Heinz Foundation Awards Engineers Without Borders' Co-Founder
A professor of civil engineering who has helped bring the basic
necessities of water, electricity and sanitation to remote,
poverty-stricken areas of the world has been selected as a co-recipient
of the 13th annual Heinz Award for the Environment, among the largest
individual achievement prizes in the world.
Dr. Bernard Amadei, 53, the founder of Engineers Without
Borders - USA – a non-profit organization whose 8,000 members have
helped improve the quality of life for people in as many as 43
countries over the past seven years – is among six distinguished
Americans selected to share the $1.25 million in awards, presented in
five categories by the Heinz Family Foundation.
“Dr. Amadei is literally engineering change in pockets of our
country and world that are bereft of even the most basic living
infrastructures,” said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family
Foundation. “As founder of Engineers Without Borders, he is harnessing
the power of networks and design to improve the lives and fortunes of
some of the world’s poorest people. His talented teams of academics,
professionals and students put to rest the tired notion that
engineering and environmental protection don’t go together by
demonstrating how creative thinking and high standards can benefit both
people and the planet.”
Dr. Amadei shares the award with Susan Seacrest, founder of the Groundwater Foundation.
Launched with fellow faculty, professionals and students at the
University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000, Engineers Without Borders -
USA (EWB-USA) applies a combination of professional expertise and
selfless compassion to remote areas of the world. With funds it raises
itself, the organization takes on a range of sustainable engineering
projects, such as those that provide clean water, sanitation, energy
and education to villages in underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa,
Europe and North and South America.
Dr. Amadei first confronted the dire living conditions of some of
the world’s poverty-stricken communities in 2000 during a trip to
Belize, where he was asked to examine the possibility of a water
delivery system for San Pablo, a tiny Mayan village that had no
electricity, running water or sanitation. Returning to Boulder, the
professor recruited civil and environmental engineering students and a
local civil engineering expert and set about designing and implementing
a water distribution system whose pump was fueled by a local waterfall
and ultimately provided a steady flow of water – one gallon per minute
– to the town. The entire project was completed at a cost of about
$14,000 with the help of the local community.
Buoyed by the success of the Belize project, Dr. Amadei founded
EWB-USA, which has since grown to 224 projects in 43 countries, 8,000
members and 235 established university and professional chapters. In
2001, he co-founded the EWB-International Network, now in 45 countries
– including Rwanda, Kenya, India and Palestine.
EWB-USA projects are designed to be maintainable, economically
efficient and environmentally sustainable for specific local
conditions. Completed projects, many of which are brought to EWB-USA by
universities with exchange programs or in-country volunteers, include
the installation of solar-powered lighting at a community school and a
water purification system in Brazil (coordinated by the EWB chapter at
the University of California, Santa Barbara), the construction of a dam
and irrigation system on the Kumudo River in Ethiopia (Princeton) and a
natural water filtration and storage system in Honduras (University of
Pennsylvania).
In order to globally educate responsible engineering students, Dr.
Amadei has created a new program at the University of Colorado at
Boulder called Engineering for Developing Communities. The program
serves as a blueprint for the education of engineers of the 21st
century who are called to play a critical role in contributing to peace
and security in an increasingly challenged world.
“The success of Engineers Without Borders is due to two overriding
factors,” Dr. Amadei said. “First is the tremendous need. There are
literally thousands of remote villages around the globe that need the
basic necessities of life such as clean water, sanitation, energy,
shelter, education, health, etc. About 1.2 billion people (out of 6.4
billion) do not have access to clean water in the world today. We have
begun to address such demand by virtue of the tremendous spirit of
compassion that exists within the extended engineering community and
like-minded partnering organizations. I am grateful to the staff of
EWB-USA, my numerous colleagues and to the many bright and committed
engineering students and professionals around the country who share our
passion for making an enduring difference in the lives of so many
beyond our borders. On their behalf, I am proud to accept the Heinz
Award for the Environment.”
Since 1993, the Heinz Family Foundation of Pittsburgh has recognized
individuals whose dedication, skill and generosity of spirit represent
the best of the human qualities that the late Sen. Heinz, for whom the
award is named, held so dear.
Presented in five categories, the other Heinz Award recipients are:
• Arts and Humanities: Dave Eggers, San Francisco, author and
founder of the 826 Valencia writing laboratories as well as a
publishing house for emerging writers
• Environment (co-recipient): Susan Seacrest, Lincoln, Neb., environmental advocate and founder of the Groundwater Foundation
•
Human Condition: David L. Heymann, M.D., Geneva, Switzerland,
physician, an assistant director general of the World Health
Organization and international public health advocate
• Public Policy: Donald M. Berwick, M.D., Cambridge, Mass., physician, professor and health care reformer
•
Technology, the Economy and Employment: Hugh Herr, Ph.D., Cambridge,
Mass., inventor, professor and pioneer in biomechantronics