A team of students and professionals from Missouri University of Science and Technology will spend their spring break assessing the potential for a potable water system in a remote Haitian village.

Corail Lamothe is located in the southeaster corner of Haiti, a short distance from the Caribbean Sea, but lacks adequate safe drinking water. Representatives from the Engineers Without Borders student chapter at Missouri S&T will travel to the village March 24-28 with the goal of conducting a feasibility study for the design and construction of a new water system to address health needs in the community.

This is the first time the EWB chapter will travel to Haiti. The chapter was approached last fall by the Health and Education Relief Organization (HERO), a non-profit organization co-founded by Ted Waldbart, a 1978 computer science graduate of Missouri S&T and president and chief executive officer of HERO. The organization is seeking a cost-effective way to supply water to the remote village and asked the Missouri S&T chapter for its assistance with conducting an assessment.

Following the trip, the Missouri S&T EWB team plans to design a sustainable solution for the village, to be implemented during the 2008-09 academic year.

Dr. Rick Stephenson, EWB’s faculty advisor and professor of civil engineering, and David Hoffman, research engineer at Missouri S&T, will travel with the students and provide guidance. The three Missouri S&T students traveling to Haiti are:

• Alexis Campbell of Saint Cloud, Minn., a sophomore in biological sciences and chemical engineering;

• Jennifer Kelley of Ballwin, Mo., a sophomore in civil engineering and EWB team leader; and

• Daniel Kienitz of Belleville, Ill., a senior in civil engineering.

Similar to the more established Doctors Without Borders, EWB works to improve the lives of people around the world by building infrastructure such as water systems and other engineering endeavors.

For more information about the Missouri S&T EWB chapter, visit www.ewb-mst.org.