Bernard Amadei Brings Compassion into Engineering to Benefit Developing Communities

Mention the word engineer to the average person, and they probably think of a faceless expert working on some kind of detailed technical project, with which the public rarely sees a direct connection.

Civil engineering Professor Bernard Amadei topples that stereotype through his teaching and service work, especially through his nonprofit organization Engineers Without Borders-USA. He and many like-minded colleagues and students travel around the world to provide disadvantaged communities with basic needs such as clean water, reliable power, and sanitary living conditions.

"Traditionally, engineers are seen as cold and technical, but they have as much compassion as anyone else," says Amadei, who has won numerous prestigious honors for his work, including the Norm Augustine Award, the Hoover Medal, and the Heinz Award for the Environment. He also was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008.

Amadei is pioneering a shift in engineering education and practice called Earth Systems Engineering. The initiative is aimed at creating a correlation between engineering applications and a sustainable environment, and includes outreach services to developing communities worldwide.

In 2004, a nine-member EWB-USA group traveled over spring break to Muramba, Rwanda, where they surveyed a contaminated water system, installed battery-powered solar lighting systems, and instructed community members in the use of irrigation kits. Project teams returned to Muramba several times in the following year to repair the old, gravity-fed water system and install two rainwater catchment systems that will augment clean drinking water supplies for some 6,000 people.

The project is one of many undertaken by EWB-USA, an organization that now has more than 14,000 student and professional members working on some 250 sustainable engineering projects in 48 countries around the world. Between teaching at CU-Boulder and his EWB work, Amadei is busy nearly 365 days a year. His commitment is buoyed by a basic belief in providing service to others.

“Helping people in the world, especially women and children who in my opinion have a very hard time on this planet, is not an option but an obligation," says Amadei. "Bringing awareness to students that the world is not like Boulder, Colorado is also important.”

Amadei said he wants to create a new mindset among young people about service toward humanity.  "It's not only about doing well in what you do, it's about doing good," he says.

For more information about EWB and Engineering for Developing Communities at CU-Boulder, go to http://www.edc-cu.org.

Frank Barnes Telecom-munications Kristi Anseth Tissue Engineering Brian Argrow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Bernard Amadei Engineers Without Borders Clayton Lewis Computer Science Jana Milford Environmental Engineering