EWB Presents at Global Studies Conference

On October 7-9, 2010, three EWB-UC students traveled to the University of Nebraska at Omaha to present EWB's latest activity and progress to the annual Global Studies Conference. The students were Jim Moyer, a 3rd year civil engineering student, Ben Gentry, a 2nd year computer engineering student, and myself, Kevin Knollman, a 3rd year biomedical engineering student. This was EWB's third consecutive year presenting at the conference, which hosts professionals and professors from all over the world as they discuss the significance of various current events and present their latest research and studies to a like-minded audience.

This year, our team presented about recent progress made on the Otho Abwao and Burere projects, and also discussed the methods and value of developing partnerships with our communities and with other NGOs. Our presentation was received well, and was followed by very astute questions and interesting discussions. Overall, the conference was very successful. We came away with a few new contacts, such as an expert in African aviation services, as well as a few new ideas, such as how to better administer a survey to a community to obtain more accurate results.

Of course, the trip wasn't entirely formal. We also got a chance to explore the many shops and restaurants of Omaha's Old Market District, and we spent much of Saturday enjoying the famous Omaha Zoo and its Rain Forest and Desert Dome exhibits.

Many thanks are owed to Dr. Erwin Erhardt of the UC College of Business, who has traveled to this conference with EWB and several business students over the past few years.

Paint Uptown Advertises EWB

This year, EWB participated in Paint Uptown, an event where student organizations are given a portion of windowspace at UC to decorate.  We used this opportunity to improve our campus visibility and show everybody our logo, while also painting the website.  If you're on campus during Homecoming week, be sure to check our window out; it's on the Steger underpass. See all the photos from painting here.

Kaplan Class Auction Fundraiser

Through our partnership with Kaplan, we've earned 4 certificates for Kaplan classes.  To raise money for our projects, we're auctioning these scholarships off.  All money will go towards funding our 3 projects, bring us that much closer to implementation. 

The scholarship is reedemable for any Kaplan test prep class (MCAT, LSAT, you name it) and is worth up to $2000.  If you know anyone thinking about prepping for one of these tests, tell them about our auction.  They'll likely end up paying less than the full cost of the class, plus they'll be helping out a great cause.

To bid on the 1st scholarship, go here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110600787486

New EWB T-shirt

We just rolled out our new T-shirt design in for the 2010-11 school year, and we're pretty excited about it!  To see all the fun we had making it, click here.

Last year was the first time we designed a full-scale shirt for all members.  We made strides to avoid the pitfalls of normal college t-shirts.  Instead of purchasing the cheapest shirt available which almost certainly was manufactured by sweatshop labor, we opted for a shirt fairly-made in the US.

This year, we stepped it up another level.  Instead of creating waste by buying shirts, we went a completely different route.  We designed our own graphic and then converted it into a silk-screen.  Then we had each member bring an old T-shirt, hoodie, or whatever, so we could print it.  Not only did this reduce demand for new textiles and reuse old items, but this allowed for an awesome degree of creativity.

Since we were printing shirts ourselves, we could easily change the color between each shirt we printed.  We had everything from solid colors and whites, to sparkly pink-to-silver gradients and glow-in-the-dark shirts.  This definitely beats the soulless replication of a standard mass-produced shirt; each t-shirt has it's own quirks and character, while also being a high quality graphic that will last even after dozen of loads in the washing machine.

Finally, we had fun doing it.  While we were printing, we grilled out and played music.  Members got to hang out and have fun, and even print they're own shirt if they wanted. (a little messy, but a lot of fun!)

If you're around campus, look for people wearing the new EWB shirt; we printed more than all other T-shirts that we've made combined, and still have to print some more.

Goodsearch: Raise Money for EWB with Everyday Searches

We're excited to announce a brand-new way to raise money for EWB.  Best of all, it doesn't cost you a cent and it's based something you do every day anyways.  All you have to do is search the internet using Goodsearch, and our chapter will gain money.  With Goodsearch, money from search ads goes towards our projects; we gain 1¢ for each search. While that may not seem like a lot at first, think how many times you search a day, then multiply it by all the friends, supporters and members of EWB-UC.  So what are you waiting for, start Goodsearching now!

3 Ways to Goodsearch

#1 Website (www.goodsearch.com)

Just go to the www.goodsearch.com and paste ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS - UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI  into the box as the name of your charity, then use the search box just like you would Google or Bing.  Goodsearch saves your preference, so next time you search on that computer, it should already remember you're searching for EWB-UC.

#2 Toolbar

If you use, Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can install a toolbar that gives you quick access to Goodsearch all the time.  The page to download it is here: http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/engineers-without-borders-university-of-cincinnati

#3 Plugins

You can also use plugins for just about all the major browsers.  Click on the respective link to install a plugin for your browser.

Internet Explorer Plugin

Firefox Plugin

Google Chrome (technically not a plugin, instructions on changing settings to support Goodsearch)

If you ever want to see how much money we've raised so far, you can see the financial info here: http://www.goodsearch.com/nonprofit/engineers-without-borders-university-of-cincinnati.aspx

Thanks for your help, and happy Goodsearching!

EWB Gets a New Advisor!

We're pleased to announce that we have a new advisor, Dr. Margaret Kupferle.  She comes to us from UC's Environmental Engineering Department, where several of our members have had her as a professor.

Dr. Kupferle will oversee our group and help with lots of the little administrative things we need an advisor for. (signature for service hours, renting GPS equipment from the library, etc.)  It'll also be valuable to have her insight and advice on our project schedules and overall organizational planning.

We'll still keep our project mentors, but adding an overall advisor will allow them to focus more squarely on their specific projects, instead of being bothered by the extra administrative issues as well.

For more info about Dr. Kupferl, visit her webpage on the UC website.

Fall Meetings Begin: Record Attendance!

Huge Crowd for the 1st Fall Meeting

Meetings have started up for fall quarter and our hard recruit during recruitment has definitely paid off.  Our 1st meeting was a lot of fun, but also really productive.  We had a bridge building competition using only newspaper and tape.  Even with limited time, some groups were able to manage holding up things as heavy as a laptop.  New members and returners alike also got updates on all the projects.  (Burere's design is completed and submitted to EWB-USA for review-stay tuned for more on that)  We also got an unveiling of the new EWB T-shirt design for the 2010-2011 school year(also, look for a more detailed blog post with pictures of the design).  At the end of the meeting, all the members split up into committees and began planning for the new year.

Mark Talking about the Education Committee at the 2nd Meeting

Even more exciting was probably the second meeting, which had just as many, if not more people come to it, even without Welcome Week advertisements, a fun game, or even the promise of free food.  At our 2nd meeting, Mark Schutte explained the progress of the Education Committee, the new committee that was formed this year which will take on new initiatives and reimagine those previously performed by our Health and Culture committees.  With an expanded group size, and a great start to the quarter, it's looking to be a great year for EWB!