MSU’s Engineers Without Borders named 2026 Southeast Region Student Chapter of the Year

Contact: Chris Whitaker

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA was named the 2026 Student Chapter of the Year for the organization’s Southeast Region at its regional conference Sept. 26 in Atlanta.

The organization partners with communities around the world to meet basic human needs, from building footbridges to installing solar panels and digging for water. The MSU chapter, based in the Bagley College of Engineering, is one of 23 active student chapters across nine states in the Southeast Region.

Annemarie Coatney, EWB-MSU president and a senior double major in chemical and biomedical engineering, said that while the COVID-19 pandemic created many challenges for the chapter, receiving the regional award has encouraged members after several years of rebuilding. Those challenges included the loss of members and obstacles associated with the chapter’s last project.

“This award, especially with its particular acknowledgment of the reconstructive work of the last couple of years, was incredibly meaningful for our chapter,” she said. “Receiving that kind of encouragement has made us all the more determined to do the good work we’ve always known we are capable of.”

John Ramirez-Avila and his team look at the construction site where the health clinic in Pamac, Guatemala, will be built. (Photo submitted)

John Ramirez-Avila, EWB advisor and associate professor for the college, said the recognition highlights the chapter’s growth, commitment to EWB and continued dedication to its projects.

“It is especially rewarding to see our students’ efforts recognized at the regional level,” he said. “This award reflects the perseverance of its student members.”

The EWB Southeast Regional Board works to support chapters across the region and acknowledge their accomplishments. Laura Wilson, EWB Southeast regional president, said this includes recognizing a student chapter and a professional chapter after a review of the chapters’ activities, current work and dedication to EWB.

“The MSU chapter was selected as the winner based on their hard work in getting a new project started, working through changes in their faculty advisor and starting a partnership with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Professional Chapter,” said Wilson, who also earned her bachelor’s and master’s from MSU. “They have been extremely dedicated in building the chapter back up and have really done an amazing job keeping things moving.”

The new project is a health clinic for the community of Pamac, Guatemala, where the local health commission started health improvement work more than a decade ago. The commission built the current clinic without outside support, and it sees up to 200 patients over the two days it operates every other week. After an assessment trip in March, the chapter and its partner, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Professional Chapter, chose a site and a basic layout for a clinic that is more private, hygienic, secure and higher capacity. The design includes a main structure, two external latrines and a rainwater-fed handwashing station.

“We have spent this semester completing the design work for the facilities and are aiming to begin construction early in 2027,” said Coatney. “The facility we are building will be the singular source of primary health care for the children, pregnant women, elderly persons and others in this community. The personal responsibility we take on when agreeing to this project is immense, and we treat it as such.”

The chapter’s regional recognition highlights how student engineers can turn technical knowledge and collaboration into solutions that address communities’ essential needs. Engineers Without Borders is online at www.cee.msstate.edu/studentorg/engineers-without-borders  and can be found on Facebook and Instagram.