Duke Engineering Students Tackle Tsunami Recovery Projects in Indonesia

Note to editors: High-resolution images will be available on request at the end of the trip. David Schaad and Jean Foster will have intermittent email access during the trip and can be reached at david.schaad@duke.edu and jean.foster@duke.edu.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Five engineering students from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering later this month will repair shrimp hatcheries in Indonesia damaged by the 2004 tsunami and help villagers stabilize an airstrip to prevent erosion.

The team will travel to Indonesia on Aug. 9 and return on Aug. 25, in time to start the fall semester at Duke. The travel team includes civil engineering seniors Jean Foster, Jim Garnevicus and Emily Wren, biomedical/mechanical engineering senior Tyler Brown and Deirdre McShane, who graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

The projects are part of a student-led effort to launch an Engineers Without Borders chapter at Duke, and to provide engineering students with year-round opportunities for hands-on engineering experience and a chance to help others. The emphasis for both projects is to use locally available materials to create sustainable technologies.

The team will prepare a staking plan to rebuild shrimp hatcheries on the northwest coast of Sumarta, Indonesia. They also will build wind-powered mechanical aerators designed and tested at Duke by a larger student team that included electrical engineering junior Julia Hubert, mechanical engineering senior Chris Morecroft and biomedical engineering students Charles Wang, a junior, and Jason Leung, a senior.

The airstrip stabilization project, in a remote and mountainous area of Indonesia, will involve construction of "rock boxes" or gabion boxes to block erosion and runoff.

The students plan to keep journals about their experiences and are traveling with an independent photojournalist.

Civil and environmental engineering faculty member David Schaad will assist with the shrimp fishery repair project.

The Lord Foundation and Duke's Pratt School of Engineering provided support for the two projects, which are being conducted in collaboration with non-government organizations in Indonesia.

Engineers Without Borders, a non-profit organization, fosters partnerships with disadvantaged communities to improve quality of life through environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects, while developing internationally responsible engineering students.