Over the course of February 26-28 several of our chapter members had the opportunity to attend the 2026 EWB-USA National Conference, held this year in Portland, OR.
The theme for this year’s conference was #BuildingTomorrowTogether. It was with that in mind that the conference showcased how engineering, collaboration, and innovation drive a more equitable and sustainable future.
Over 800 fellow volunteers from around the country and world were in attendance. From the greater Houston area alone, in addition to our chapter’s attendees there were also volunteers present from the South Houston Professional Chapter, the University of Houston Student Chapter, the Rice University Student Chapter, and the newly-formed Texas Southern University Student Chapter.
The conference featured daily inspiring keynotes, breakout sessions, a poster exhibition featuring the work of other chapters, and several pre-conference workshops.
Our chapter members attended a number of sessions – ranging from such topics as fundraising methodologies, PMEL tools, EWB-USA’s new Community Health Initiatives, the role advocacy plays in our volunteer work, and the application of the new Purposeful Partnership Model in Peru and Kenya.
In a GIS workshop, our chapter members learned the basics & differences between mapping and GIS, and received hands-on demonstrations of using GNSS, using a total station, and flying a drone to perform a photogrammetric survey.
Then our chapter’s Vice President – Projects, Terry Applegate, chaired a panel session on “Building Strong Stakeholder Relationships” that was well attended and received.
To cap off the conference, a volunteer celebration was held at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, housed in a former converted General Electric power plant. Our chapter members came away with much enthusiasm for many of the new and ongoing EWB-USA initiatives and look forward to applying these to our chapter’s ongoing and future work.
Be sure to save the date – next year’s EWB-USA National Conference, celebrating 25 years of EWB-USA, will be held in St. Louis, MO (March 4-6, 2027). Our chapter hopes to see you there!