B.S./M.S. in Humanitarian Engineering

The next twenty-five years could see a widening gap between the countries marked by marginalization and the rest of the world.  A world where the differences between a Chad (Chad is the world's fifth poorest country - - some 80% of the population lives below the global poverty line, while the nation's per capita income is less than $1,500 a year) and a Singapore becomes more deeply and widely pronounced.  Prospects for the people constrained by marginalization could get worse over the next 25 years - - climate change, globalization, energy constraints, and increasing food prices could made a troubling situation even worse.  The world of new problems may actually run head on into the world of old problems - - in Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria still kills nearly one million people each year, and many deaths go unrecorded in rural areas.

A potential bright spot in all of this could be those engineers that elect to purse their B.S. or M.S. degree in Humanitarian Engineering.  You can't actually get a degree (yet, although I am not 100% sure) - - but the idea of humanitarian engineering or socially responsible engineering is going to catch on - - especially in the developing world.  Humanitarian Engineering should place a strong emphasis on the engineering activities that impact those who lack the means to address pressing problems, such as clean water or earthquake resistant building.  In other instances, humanitarian engineering should address issues that affect populations around the world regardless of socio-economic standing.

Historically, engineers have been ask "How do I generate electricity more effectively?" or "What is the best way to get water from point A to point B?"  But engineers should and must be willing to address "How can I help to reduce poverty?"  Obviously, some component of the answer will be strictly technical, but the answer is fundamentally a balance of technical knowledge/excellence, economic feasibility, ethical maturity, and cultural sensitivity.  The humanitarian engineer needs a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving, language skills, a deep appreciation of foreign cultures, sustainability training, and insightful management/leadership.  All of this helps the humanitarian engineer to directly improve the well-being of under-served populations.  The possibilities are endless -  from working with the U.N. World Food Programme on supply chain and inventory management systems to stabilizing and improving infrastructure and buildings in places like Haiti to the development of micro-needle patches for vaccines in the developing world.

Humanitarian Engineering on YouTube

Colorado School of Mines Humanitarian Engineering Program

Dartmouth HELP Program