Howard University

What value does a real-world project bring to students?

Real–world projects take the students outside the classroom and give them the opportunity to apply what they are learning in the classroom in the field. They can understand and appreciate the real contexts within which a community faces a particular problem and see how solutions that are developed take various non-technical issues into account in order to develop solutions that are sustainable and community centered.

How do you decide which projects to work on?

Engineers Without Borders-USA hosts a website on which communities across the planet can submit a problem that they are facing and would like assistance to address. Students in the various EWB university and college chapters look through these projects and select a project based on the students’ interests and the experience and expertise that each chapter might bring to the table, including past project experience and what have been successful before, as well as looking at where communities are located and whether the communities have a community based organization as a partner to develop and implement.

How did this project prepare students for professional practice?

Professional practice involves the engagement of students in the professional workforce. While engaged in these international development and community capacity-building projects, students are provided with experiences in teamwork, leadership, technology development, and community engagement. These experiences provide a real-world context for the engineering theories they imbibe in the classroom and prepare them well for work in professional settings.

What advice do you have for other programs wanting to add similar collaborative projects to their curriculum?

The level of students and faculty interest in initiating and engaging in such programs needs to be determined. For such collaborative projects to be added to a program’s curriculum, a faculty champion is needed who can engage with interested students in developing such programs and projects. In addition, the administration needs to be supportive of the students and the faculty adviser, both academically and procedurally, but also financially, providing the student teams the necessary administrative and developmental support to help students raise the funds for such programs and projects

What did you like best about participating in this project?

Working on the Kogwari Clean Water Initiative strengthened my passion for public service and sustainable water solutions. The most rewarding part was building relationships with the people of Kogwari and seeing how meaningful our work was to the community. Their gratitude inspired me to continue serving others and reminded me that engineering is ultimately about improving people’s quality of life. I’m also proud that our Engineers Without Borders chapter helped raise awareness about the importance of clean water and the impact these projects can have.

What did you learn?

This experience taught me that successful engineering projects are just as much about people as they are about technical design. I learned the importance of listening to communities, adapting to local needs, and working collaboratively to create sustainable solutions. I also gained a deeper appreciation for Kenyan culture through learning basic Swahili and spending time with community members.

How did the participation of professional engineers improve the experience?

Working with Professor Tharakan and our mentors, Philip and Moses, gave me valuable hands-on experience that complemented what I had learned through research and internships. They shared practical knowledge about project planning, contractor coordination, and sustainable engineering while helping us navigate challenges throughout the project. Their guidance was essential to the success of our student-led initiative and helped me grow as both an engineer and a leader.

What did you like best about participating in this project?

One of the most meaningful parts of participating in this project was interacting with the community. Meeting the people of Kogwari reminded me that engineering is not just about designing solutions. Everywhere we went, we were welcomed with kindness, genuine gratitude, and unwavering optimism. The community opened their homes to us, shared meals with us, and welcomed us with smiles that reflected resilience despite the challenges they face every day.

I hope that by seeing us working alongside their community, they recognized that we are more than an organization completing a project. I genuinely care about this community that we serve, and we are committed to building lasting partnerships rather than temporary solutions. 

Although seeing progression of the completed water pump was incredibly rewarding, I left Kenya realizing that our work is far from over. A single project cannot erase years of hardship or solve every challenge a community faces. My time in Kogwari strengthened my passion for using engineering to address environmental and public health challenges.

What did you learn?

The biggest thing I learned is that you can plan something really carefully and still get unexpected surprises once you’re actually out there. The borehole system wasn’t fully operational because it was capped due to a misunderstanding with our contracting company, so our goal shifted from installing a temporary water filter to securing a working borehole. However, that sill left us with the water being way too salty so, we had to go back and figure out a whole different approach with the reverse osmosis filtration. That taught me not to get too attached to the first version of anything. The first system that works isn’t the finish line; it’s kind of just the beginning.

I also learned a ton about water quality and what it actually takes to hit the WHO standards. And maybe the thing that surprised me most was how much of this is just coordination: emailing other chapters for advice, comparing costs, trying to line up donors and partners. It’s way less “solve the equation” and way more “get the right people talking to each other” than I expected going in.

How did the participation of professional engineers improve the experience?

The professional engineers changed how I thought about the work, not just how the design turned out. Early on I think we were mostly focused on getting something built. Talking with them shifted that. They kept asking about what happens in five years, who maintains it, what happens when a part fails and nobody’s around who knows how to replace it. That’s not the kind of question you naturally ask as a student.

They were also just really generous with their time. They didn’t talk down to us or take over; they’d point out what we were missing and then let us go figure it out. When we hit the salinity problem, they didn’t hand us the answer, they helped us think through whether RO was actually the right move and what it would cost us down the line. That felt like being treated as a real teammate instead of a student, and it made me a lot more confident about doing this kind of work after graduation.

What do you think the engineers learned from working with students on this project?

I think working with us reminded them why they got into engineering in the first place. A lot of them do this professionally every day, and it can become routine. Watching a group of students get genuinely excited about a borehole in Homa Bay County, arguing about design options at 11 p.m., celebrating when something finally worked, I think that’s a different kind of energy than they usually get at work.

They also had to slow down and explain things they normally wouldn’t think twice about. When you’ve been doing something for 20 years, you stop noticing your own reasoning. Our questions forced them to actually say it out loud, and I think a few times that made them reconsider whether the standard way was really the best way.

And practically, I think they learned we could handle more than they might’ve assumed at the start. We ran the outreach to other chapters, chased down partners, and kept the project moving between visits. I hope by the end they saw us as people doing the work with them, not just people they were teaching.

Why did you get involved with the project?

I got involved in this and other volunteer projects out of a sense of obligation. An obligation to help up–and–coming engineers and other students as well as an overall obligation to help the developing world.

How did you assist the students in the project?

I assisted them by providing direction on the process that it would take to complete a successful project, by providing the engineering calculation steps, by providing assistance in developing contracts and executing those contracts with suppliers, by providing experience on the equipment types that would be necessary for the completed project to function. I also reviewed their assessment and trip reports and am now in the phase of calculations. We have worked together as a collaborative project team. 

What did you learn from working with the students?

I learned that the students are extremely capable both in engineering work and in project management. They have a well-rounded education and knowledge at a levelgreater than I recall from engineering students 50 years ago. The students’ trip activities and reports helped further my understanding of the culture in Kenya.

What did you want students to learn from working with you?

I wanted the students to learn how to manage a project through its logical phases, what pitfalls may occur, and how to deal with those occurrences. I wanted them to be educated on, and become proficient in dealing with, both engineering and commerce in the world outside of university.

Why did you get involved with the project?

I got involved in the project because of the passion I have for supporting community-based projects, which have direct impact to the target population.

How did you assist the students in the project?

I assisted the students by mentoring them, assisting them to design and implement community-based projects. I also assisted the students learn more about cultural awareness within the communities. I also assisted the students in reaching out to other partners, contractors and institutions, such as schools and health facilities. I did capacity building and assisting the students know more about data collection and needs assessment.

What did you learn from working with the students?

I learned a lot from the students on what they study at the university, the tools and equipment for data collection in the field, and overall exchange of knowledge.

What did you want students to learn from working with you?

Actual field/practical experience from what they learn in university and interaction with the communities, data collection, needs assessment, design of the projects, and implementation.