JOIN US!
Are you interested in joining our team? We would love to have you! EWB Purdue is open to all majors and requires no prior experience when you first join. Our members have come from the College of Engineering, Krannert School of Management, College of Agriculture, Polytechnic Institute, and more. No matter what you study, EWB Purdue has a place for you.
There are several characteristics that our members do have that help them become successful in our unique working environment. There are also many types of work, beyond engineering, involved in making an EWB project successful. Take a look below to see what interests you! If you're interested in joining our team, reach out to our New Member Team Lead for more information:
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Our members are:
our work includes:
TEAM PLAYERS
Our chapter is split into seven different design teams, each working towards the same goal of implementing a successful project. Students on our team understand the importance of being reliable and dependable teammates.
STRONG COMMUNICATORS
In order to reach our goals, strong communication, both within teams and between our chapter and our stakeholders, is critical. Students on our team learn how to professionally write reports, give presentations, and conduct meetings.
PROBLEM-SOLVERS
Our team is responsible for the complete design and delivery of our projects, which means students get to learn how to address real-world challenges that arise. Students develop critical thinking skills that help them understand the cause of a problem and work to find solutions.
RESOURCEFUL
Our chapter has a great support system of advisors and professional mentors. We also have peers and EWB-USA staff across the country with experience working on other EWB projects. Students on our team understand the importance of asking for help and learning from others around them.
ENGINEERING
Our technical teams do engineering work involving hydraulics, CAD, mapping, geotechnics, construction management, and more.
BUDGETING
Our chapter must track all incoming and outgoing funds, calculate the cost of our designs, set fundraising goals, and define the financial obligations of our partners to ensure financial sustainability.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Understanding the needs and cultural context of our partners is essential to developing a successful system.
FUNDRAISING
We are responsible for 95% of the cost of what we build. We raise tens of thousands of dollars annually through diverse strategies, both on campus and through outreach.
MARKETING/SOCIAL MEDIA
Maintaining an active social media presence and an updated website is a key factor in securing donations from companies and non-profits.
GRANT WRITING
Grants are one of our biggest funding sources. They require detailed applications that effectively communicate our work and our mission.
About EWB Purdue
Engineers Without Borders Purdue is partnered with several different organizations: EWB-USA, Purdue University, and EPICS. What makes our team unique from many other EWB teams around the country is that we are simultaneously involved with these organizations in 3 different ways. Here, we will explain how these three important relationships work together to support our successful and growing team.
1. STUDENT CHAPTER OF EWB-USA
EWB-USA is a nationwide organization with over 200 chapters. While some chapters are regionally-based teams of professionals, others are based at universities and are comprised of students. Through EWB-USA, each chapter is paired with communities in need all over the world. They work with those communities, along with in-country non-governmental organizations (NGO), to design engineering solutions and raise the necessary funds to meet those needs.
As an EWB student chapter, our team is made up of 50+ students, 2 Purdue advisors, and 2 professional mentors. One mentor is designated as our Responsible Engineer in Charge (REIC), which is a required position for any student chapter. This ensures that a professional engineer oversees and signs off on our students' work. We also receive lots of support from EWB-USA; before any major phase of a project (adoption, assessment, implementation, monitoring, closeout), we submit a comprehensive report to be reviewed and approved by EWB-USA. Throughout this process, we have access to EWB-USA's experienced staff, documentation designed to guide us, and detailed records from other EWB teams' past projects to help us. EWB-USA provides us the structure and resources that we need to succeed in large-scale projects as undergraduate students.
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2. STUDENT ORGANIZATION AT PURDUE
Purdue University is home to nearly 50,000 students and professionals. We are located in West Lafayette, Indiana, just a few hours from major midwestern cities like Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Cincinnati. There are over 1000 registered student organizations at Purdue, but EWB ranks highly in terms of membership and funds. As a student organization on campus, EWB is able to leverage Purdue's large population, influx of daily visitors, administrative resources, and wide network to our benefit. We hold monthly meetings open to all Purdue students where we host guest speakers involved in global development, ethical engineering, cultural awareness, and more. We have formed connections with academic departments and other student organizations who offer their support as needed. As a student organization, we also have access to fundraising opportunities through the university, including internal grants and crowdfunding campaigns. In 2022, we have received over $12,000 in university grants and raised $2,500 through Purdue's annual Day of Giving campaign!
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3. SECTION OF THE EPICS DEPARTMENT
EPICS is an academic department at Purdue University that offers students the chance to learn engineering design while impacting communities in need. Students in EPICS enroll in a 1-2 credit course and are assigned to a specific EPICS team and project. EPICS emphasizes the importance of building partnerships with communities and prioritizing community needs above all. The program guides students through real-world projects where they develop the technical and interpersonal skills to continue doing so on their own in the future.
As the largest of dozens of EPICS teams, all members of EWB Purdue receive class credit for their work—the first student chapter in the nation to do so. We also enjoy the hands-on support of EPICS advisors and graduate teaching assistants during our weekly 2-hour meetings in Purdue's Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Finally, EPICS provides us with administrative and financial resources to help our team plan trips to our partner communities and build relationships with our in-country partners.
