Real Engineers. Real Problems. Real Impact.
Every semester, more than 100 Clemson students from across 30+ majors join forces to work on high-impact projects. From the mountains of Haiti to the neighborhoods of South Carolina, we’re improving lives through hands-on engineering solutions.
Clemson students lead real projects, solve tough real-world problems, and make a difference for underserved communities around the world.
Ready to engineer solutions that matter? Join a community of problem-solvers who are changing the world, one project at a time.
Build Your Portfolio While Building Communities
Your CEDC projects become showcase pieces for internships, graduate school applications, and job interviews. Employers love seeing real-world problem-solving experience with measurable community impact.
Lead from Day One
From your first semester, you'll be designing solutions, managing budgets, coordinating with community partners, and presenting to stakeholders. You're not just joining projects – you're leading them.
- Ram Pumps in Colombia – Harnessing gravity to bring water to remote communities without electricity.
- Clemson Regional Bike Plan – Making local transportation smarter, safer, and more sustainable.
- Emergency Origami Shelters – Innovative, collapsible housing solutions for disaster response.
- Community Health Surveillance in Haiti – Tracking treatment outcomes for patients with hypertension to improve care delivery.
- Mandri Panga Water & Sanitation Projects in Ecuador – Giving communities clean water and safer living conditions, one system at a time.
- Cleo-Bailey – Transform an abandoned schoolhouse in Anderson, SC, into a vibrant community center.
At Clemson Engineers for Developing Communities, our mission is to work with communities to develop sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life through interdisciplinary student-led initiatives that embody our core values in partnership with organizations whose mission and values align with ours.
Our Projects Our TeamWhere Need Meets Innovation →
CEDC creates sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life in the Central Plateau of Haiti through interdisciplinary student-led initiatives. These initiatives begin around a table at Clemson, taking shape over a semester through collaborations, assessments, and considering cultural perspectives.
Our involvement does not end in the classroom; since 2011, we have had student interns on the ground in Haiti.
From aquaculture to water irrigation, the project goals have included helping address food insecurity, malnutrition, power outages, structural failures, and waste management.
“My favorite part of CEDC is the impact we make on the world while still being in college. With all the different projects and functional groups and their different impacts coming together to form this organization, being a part of this was one of my best decisions. I was on the Aquaculture project for 2 years before becoming Cultural Engagement Director. As Project Manager of the Aquaculture team, I built, and for a while, maintained the communications network between Aquaculture and our partners in Haiti. Communicating with our partners has been by far the most rewarding experience I have had with CEDC.”
Kate FairCultural Engagement DirectorEnvironmental Engineering '24
Why CEDC Matters
Our students don’t wait for opportunity; they create it. CEDC is more than a class. It is a launchpad for globally minded problem solvers who want their Clemson Experience to matter, whether in the lab, in the field, or in the lives of others.
