NEW FACES OF ENG: (L-R) Tori Thomsen, Brett McMillan, Zayed Almansouri and Jeff Ku are taking part in 2017 xChange, the national Engineers Without Borders conference.
Tori Thomsen always had a passion for social justice and a desire to make the world more equitable. Good at math and science, she gravitated to engineering and found the faculty and the field were ideal for her worldview. "I see engineering as a service to the public," she says, "one that has responsibility and accountability to protect people and the environment from harm."
In the first year of her undergrad in mining engineering, she joined the student chapter of the global organization Engineers Without Borders. "It presented an opportunity to learn more about the interface between society and technology and how technology impacts culture," she says. Now in her final undergrad year, Thomsen is motivated by an increasing awareness of indigenous rights, and she hopes that will become the focus of a master's degree, building on work she undertook with the Beaver Nation in northern Alberta as a fellow with Engage North, a new national program that takes the EWB ethos to its work with indigenous and remote communities, bringing expertise from Canadian universities to the challenges those communities face.
Along with her colleagues at Engineers Without Borders, Thomsen is especially gratified to be part of EWB this year, as the organization is hosting its national conference, 2017 xChange, for the first time in Western Canada.
Engineers Without Borders has been operating its campus chapter for several years. Meetings are open to students from any faculty, and the public. The work of EWB professionals and fellows has its root in efforts to create systemic change, tackling issues of inequality and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. The student chapter at the University of Alberta is one of 39 Canadian chapters, and students may pursue the opportunity to visit a location in Africa to undertake a fellowship.
Chapter president Zayed Almansouri is currently working on his master's degree in mechanical engineering. "I liked EWB so much in my undergrad I stayed on," he jokes. Almansouri echoes Thomsen's excitement about the conference. He's helping plan some of the events and says EWB reinforces the triple bottom line that an engineer can bring "the social, environmental and technical solutions."
The U of A chapter of Engineers Without Borders welcomes new and returning members every Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. in the Colt Design Lab on the second floor of the Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex. Contact: (780) 729-1906 or Facebook.