The event is FREE and boasts food, music, dancing, networking, film, and a couple lectures. After stopping by at the EWB-Chicago booth to say hello, you can check out how bicycles are being for UV water sterilization, water pumping, or charging phones and laptops via Working Bikes Cooperative, watch CircEsteem balance a feather, contribute to a community mural via Project FOCUS, or view the solar Sun Oven.

Come to be inspired, come to make friends!

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:

Global Activism Expo 2012 World Music Stage line-up:
1:00pm: Charlie Universe and the Little Star Music Box
1:30pm: In the Spirit with Special Guests Avreeayl Ra and Aquilla Sadalla
2:15pm: AfriCaribe
3:00pm: Members of Clinard Dance Theatre performing traditional flamenco in collaboration wtih Amaia Gabantxo, Marty Metzger, and Bob Garrett
3:30pm: Golosá
4:15pm: Jarochicanos Xicago

Venue: UIC Forum, 725 W Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL., 60607
Presenter: Chicago Public Media – WBEZ 91.5FM, 312-948-4600

TRAVEL INFORMATION:
If you’re coming by CTA, take the Halsted (8) bus south to Roosevelt Road.
If by car, parking is $8.00 in Lot 5 (located at 1135 W. Morgan) – once that lot is full, attendants will divert cars to additional lots.

Ron has been a part of our Las Cruces project team for about 2 years. He received both his BS in Electrical Engineering and his Master’s in Management Science degrees from the University of Dayton.

Service has always been a part of Ron’s life. After college, he spent 23 years in the Air Force as an Engineering Project Manager working on satellites, power systems, and surveillance equipment. He also spent the last two years volunteering at the People Resource Center, which helps local families get on their feet by providing access to food pantries, job assistance programs, and housing/social services.

On top of all that, Ron also volunteers with his kids’ soccer team. He feels that volunteering has provided meaning in life and the concept of service was instilled in him at a young age.

Ron was interested in volunteering on an international level when he discovered EWB. In January 2011 Ron had a chance to travel with the Las Cruces team on an assessment trip. He was impressed with how the community came together to make the team feel as comfortable as possible. Despite the fact that the people in the community were not wealthy, they still managed to collect money for the team’s food and gas, and even donated their refrigerator for the team’s use for the week. Ron’s favorite memory was from the end of the trip – the community threw a party for them at the house they were staying. During the party some community members went home and returned with their musical instruments, soon everyone joined in and it turned into a “sing-along cross-cultural jam session” on the front porch of the house – they really wanted you feel appreciated.

It’s always a challenge for Ron to balance volunteer work with family, and the obligations of day to day activities. Going on this trip was refreshing, because it allowed Ron to focus on this one project, without the distractions of everyday life. In Ron’s opinion, being able to meet and make a connection with the community meant that the trip was a success.

Ron’s EWB experience on the Las Cruces project has made him realize how natural disasters impede community development and how important reliable infrastructure can be for a community. It’s discouraging for a community with limited resources to rebuild after one major disaster, only to see another one strike and cause the damage all over again. With Ron and the project team’s help, Las Cruces will be able to build a drainage channel with enough capacity to hold floodwaters, so the community is not displaced during heavy rains.

 

We were selected for this award based on our mentorship of student chapters and other professional chapters, our level of fundraising, and the success and quality of our projects, among other considerations.

This award comes in addition to receiving Premier Professional Chapter of the Great Lakes Region last fall and winning both fundraising initiatives during the end of year donation drive.

Our success over this past year is due to the contributions of our members as well as the organizations and people in our own community that support us.  Thank you to project leads, board of directors, executive committee,  project team members, and committee team members.

The dedication they show to the chapter and the communities we partner with is incredible.  With their contributions we were able to expand our chapter with two new programs at the start of this year, allowing us to work with even more communities around the world.

Thanks to everyone who made a financial contribution to our chapter.  Without their contributions we would not be able to implement projects in the communities we partner with.

And finally, thanks to the members of the communities we work with.  Their drive to improve their communities is inspiring.  Without their ideas, feedback, support, resources, and countless other contributions, EWB would not exist.

To celebrate we will be having a party after the chapter meeting this coming Tuesday.  Feel free to bring your own beverage of choice.  We will also have pizza available for purchase.

We were asked to give a statement on what it means to us to be a part of EWB-USA.  The board of directors, executive committee, and project leads came up with the following statement:

EWB-USA has given members of the Chicago Professional Chapter the organizational framework to live out our passions to positively impact the lives of people living in the developing world thru partnership with communities on infrastructure development projects. Knowing people’s need to be valued and listened to, we are proud to be an EWB representative, working side by side with our brothers and sisters around the world  to help communities become more functional, sustainable, and overall life giving.

We look forward to what we can accomplish in the coming year.  Thank you for all that you do for our chapter.

The EWB Water Quality Testing Workshop, facilitated by Rod Beadle of the Chicago Professionals chapter, discussed the various issues to be considered in water testing, from understanding the basic chemical and physical properties of water to reviewing pathogens and best methods of testing in various locales.

The seminar lasted about 1.5 hours and had lots of good questions during and after the presentation. A big thank you to Rod and everyone who attended that made this workshop a success!

Note: HOW TO Register/Fundraise CHART available here.

We hope you will join fellow Engineers Without Borders supporters on June 9 in our effort to raise money for EWB projects as we race along Chicago’s beautiful lakefront path. Anyone is welcome to join the EWB team, and we will need race day volunteers in addition to runners and walkers. Feel free to recruit your colleagues, friends, and family to join the fun!

More details and race registration link: http://www.131marathon.com/Chicago/

March EWB Member of the Month

Sana Ma is a Northwestern University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering.  She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and a minor in Musicology.  Her day job at Cabot Microelectronics Corporation consists of managing the chemical product line including: quality control, investigate problems with the product line, and research on how to improve production.  Sana is also trilingual – she speaks some Cantonese and Mandarin.  She discovered EWB as an “Engineers for a Sustainable World” student member at NU and also learned about it from friends at the University of Colorado at Boulder (birthplace of EWB-USA).

Her volunteer work started in high school where she and a friend would tour retirement homes performing on piano.  She originally thought about joining the Peace Corps after college but found that EWB offers a way to contribute and volunteer with flexibility.

She is currently working on the Candelaria, Honduras project and is excited to travel for the first time this April.  Working with the Candelaria team has allowed Sana to learn about new technical projects and develop new skills outside of her job. Her other interests in EWB include improving the global community and contributing to make peoples’ lives better.

One of the ways Sana has been able to do this is by working with Dr. Bruce (member of the chapter) on issues surrounding the medical world. Her great work led her to find a solution to the medical waste problem in Candelaria.  When she joined the project team the medical waste issue was not being reconciled because of the many other issues the team was facing.  Sana made the issue her own responsibility and found a low cost solution for disposal of medical needles.

Sana’s advice to new members who would like to get involved is: be proactive, find a place for yourself in the project, and volunteer for activities.  It’s hard for project leads to place you in a project because they don’t know your background, skills, or interest. So the best way to get involved is to put yourself forward!

When: Monday, February 6, 6pm – 7pm

The next chapter meeting for EWB-Chicago will be on Tuesday, January 31st, at 6:00 pm., at 190 S. LaSalle, 37th Floor in Chicago, IL.

You can add the meeting to your calendar using the Google Calendar link on our homepage. Feel free to subscribe to the EWB-Chicago calendar to stay up-to-date on chapter meetings and happenings.

If you’ve never been to a meeting and are interested in Engineers Without Borders, this couldn’t be a better time to get involved. You do not need to be a member to attend a meeting, though chances are you’ll want to be a member afterwards!

What happens at a meeting, you ask? Typically, we start off with a 20-30 minute presentation addressing a project, sustainable technology, or another topic of interest to our members. After this presentation our committee heads and project managers report on their activities, ask for volunteers for specific tasks, and if necessary bring up an item for vote.  Afterwards we socialize and coordinate the next steps for our chapter.

Attending a meeting is the best way to start getting involved. Be sure to introduce yourself, grab a seat at the table, and ask questions!