PULLMAN – Service learning opportunities will be presented by the Engineers Without Borders chapter (EWB@WSU) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, in Todd 116 – the final Common Reading Tuesdays lecture of the semester.
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The free public lecture, titled “Local, State, and International Student Service/Learning Projects: An Experience and Opportunity with EWB@WSU” will be presented by J. Daniel Dolan, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Rebecca Fakkema, a senior civil engineering major.
The Nov. 30 scheduled event featuring Chris Pannkuk from International Programs has been postponed until spring.
Dolan, faculty adviser to the group, and Fakkema will discuss the history of Engineers Without Borders and the opportunities for students in all majors to get involved with WSU’s local chapter and its service projects.
Since the chapter was founded in 2005 it has designed and/or constructed: water systems on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington and in Kayafungo, Kenya; schools in Sri Lanka after the 2006 tsunami; a surgical hospital in Sudan independent of the region’s electrical grid; and a restoration plan for a polluted lake in Chile.
Locally it has completed handicap access ramps for Habitat for Humanity. And it is working with the WSU Renewable Energy Lab to complete the design and construction of wind and solar power supplies for the WSU Organic Farm.
Internationally it is assisting a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Africa to develop a functioning hand pump for irrigation and is completing the design and beginning construction of a suspension bridge in El Salvador that will provide children with access to schools.
Dolan was a founder of EWB@WSU. His research focuses on performance improvement of low-rise structures to dynamic loads, such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Since 2005 he has worked with professors from the Universidad de Concepción and Chilean timber and masonry suppliers to revise their building and design codes for improved seismic response. He also was a Fulbright Scholar in Chile and worked at the Universidad de Concepción in 2008.
Fakkema is part of the design team working on the bridge project in El Salvador. She has a special interest in water resources and sustainability and plans to graduate in August 2011 when she returns from a semester abroad.
The Common Reading Program spans two semesters, and features a lecture series, typically on Tuesdays, on topics pertaining to the freshman common reading book presented by WSU faculty, staff and guests. This year’s book, “Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” by Greg Mortenson, follows the Montana humanitarian in his attempts to build schools in the rural regions of the two title countries. The author will visit campus on Jan. 26.
In its fourth year, the Common Reading Program is part of the University College. Nominations for the 2011 book are open to students, faculty and staff. For more information, or to nominate a book, visit http://CommonReading.wsu.edu or http://facebook.com/CommonReading.