Engineers Without Borders - Wisconsin Professional Partners

12/19/2021

Calling all EWB Wisconsin Professionals!

The MSOE student chapter has partnered with the community of Alcona Pajopop to design and construct a vehicular girder bridge of about 40 feet in length. The project brief is attached.

MSOE is looking for:
- A structural engineer
- A water resources engineer
- A geotechnical engineer to travel on the assessment trip
- Travel mentors during the construction (can be the design mentors or others)

**Younger professional are welcome!**

The schedule is as follows:

Jan-Feb 2022 – preliminary hydrology and hydraulic analysis in preparation for the assessment trip
Feb/Mar 2022 – assessment trip to survey site, soil investigation, meet community, validate H&H preliminary design
Mar-May 2022 – finalize H&H, alternative analysis, preliminary design
summer 2022 – final design
Fall 2022 – drafting, estimating, construction planning
Feb/Mar 2023 – foundation and abutment construction (MSOE team)
Mar 2023 – girder construction (WPP team)
April 2023 – slab & wingwall construction (MSOE team)

Please contact Todd Davis (MSOE Faculty Advisor) at [email protected] for more information.

I hope you are able to contribute! Thanks all!

08/30/2021

Hello WPP Friends and Members!

Please mark your calendars for a hands-on Sustainable Development Workshop on Saturday, October 2nd. The event will start at 9:30 am and will cover a range of interesting topics. Mike and Cathy Paddock have graciously volunteered to host the event. Please see details below, and remember to RSVP!

04/21/2021

Hello WPP Friends and Members,
After a long lull in activity we have an exciting project you can get involved in:

The Marquette EWB chapter is working on a new water project in Guatemala and they are in search of a mentor. The project is with the community of El Tesoro and will include an approximately 4 km long conduction line, chlorination, storage, and distribution to 324 beneficiaries.

Are you an experienced water project engineer/mentor that would like to assist with this project? If so, please contact Jake Russ at [email protected] and let him know your interest and experience level.

Thank you, and stay healthy!

10/17/2020

Hello All! WPP has accepted a project partnership with the community of La Fe, part of the village of Pujujil II, in the department of Solola, Guatemala. WPP will provide design support for a potable water system. The new system is expected to serve an estimated 600 residents. The community's existing spring-fed, piped water system has low output, requiring residents to search out alternative water sources of variable quality to meet their needs. The new system will connect to a new spring purchased by the community and is expected to include a spring box, conduction lines, suction tank and pumping, distribution tank, and the distribution system.

In the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, travel to Guatemala is not expected. At this time WPP's role for this project will be to provide technical QA/QC and project delivery support with the bulk of the design being completed by local engineers in Guatemala. WPP will also work through the administrative tasks required by EWB-USA. Regardless, this can still be a great opportunity to engage (or perhaps re-engage) with WPP members, mentor younger chapter members, "brush up" on EWB project requirements, and so on.

If you're interested in helping with this effort, please reach out to Rob Merkel at [email protected] or Steve Graziano at [email protected]. More project information will follow.

We look forward to hearing from our WPP members and working with the community of La Fe!

08/30/2020

**Great opportunity to further explore the themes presented in BRIDGING BARRIERS!**

Waleska Crowe (EWB-Guatemala Deputy Director) and engineer/author Michael Paddock will be offering a BRIDGING BARRIERS book study in October to discuss the book. The format will be weekly zoom calls on Mondays @ 7 pm Central time. A few chapters of the book will be discussed and how the lessons learned can be applied to EWB projects. If you are interested in participating, please send Mike an email at [email protected].

If you haven't already, make sure to purchase a copy at the link below. All proceeds go to EWB-Guatemala!

Gavina is frustrated. As a midwife with 40 years of experience, she knows what is needed to slash the infant and maternal mortality rates that are ravaging her Guatemalan Highlands community. Only two things stand in her way: a lack of clean water and a raging river nicknamed "The Assassin," which b...

07/07/2020

Another opportunity to participate in the virtual book launch of "Bridging Barriers" by Michael Paddock. See registration link below. Hope you can make it!

EWB-USA is hosting a Global Zoom Book Launch of Bridging Barriers to be held on Tues., July 21 at 7 pm GMT+2 . Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_W54w7Z7STDm9QthkqqNZ4g

The book tells the story of an EWB-USA program that was intended to be a bridge that slashed infant mortality rates and made potable water more accessible also resulted in this Guatemalan community’s responsiveness to COVID-19.

06/16/2020

Registration for the 7 PM (CDT) June 24th launch of Bridging Barriers can be accessed at the link below. Please mark your calendars!

All proceeds from book sales will go to Engineers Without Borders-Guatemala.

Gavina is frustrated. As a midwife with 40 years of experience, she knows what is needed to slash the infant and maternal mortality rates that are ravaging her Guatemalan Highlands community. Only two things stand in her way: a lack of clean water and a raging river nicknamed "The Assassin," which b...

06/16/2020

How One Rotary & EWB-USA Community Made Itself COVID-19 Ready

What was intended to be a bridge that slashed infant mortality rates and potable water more accessible also resulted in this Guatemalan community’s resilience to COVID-19.

Please join Mike Paddock as he shares the stories of the Marquette University EWB-USA Team during his debut book launch of Bridging Barriers. This program consisted of working with the community to build a water project and construct a bridge over a river nicknamed “The Assassin”.

https://www.bridgingbarriers.com/

05/14/2020

Looking for another opportunity to help EWB's response to COVID-19 in Guatemala? Please consider contributing to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Makerspace and Madison Area Professional Chapter partnership. The UW Makerspace is working to develop and prototype PPE; the chapter is making sure PPE needs are met in-country.

Many of you have been asking how you can contribute to our efforts, and for that, we are incredibly grateful! We now have two avenues for donations: one that goes directly to the Makerspace and another that supports our partner, the non-profit Engineers Without Borders, in preparing hospitals and he...

05/05/2020

The COVID-19 Pandemic is challenging the world’s healthcare facilities like never before. Additional patients are stressing the existing infrastructure, including architectural, water, sanitation and energy demands. Supply chain of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals is also a key concern as we try to keep our healthcare workers healthy so they can care for their patients. These challenges are especially challenging for developing countries – many who have yet to be heavily impacted by the coronavirus and have vulnerable healthcare systems. This gives us a narrow window to act now and have the most impact before the COVID-19 cases explode as seen in Europe and the USA.

EWB-WPP recently donated $40,000 of chapter funds to our EWB-Guatemala in-country partner office to them prepare – in particular, for the manufacture of much-needed PPE and toward critical infrastructure improvements at hospitals.

If you are able to donate additional funds to the effort, please consider doing so at the link below. All funds will go directly to the COVID-19 response for the Guatemala communities with whom we’ve formed close bonds over our many years as a chapter.

Engineers Without Borders USA

04/01/2020

**UPDATE: Unfortunately, the COVID-19 virus and resulting safety measures require us to cancel the EWB-Wisconsin Professional Partners Spring Conference planned for later this month. We will try to reschedule this event in the Fall of 2020; please watch for future notices.

Above all, please observe recommended State of Wisconsin "Safer At Home" guidelines to control the spread of the virus and to reduce stress on our existing healthcare facilities/staff and to protect the most vulnerable among us.

03/04/2020

Great article by WPP's Michael Paddock on the importance of providing and investing in WASH - water, sanitation, and hygiene - across the globe.