The Colorado School of Mines student chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA has raised more than $15,000 to fund the construction of a bridge in Nicaragua.
The bridge project, located in the Carazo region, connects a rural community with access to medical facilities, food markets, and adjacent farmland that is cut off during the rainy season. The Mines group has committed to remain involved in this region for five or more years through future bridge or other development projects.
The principal donor of the project, the Alcoa Foundation, is providing a $200,000 grant to various organizations for the Building for Better program that supports engineering faculty and students at Alcoa’s academic partners in Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States. Other donors supporting the Nicaragua bridge project include CH2MHill, Todd Wang, and Jim and Nelly Kilroy.
The Mines chapter will travel to Nicaragua in January 2013 to begin construction of the bridge. The project will be completed before the start of the next rainy season in March. During these trips, students will investigate other sites in the region in need of bridges and will plan to design and build a bridge for a second location in the next two years.
The growing Engineers Without Borders-USA Colorado School of Mines Student Chapter is a student-led organization of approximately 20 students.
For more information about the project, or to donate to the cause, view their website at inside.mines.edu/ewb.
