A new humanitarian engineering minor offered by Valparaiso University's College of Engineering will serve students interested in using their knowledge and skills to benefit disadvantaged communities throughout the world.

"We have found that for more and more of our students, helping others is an important motivation," said Barbara Engerer, coordinator of the humanitarian engineering program. "They like math and science, so engineering is a good academic fit for them, but they really want to help people directly. The humanitarian engineering minor opens up

possibilities that they may not have considered."

Valparaiso's humanitarian engineering minor combines coursework, service-learning activities and regular colloquia talks, which will give students a greater understanding of and opportunity to apply engineering concepts to improve the welfare of communities throughout the world.

Daniel Hart, a professor of electrical and computer engineering who helped develop the minor, said students in the program will gain more awareness of issues such as politics, history and geography that affect countries, cultures and societies in different ways and create a variety of needs.

"These courses will help students identify problems that engineers could solve, and the service-learning component will help them learn how to put their ideas into action," Hart said.

Valparaiso's College of Engineering n which Dr. Hart believes is only the second institution in the country to offer a humanitarian engineering minor n has a long history of involvement in humanitarian projects that will be enhanced by the new minor.

Students and faculty have been involved for several years in projects such as providing irrigation and drinking water to a drought-stricken village in Kenya, using wind energy to supply electricity to a remote Nicaraguan community and redesigning and building a press for printing Braille Bibles. On Sept. 16, Valparaiso's chapter of Engineers Without Borders was named an honorary international citizen by the International Center of Indianapolis for its project in Nakor, Kenya.

"It seemed to me that the humanitarian engineering minor is a very good fit to the goals of the University in developing students who are servant leaders, to what we are already doing in the College of Engineering and to what the rest of the campus has to offer," Dr. Hart said.

While most students who pursue the humanitarian engineering minor may not work on humanitarian projects full-time during their careers, Hart said the experience will indicate to potential employers that those students have a broad perspective on world affairs and are concerned with the well-being of others.

"From a global community perspective, it is important for engineers to understand the cultures and needs within developing countries, particularly as companies do more business internationally," Dr. Hart said.

Hart noted that there is also a need for engineers interested in using their skills to help disadvantaged communities within the United States.

"The goal of the minor is to prepare students to apply engineering concepts to improve the welfare of the less advantaged," he said.

"This includes people with special physical needs as well as those with economic needs."

The humanitarian engineering minor can be completed by students pursuing a major in any engineering field as well as students pursuing non-engineering majors.

More information about Valparaiso's College of Engineering and new humanitarian engineering minor program is available online at valpo.edu/engineering/programs/humanitarian.

--For The times