Engineers Without Borders Atlanta (EWB-Atlanta) and Tomorrow’s Peacekeeper’s Today
(TPT) have partnered with the Engineers Without Borders Georgia Tech Student Chapter
(EWB-GT) and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to establish and host an annual
student design competition. The competition will confront multidisciplinary student teams
with a current global problem for which they must design an innovative solution within the
span of one week. The teams will present their designs at the end of the week to a panel of
experienced judges who will select the best design. Winners will be awarded prize money,
and their designs will be piloted for possible implementation.
For 2011, the student design competition will focus on an effective, standardized method for
the design, construction, and long-term management of durable and reusable refugee camps
that are capable of responding to a crisis in a cost-effective manner. The presented ideas will
be tested through a local simulation of an international crisis and presented to the UN as a
baseline for continued development and possible global implementation. While the UN
provides guidelines for refugee camp construction and management, they are rarely adhered
to by organizations that rush to provide short-term relief in response to a crisis due to poor
coordination and enforcement of standards. Consequently, refugees who have been forced
to flee their home countries must endure long-term suffering as a result of sub-standard
living conditions.
The application period will open on April 4, 2011 and close on September 25, 2011 to allow
plenty of time for event promotion and signup. Applications may be completed by visiting
www.gtcasecomp.com .
