In 2001, Bernard Amadei and eight students from the University of Colorado at Boulder installed a sustainable, low-cost clean water system in a village in Belize that met the village’s urgent need for clean water. The project inspired Amadei to found Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB), using the expertise of professional and student engineers to carry out similar projects in developing countries around the globe.
Amadei will share his experiences and talk about the broad and large role that engineering plays in all forms of recovery and sustainable development during a University Lectures presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 16, in Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel.
His presentation, “Engineering for the Developing World: From Crisis to Development,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Reduced-rate parking is available in the Irving Garage. CART and sign language interpretation will be available.
The lecture is sponsored in cooperation with the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science and the SU Humanities Center as part of the 2010 Syracuse Symposium.
Amadei will also speak on rebuilding efforts following the January earthquake in Haiti, and how EWB and others with similar skills and talents can confront the rebuilding challenges posed by the inadequate infrastructure in the country.
Amadei is professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU), faculty director of CU’s Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities and co-founder of Engineers Without Borders’ international network. He has focused on transforming the field of engineering by revamping traditional models and establishing professional standards to integrate the field of engineering more closely with pressing global issues and needs, such as redevelopment efforts in earthquake-devastated Haiti.
At the Mortensen Center, Amadei leads its overall mission to educate globally responsible engineering students and professionals who can offer sustainable and appropriate solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities worldwide. Amadei’s goal is to promote sustainable development, appropriate technology, service learning and system thinking in the curriculum and research of civil and environmental engineering programs at CU Boulder and other U.S. universities.
Among other distinctions, Amadei is the 2007 co-recipient of the Heinz Award for the Environment, the recipient of the 2008 ENR Award of Excellence and an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. He was elected an Ashoka-Knight Fellow in 2010.
Amadei is currently at work on a book “Engineering with Soul.”
During the spring semester, University Lectures guests will include Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist and author of Fast Food Nation (March 1, 2011); James Balog, photographer and director of the Extreme Ice Survey (March 8, 2011); Karen Tse, human rights attorney, founder and director of International Bridges for Justice (March 22, 2011); and Maude Barlow, co-founder of the Blue Planet Project and chair of the Food and Water Watch (April 5, 2011).
