Student Organizations

Student program works to improve life for north of 45th residents

Through thick fog and temperatures in the mid-30s, Elaine Tran’s voice welcomed a crowd of student volunteers to the North of 45th Neighborhood Clean-Up on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

One volunteer sported a T-shirt with a quote from Dr. King.

“Life’s most urgent question is,” it read, “what are you doing for others?”

For Tran and the other students in the Husky Neighborhood Interns (HNI) program, the answer to this urgent question is simple: assisting others living in the UW community.

After taking second place in the Seafair Milk Carton Derby using a printed boat made entirely of milk-jug plastic, the Washington Open Object Fabricators (WOOF) proved that 3-D printing was a budding technology. Now the group has proven its ability on the international level, winning first prize at the 3D4D Challenge in London last week.

The 50-member student group beat out six other finalists for the $100,000 top prize for their plan to use giant 3-D printers to turn create lightweight composting toilets and rainwater catchment equipment from waste plastic.

With as much nonchalance as one picking a crumb up off the table, Dr. Evan Sugden reached down onto the beehive frame and picked up a live bee to show the class. He explained the bee’s anatomy while the students around him observed the creature in his fingers. Then he dropped it back onto the bee-covered hive.