Our Mission
“To cultivate a community of students and staff dedicated to design, promote, and install future focused technology and solutions into campus infrastructure”
Our Story
Engineers for a Sustainable World UAlberta is proud to be a chapter of ESW Global, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2002 at Cornell University. ESW Global connects over 2,000 students and professionals across North America and has grown to contain more than 50 student chapters in the US and Canada, at institutions such as UC Irvine and UBC.
In 2022 co-founders Evan Rolfson and Sofia Monroy Alvarez formed the ESW UAlberta chapter in hopes to create a group of students ready to make a positive impact on our community. In the spring of 2022 a small and dedicated group of founding members resolved that our chapter’s mission would be to cultivate a community dedicated to designing, promoting, and installing sustainable technologies and solutions into campus infrastructure.
In our inaugural year we launched our first project Compost Heating and hosted a river valley clean-up event, collecting over 250 lbs of garbage. We saw an energetic response to ESW from the student body and welcomed over 30 undergraduates to our chapter. In our second year (2023-2024) we have pursued the expansion of our mission statement through the initiation of multiple new projects, including the Hydroponics Garden, Mushroom Farm, the Second Hand Band, and more. Our student involvement continues to grow, and in September 2023, the Faculty of Engineering recognized ESW UAlberta as a certified Engineering Student Group.
Our Future
As we look ahead, ESW UAlberta is committed to continuing our mission by extending membership to students and staff who are passionate about sustainability. We also seek to build partnerships with corporate entities that hold common values and aim to broaden our network to similar student clubs and groups on campus. By fostering a large and vibrant community within our university we aim to complete our current projects, start and support future student generated projects, and be a voice and vehicle that supports future focused technology and practices in the years to come.