Event Schedule

Friday, April 23


Main Track

Keynote Session

5:00-6:00 PM PDT Keynote: Decolonizing Development: Who or What are we ‘Developing’?
by Aaron Opdyke
6:00-6:15 PM PDT
BREAK
6:15-7:15 PM PDT
Games & Networking
hosted by EWB Cal Poly

Saturday, April 23

Track 1

Resiliency & Sustainability

Track 2

Chapter Operations

Track 3

Critical Conversations
8:00-9:00 AM PDT Decentralized Energy Production & Community Resiliency 8:00-9:00 AM PDT EWB-Philly Project Mentorship 8:00-9:00 AM PDT Sustainable Development or Student Development? A Critical Conversation on who EWB Serves
Nick Yavorsky is currently conducting his thesis research in the field of energy and community resilience as it relates to decentralized energy production in Puerto Rico. EWB-Philly has put community engagement and sustainability at the forefront of its chapter mission statement. Partnering with a community empowerment group and the Temple U. student chapter, EWB-Philly's domestic program is revitalizing community infrastructure while mentoring and giving technical and leadership experience to the student members. EWB carries a dual mission of serving students and communities. In practice, do projects achieve sustainable development or student development? EWB Cal Poly alumni will facilitate and participate in a critical discussion on who EWB serves, using the EWB Thailand project as a case study. Past members, current members, and faculty will be encouraged to share their experience grappling difficult questions while involved in student led development projects, from early assumptions to lingering doubts.

9:00-9:15 AM PDT BREAK

9:00-9:15 AM PDT BREAK

9:30-9:45 AM PDT BREAK
9:15-10:15 AM PDT Sustainable Community Development Panel 9:15-10:15 AM PDT Membership Recruitment & Retention 9:45-10:45 AM PDT Dissecting Development: a Critical Examination of Engineering Development's History
Description in Progress Learn about how to find members, onboard, engage and maintain them for the long term with the LA Professional chapter. This presentation will introduce and explore the historical framework of development, specifically engineering development, the various criticisms of it, and post-development theory. EWB & Critical Global Engagement of Cal Pol will also discuss how these critical perspectives apply to work completed through EWB-USA and the ways in which engineering development organizations locate themselves in international modern developmental history.

10:15-10:30 AM PDT BREAK

10:15-10:30 AM PDT BREAK

10:45-11:00 AM PDT BREAK
10:30-11:30 AM PDT Satellite Imagery Analysis & Applications 10:30-11:30 AM PDT The New EWB Strategic Plan Overview and Q&A (Prerecorded) 11:00-12:00 PM PDT Pitfalls and Possibilities for Global Partnerships and Critical Pedagogy in Global Service Learning
An overview of remote sensing applications for EWB by Jack Johnson from the Hartford Professionals. Topics will include vegetation and surface water monitoring using both active and passive satellite systems, as well as surface temperature monitoring and mapping of rain water runoff areas. Join Tom Rebbecchi, the Professional Board Representative for EWB-USA to learn more about the new EWB-USA strategic plan and how it will affect your projects. In the context of global service-learning and/or internship programs -- whether via EWB, or otherwise -- what does it mean to support participation and voice amongst community partners? How can students (and supporting faculty) push each other to be more critically reflective about their own positionality as it intersects with their aspirations for participatory development? This session uses case studies of student and host partner experiences to spur reflection and discussion about these crucial questions, drawing especially from the experiences of EWB / Critical Global Engagement Club members at Cal Poly and the founder of Omprakash, Willy Oppenheim. The session draws upon the work of Omprakash (www.omprakash.org), a Seattle-based nonprofit working to help universities build ethical global partnerships and support students with critically-reflective training and mentorship. The session will begin with an overview of the Omprakash model and its EdGE online learning platform, and then will shift into participatory activities which revolve around scenarios, breakout room discussions, and 'playing' with digital participatory theater techniques.

11:30-12:30 PM PDT LUNCH BREAK

11:30-12:30 PM PDT LUNCH BREAK

12:00-12:30 PM PDT LUNCH BREAK
12:30-1:30 PM PDT Mortenson Center Research Panel 12:30-1:30 PM PDT EWB-USA Regional, National, and Non-Profit Leaders 12:30-1:30 PM PDT Dissecting Development: Institutions and Ideologies of Engineering Development Today
Description in Progress Have you ever wondered what it's like to lead thousands of volunteers? Are you curious what happens at a Board of Directors meeting? We know you've heard of a state representative, but still wishing you knew what they actually did? If so, this is the panel for you! Join Jackie O'Brien (EWB-USA CEO), Nicole Trenchard (Student Rep. on the EWB-USA Board of Directors), and more to talk about what their everyday work is like with EWB-USA, what their biggest challenges are, and what they are excited to see in a post-pandemic world. Come ready to ask questions, because after a short introduction we'll be answering the audience. What do the current dominant engineering development models look like? To what kinds of institutions and cultures do current models contribute to? To what extent do current engineering models uphold neoliberal ideologies? In this presentation, we aim to deconstruct the contradictions between current engineering development models’ intentions and their impact on the communities they intervene in. Specifically, we plan to examine how current models perpetuate neoliberal and neocolonial ideologies, as well as discuss and reflect on our own assumptions regarding development that may fall into oppressive mindsets.

1:30-1:45 AM PDT BREAK

1:30-1:45 AM PDT BREAK

1:30-1:45 AM PDT BREAK
1:45-2:45 PM PDT Case Study: Remote Implementation El Llanito, Nicaragua Water Supply Project 1:45-2:45 PM PDT SF Professional Chapter Panel 1:45-3:45 PM PDT Peace Building: Decolonializing Engineering Framework through Designing with Intention
Join Patrick Coyle from the SF Professionals in his presentation of a remote implementation of a nearly complete water supply project in Nicaragua, and initiation of remote assessment for next projects. Join a panel of SF Professionals and more to answer student's questions about professional chapters and careers! Have you ever thought about why past EWB projects have failed? Have you ever thought about how culture and technical design intersect? In this presentation, join EWB & Critical Global Engagement of Cal Poly to learn more about failure within EWB projects by analyzing past case studies and failure reports. Reflect on your current EWB project, education, and intentions for engaging within development and international volunteer work. Learn how to implement an intersectional framework within your own projects through human centered design. Get an introduction to Peace Engineering Principles through exploring themes on conflict resolution, power dynamics, project management, and engineering via systems thinking. To conclude the session, hear from panelists Liz Thompson and Jerry McCann as they address any questions you might have, focusing on how they have used/seen principles of peace building work in practice. Through this panel discussion hear how peacebuilding can be utilized within an engineering without borders project framework, and how to level out the vertical space of power indifferences through design.

2:45-3:00 PM PDT BREAK

2:45-3:00 PM PDT BREAK

3:45-4:00 PM PDT BREAK
3:00-4:00 PM PDT Data Justice Panel 3:00-4:00 PM PDT Fundraising Events (Prerecorded)
Description in Progress Fundraising for your Engineers Without Borders project is hard work. There are multiple avenues available to raise money, from grants to individual donors. Join Mike Reiter from Hartford Professionals presentation will focus on fundraising through events. Events fundraisers can be small dollar events to support a local project or bring in larger amounts of money needed for more complicated projects and travel. The presenter will talk in detail about the mechanics of fundraising events he has run in the past and give you clear thoughts on how to manage your fundraising events in the future.

4:00-4:15 PM PDT BREAK

4:00-4:15 AM PDT BREAK

4:15-5:15 PM PDT Effective Altruism and Measuring What Matters 4:15-5:15 PM PDT Members Testimonials Through Covid and The Inspiration To Keep Moving Forward Despite The Circumstances! 4:00-5:00 PM PDT Dissecting Development: Transformative Models and Alternative Approaches
How can you use your money and expertise to do the most good in the world? Join Dr. Jacob Sparks in discussing some lessons from the effective altruism movement and some of the challenges we face when we try to measure our effectiveness in helping others. Description in Progress In this presentation EWB & Critical Global Engagement of Cal Poly aims to explore and understand alternative approaches to the dominant models of development with which we can reconstruct and transform on-going and future development initiatives to better serve communities. Grounded in a variety of feminist, indigenous, radical, and regenerative frameworks from across the globe, we will be introducing several models of transnational community aid efforts that are exemplars of development contributing to liberation and resisting hegemonic oppressions. We will also discuss the relevance of shifting away from the prioritization of growth and un-developing the Global North within such transformative models, as well as concrete examples of domestic grassroots movements and initiatives engineering development in the U.S. could model to delineate our work from the current oppressive institutions that our nation is situated in.

5:15-5:30 PM PDT BREAK

5:00-5:15 PM PDT BREAK
5:30-6:30 PM PDT Integrating Perspectives into your Project Reviews 5:15-6:15 PM PDT “Narco-Deforestation” in Central American Protected Areas: Developing A Spatiotemporal Proxy Database for Drug-Trafficking Activities from Media Reporting
Global Development projects are a complicated process, with a multitude of stakeholders, perspectives, values, and goals to navigate. Applying insights learned by EWB Cal Poly alumni from previous project failures, EWB Cal Poly has recently started an internal project review process, in which we gather Alumni, faculty advisors, professional engineers, and our members to collaborate. All four of our project teams present their current project background, goals, and plans so that they can receive feedback from individuals with various backgrounds in engineering, anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, gender studies, and other fields. Join us as we discuss our goals and motivations for setting up this internal review, discuss what we learned from our first Project Review Night, and discuss how you could integrate this into your EWB chapter's review processes. In this presentation, Olivia Cameron will discuss research conducted during her Research Experience for Undergraduates, exploring patterns of "narco-deforestation" (forest loss linked to drug trafficking) in protected areas of Guatemala and Honduras. This phenomena has a disproportionate impact on indigenous and rural communities in Central America. This project became her Honors thesis, defended in 2019. Prior to this work, there was essentially no data that appropriately demonstrated patterns of narco-trafficking intensity due to the obscurity of the activities involved. In her work, Olivia developed a novel proxy database of open-source media articles to use as a temporal and spatial measurement of illicit narco-trafficking activities. This database was used to find a causational relationship between narcotrafficking and deforestation. The novel methodology used in this study poses questions about the use of open-source data to explore understudied, clandestine topics. Olivia will present on her research within the context of EWB's work, and provide members with the context they need to make decisions when working with communities that could be impacted by illicit economies (including drug trafficking). She will answer questions about the results of her study, including drug trafficking hot spots and correlational protected areas, and how infrastructure enables narcotraffickers to choose these areas.

6:30-6:45 PM PDT BREAK

5:15-6:45 PM BREAK

6:15-6:45 PM PDT BREAK

Main Track

Keynote Session

6:45-7:15 PM PDT West Coast Regional Awards
by the West Coast Regional Steering Committee
7:15-8:00 PM PDT
Games & Networking
hosted by the West Coast Regional Steering Committee

Event Schedule

Friday, April 23


Main Track

Keynote Session

5:00-6:00 PM PDT Keynote: Decolonizing Development: Who or What are we ‘Developing’?
by Aaron Opdyke
6:00-6:15 PM PDT
BREAK
6:15-7:15 PM PDT
Games & Networking
hosted by EWB Cal Poly

Saturday, April 23

Track 1

Resiliency & Sustainability

8:00-9:00 AM PDT Decentralized Energy Production & Community Resiliency

Nick Yavorsky is currently conducting his thesis research in field of energy and community resilience as it relates to decentralized energy production in Puerto Rico.








9:00-9:15 AM PDT BREAK

Track 2

Chapter Operations

8:00-9:00 AM PDT EWB-Philly Project Mentorship

EWB-Philly has put community engagement and sustainability at the forefront of its chapter mission statement. Partnering with a community empowerment group and the Temple U. student chapter, EWB-Philly's domestic program is revitalizing community infrastructure while mentoring and giving technical and leadership experience to the student members.





9:00-9:15 AM PDT BREAK

Track 3

Critical Conversations

8:00-9:30 AM PDT Sustainable Development or Student Development? A Critical
Conversation on who EWB Serves

EWB carries a dual mission of serving students and communities. In practice, do projects achieve sustainable development or student development? EWB Cal Poly alumni will facilitate and participate in a critical discussion on who EWB serves, using the EWB Thailand project as a case study. Past members, current members, and faculty will be encouraged to share their experience grappling difficult questions while involved in student led development projects, from early assumptions to lingering doubts.

9:30-9:45 AM PDT BREAK

Event Schedule

Friday, April 23


Saturday, April 23

Track 1

Resiliency & Sustainability

Track 2

Chapter Operations

Track 3

Critical Conversations
8:00-9:00 AM PDT Decentralized Energy Production & Community Resiliency 8:00-9:00 AM PDT EWB-Philly Project Mentorship 8:00-9:00 AM PDT Sustainable Development or Student Development? A Critical Conversation on who EWB Serves
Nick Yavorsky is currently conducting his thesis research in field of energy and community resilience as it relates to decentralized energy production in Puerto Rico. EWB-Philly has put community engagement and sustainability at the forefront of its chapter mission statement. Partnering with a community empowerment group and the Temple U. student chapter, EWB-Philly's domestic program is revitalizing community infrastructure while mentoring and giving technical and leadership experience to the student members. EWB carries a dual mission of serving students and communities. In practice, do projects achieve sustainable development or student development? EWB Cal Poly alumni will facilitate and participate in a critical discussion on who EWB serves, using the EWB Thailand project as a case study. Past members, current members, and faculty will be encouraged to share their experience grappling difficult questions while involved in student led development projects, from early assumptions to lingering doubts.

9:00-9:15 AM PDT BREAK

9:00-9:15 AM PDT BREAK

9:30-9:45 AM PDT BREAK
XX:XX-XX:XX AM PDT NEW TRACK 1 SESSION TITLE HERE XX:XX-XX:XX AM PDT NEW TRACK 2 SESSION TITLE HERE XX:XX-XX:XX AM PDT NEW TRACK 3 SESSION TITLE HERE
NEW TRACK 1 DESCRIPTION TITLE HERE NEW TRACK 2 DESCRIPTION TITLE HERE NEW TRACK 3 DESCRIPTION TITLE HERE

XX:XX-XX:XX AM PDT BREAK

XX:XX-XX:XX AM PDT BREAK

XX:XX-XX:XX AM PDT BREAK