students tutor children in math and science at Nativity Jesuit Middle School, 1515 S. 29th St.
Styka, a senior in the College of Engineering, said he participated in a trip to Caritas, Guatemala, with 15 other students and an alumnus last January and will be traveling to Santa Cruz del Quiche this January. Styka said the goal of EWB-Marquette is "to work on sustainable development programs around the world."
Amy Mikus, fundraising chair for EWB-Marquette, traveled to Santa Apolonia, Guatemala, last spring to install a solar powered water system.
Mikus, a senior in the College of Engineering, said she writes grant applications to Marquette and sponsorship applications to local businesses to fundraise for EWB. She also encourages club members to write family and friends for donations, she said.
EWB-Marquette holds meetings twice a month, where members plan projects and sometimes sponsor engineering speakers, Mikus said.
Earles said chapters must undergo an approval process by the national organization before pursuing a proposed project. The chapter has a minimum five year commitment to the community—taking multiple trips back to the community—to assure the chapter's project is sustainable and can be managed by the community.
McDonald said students from any major can participate in EWB.
"Our mission with Marquette EWB is not only to use our educational background to solve technical problems facing our world but to effectively work to make a difference now by 'joining hands with the world,' "McDonald said.