The University of Wisconsin’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders was a gold finalist winner for the 2009 Mondialogo Engineering Award in Germany, bringing international recognition and publicity to their Haitian project.

With thousands of teams submitting their projects for review by an international jury of prestigious engineers from around the world, 30 finalists were recognized at a symposium based on their project proposal. The groups presented how their projects specifically reduce poverty, promote sustainable development and promote climate change mitigation, according to a statement released by Mondialogo.

The statement added Mondialogo, a joint partnership of Daimler and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was created as a way to encourage and promote intercultural dialogue and exchange. The engineering award specifically identifies and distinguishes the hard work the team, made up of members from a developing country and a developed country, has done together.

“We’ve been working on our [Haiti] project for about a year already and when we discovered the application online for this award, we recognized that it fit into the requirements,” said Kyle Ankenbauer, civil engineering student and co-manager of the Haiti project. “Thirty teams were invited to the symposium to present their projects. Eight teams received gold; we were one of them.”

UW chapter president Eyleen Chou, mechanical engineering student in her second year in EWB, said Ankenbauer and K?nold Decimus, student engineer and partner in the project, presented on “Hydroelecric power for doctors, students and farmers in Haiti.”

In their presentation, Ankenbauer and Decimus said their project idea was the development and construction of a micro-hydroelectric system as an efficient and reliable energy source to power a clinic, library and church in Bayonnaise, Haiti.

“What we’re doing is bringing technology in a developed nation to educated students in a developing nation,” Ankenbauer said. “Not discovering something new, not developing innovative technology, but showing students without the resources to use this technology so they will be able to understand.”

He added it was great their project is being recognized because now they will be able to bring a micro-hydroelectric system to Haiti as well as fix a system of pipes that had been affected by recent flooding.

For receiving gold, the team was awarded prize money amounting to more than $21,000.

“This [engineering award] is considered to be the most prestigious international engineering award organized and offered. It gives our project a huge amount of momentum,” Ankenbauer said. “Essentially, what this says is UNESCO recognizes our project was extremely impressive, that professionals will look at it and be willing to work with us.”