The United Nations, U.S. State Department and a West Virginia manufacturer of instruments to detect landmines have honored Fresno State senior David Biswanger and an engineering student group for raising money to help remove landmines, the manufacturer has announced.
Biswanger is president of the student chapter of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping at California State University, Fresno, which worked with the Civil & Geomatics Engineering Department at the university and several other groups on the project.
They collected more than 400 cell phones for recycling and raised more than $1,029 to buy a de-mining tool from Schonstedt Instrument Co., which also makes devices used to detect cluster bombs and other unexploded ordnance.
The magnetic locator purchased through the fundraising -- and a matching tool donated by Schonstedt -- were sent to Nepal, according to the company.
Biswanger, 40, of Carmel Valley is a geomatics engineering major.
"It's nice to be honored, especially by the United Nations and State Department," he said. "It was really nice getting a letter from both those entities."
Posted in The Fresno Bee 10/29/08 23:41:17
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/974480.html
