The First Facility Management Blog

With an estimated population increase of two billion people in the next two decades, unprecedented demand will exist for energy, food, water, land, transportation, waste disposal, health care and infrastructure. The role of engineers will be critical in fulfilling those demands from remote small communities to large urban areas.

“As we enter the first half of the 21st century, the engineering profession must embrace a new mission statement – to contribute to the building of a more sustainable, stable and equitable world,” says Bernard Amadei, Ph.D. Amadei is the founding president of Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) and the co-founder of the Engineers Without Borders-International network.

The mission of EWB-USA is to partner with disadvantaged communities to improve their quality of life through implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible engineering professionals and students.

Amadei says a new generation of engineers must be trained who can better meet the challenges of the developing world and address the needs of the most destitute people on the planet. Today, an estimated 20% of the world’s population lacks clean water, 40% lacks adequate sanitation, and 20% lacks adequate housing.

Amadei is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. At the university, he is leading a new paradigm shift in engineering education and practice called earth systems engineering (ESE). It emphasizes the interaction between the built environment and natural systems.

As part of the ESE initiative, Amadei directs a new program in engineering for developing communities, with a 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.

One of Amadei’s goals is to promote sustainable development, appropriate technology, service learning, and system thinking in the curriculum and research of civil engineering programs at CU Boulder and other U.S. universities.

Amandei will serve as keynote speaker at ASHRAE’s 2007 Annual Meeting, June 23-27. His presentation will focus on the challenges and opportunities with practicing engineering as well as the education of engineering. He also will discuss the importance of integrating engineering with non-engineering disciplines when addressing the needs of developing communities.