Engineers must become activists and advocates, rejecting ahistorical technocratic approaches that suggest poverty can be solved without justice or equity. Engineers must leverage our professional skills and capacity to generate evidence and positive impact toward rectifying inequalities and improving lives.
Half of this book is dedicated to profiles of engineers and other technical professionals who have dedicated their careers to searching for solutions to global development challenges. These stories introduce the reader to the diverse opportunities and challenges in Global Engineering.Evan Thomas is the Director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and holds the Mortenson Endowed Chair in Global Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Mortenson Center supports hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students working in over 20 countries, with dozens of non-profit, social enterprise, government, and community partners.
Evan is a tenured Associate Professor jointly appointed to the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering and the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Departments. Evan is currently a member of the NASA and USAID SERVIR Applied Sciences Team, applying NASA satellite data with USAID supported expertise toward drought resilience in East Africa. Evan has worked professionally in over a dozen countries, and holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder, is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas, and has a Masters in Public Health from the Oregon Healthand Science University.