Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2014 - (Page 6)

in my own words Engineering with a Human Face Bernard Amadei, Ph.D. Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Founding President, Engineers Without Borders USA Dr. Bernard Amadei is a co-recipient of the 2007 Heinz Award for the Environment, the recipient of the 2008 ENR Award of Excellence, an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and an Ashoka-Knight Fellow. In addition to creating Engineers Without Borders USA, Dr. Amadei is the co-founder of Engineers Without Borders International. In 2013 and 2014, he served as a science envoy for the U.S. Department of State. His overarching goal: to help shape a new generation of engineers with the education, training, and passion to change the world. From the backyard to Belize and beyond My interest in engineering for developing communities actually started in my own backyard in 1997. I was having some landscape work done, and the three young men who were doing the work were originally from Belize. As we talked in my backyard, they told me about the needs of young Mayan Indians in Belize, especially with regard to curriculum development. They wanted to start a vocational school. They asked me, "Since you are into teaching, would you be interested in helping?" I said yes, but I didn't hear from them for about two years. Then, in 1999, I got an email inviting me to visit them in Belize. I was on sabbatical leave at the time. I went to Belize, where I fell in love with the land and the people. In the Mayan village of San Pablo, I met a little girl who carried water from the river up to the village every day. Because she had to do this, she couldn't go to school. The people of the village asked me if, as a civil engineer, there was anything I could do. Right away, I thought of installing a pump that could be used to pump water from the river to the village. An enlightening experience From a technical standpoint, the project was easy to design and implement. The challenge was to come up with a solution that was affordable for the local people, most of whom earned less than $1.00 a day. In the jungle, there is no electricity, and the community couldn't afford fuel for a pump. It was the first time in my life when an engineering problem was defined more by societal needs than by technological needs. 6 imagine Back in Colorado, I talked to some engineering students about working on the project, and lo and behold, some 15 students volunteered to raise funds for it. A year later, we built a ram pump that relied on energy from a waterfall. It was an eye-opening experience for me and for the students, who wanted to do more of that kind of practical work, rather than learning solely from textbooks. And so Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) was born in 2001. Today, we have around 14,000 members in the U.S. alone. Half of those members are professional engineers. The other half are engineering students who will eventually graduate and become professional engineers. We have over 300 chapters throughout the United States, and we're working in 47 countries around the world. Working together to benefit the community Typically, someone-a Peace Corps volunteer or someone from an NGO (non-governmental organization) or government agency-will contact us with a potential project. They submit an application they download from our website, which is then reviewed by professional engineers to determine whether it fits within the value system of EWB-USA: Can we do it? Is it going to benefit the community? If the project is accepted, it's put on the website and various chapters can bid on it. They have to show that they have the expertise as well as professional mentors, and that they can pull the project together and do fundraising. Based on '' The challenge of improving the daily lives of people in developing communities calls for a new generation of global engineers who can operate in environments vastly different from those in the developed world. -From Engineering for Sustainable Human Development: A Guide to Successful Small Scale Community Projects by Bernard Amadei Nov/Dec 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2014

Big Picture
In My Own Words
A Summer in Xian
The Bogs in Ireland
As Indian as Any
Crossing Cultures, Past and Present
Exploring the World from Home
Sowing Seeds of Peace
Around the World with the National Geographic Bee
Selected Opportunities and Resources
A Student of the Martial Arts
The Inner Scientist Reaches Out
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2014