Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering was recently recognized by Dell, Inc. on May 14 and the Environmental Protection Agency on May 12 for its work in Rwanda, according to DHE administrative advisor Carrie Fraser ’86 Th’87, the assistant dean for academic and student affairs at the Thayer School of Engineering.

DHE is now one of three finalists out of 1,800 applicants in the Dell Social Innovation Challenge and won a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency after entering its grant competition, “P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability,” according to DHE member Scott Gladstone ’15.

The organization works to take advantage of Thayer’s engineering resources and put them toward humanitarian work in impoverished communities, according to DHE Vice President of Marketing Alison Polton-Simon ’14. DHE currently has two projects in Africa. One involves working to implement cleaner cook stoves and fuel sources in Tanzania and the other is a hydropower project in Rwanda, Polton-Simon said.

The project in Rwanda received the EPA grant and Dell competition recognition, according to Polton-Simon. The project involves using small-scale hydropower to generate electricity in Rwandan communities that are “decades away” from accessing the national grid.