Venkat Raman –
A team of three first year Massey University enginnering students brought home the top prize that they won at the ‘Engineers Without Borders’ (EWB) competition held in Melbourne a few months ago.
The team, comprising Demi Noakes, Lydia McGlashan and Nathaniel McTaggart, created a practical stove for villagers in remote Nepal. The stove vents smoke from cooking outside homes, using affordable items that can be easily obtained in the region.
Smoke inhalation from cooking is stated to be a major health hazard in Nepal.
It was a second consecutive win for the team in the annual contest and the third for a group from the Massey University Albany Campus.
Dr Aruna Shekar, Senior Lecturer at the University’s School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, decribed the win as ‘an incredible achievement.’
“We are so proud of Demi, Lydia and Nathaniel for winning the EWB Challenge against their Australian counterparts. They had to explain their concept to a panel of experienced judges, which would have been very nerve-wracking,” she said.
Fierce Competition
The students said that competition was fierce and that they had little hope.
“We were of course thrilled that we won the top prize; but it was more exciting to realise that our stove would be used in Nepal,” they said.
The trio is back at Massey for second year of degree but with an eye on the future.
Demi is keen to work overseas but would apply to become an Officer at the Royal New Zealand Air Force, while Nathaniel wants to gain experince in a robotics Company and later establish his own enterprise.
