From clean water to electricity, Engineers Without Borders student team is working to meet basic needs in a small village in Nicaragua, where 18 homes are not connected to the primary water system due to lack of water pressure.

The UW CEE Concrete Canoe Team is all a buzz. And it’s not because their theme this year is coffee. The team claimed first place at the ASCE Regional Concrete Canoe Competition in Boise, Idaho, on April 22-23. The team’s fifth consecutive year winning regionals, they will once again compete in the upcoming national competition.

It’s an oxymoron of sorts: better refugee camps. But despite contradictory terms, a team of CEE researchers is working to improve wastewater treatment systems at refugee camps, which are typically constructed quickly to accommodate people displaced by both natural and man-made disasters.

The UW has received a five-year, $4.1 million Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure grant from the National Science Foundation to fund a new disaster investigation center that will be led by CEE faculty.