Roles of Engineers in Poverty Reduction: Challenges & Opportunities

Video of the School of Engineering's Dean Lecture, delivered by Engineers Without Borders founder Bernard Amadei, is now available.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [11.12.08] On Nov. 6, Dr. Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders, gave the School of Engineering Dean's Lecture on "Roles of Engineers in Poverty Reduction: Challenges & Opportunities."

Watch video: Windows Media (56:47)

Video by Tufts Educational Media Center

Amadei, who is also professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with practicing engineering in the developing world and the education of engineers through organizations such as Engineers Without Borders. He also talked about the importance of integrating engineering with non-engineering disciplines when addressing the needs of developing communities.

In the next two decades, almost two billion additional people are expected to populate the earth, 95 percent of them in daeveloping or underdeveloped countries. This growth will create unprecedented demands for energy, food, land, water, transportation, materials, waste disposal, earth moving, health care, environmental clean up, telecommunication, and infrastructure. Today, an estimated 20 percent of the world's population lacks clean water, 40 percent lacks adequate sanitation, and 20 percent lacks adequate housing.

As we enter the first half of the twenty-first century, the engineering profession must embrace a new mission statement-to contribute to the buildingof a more sustainable, stable, and equitable world. In particular, we need to train a new generation of engineers who could better meet the challenges of the developing world and address the needs of the most destitute people on our planet.

Material courtesy of School of Engineering