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About EDC
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"Creating a sustainable world that provides a safe, secure, healthy, productive, and sustainable life for all peoples should be a priority for the engineering profession. Improving the lives of the 5 billion people whose main concern is to stay alive by the end of each day on our planet is no longer an option for engineers; it is an obligation."
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The Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities (MC-EDC) emphasizes the importance of integrated and participatory solutions to humanitarian development by educating globally responsible engineering students and professionals. The Center is housed in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was established on April 1, 2009, thanks to a generous endowment from the Mortenson Family and the Mortenson Construction Company (see press release).
Whereas extracurricular activities such as EWB-USA focus on projects, EDC addresses education, R&D and service/outreach and the relationship between those three. It allows undergraduate and graduate students to explore in depth issues critical to understanding the developing world while at the same time fulfilling what is expected of them in traditional engineering education. Students are expected to work on real projects as part of their education.
MC-EDC presents a long-term solution and a unique opportunity for educating a new generation of engineers who can offer sustainable and appropriate solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities worldwide. Through proper global education and outreach, this generation can help improve the livelihood and survival of about 5 billion people on our planet who are most in need. The program contributes to meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
The Center emphasizes an integrated and participatory nature of humanitarian development. EDC students are exposed to the multi-disciplinary nature of development by taking classes in engineering and non-engineering disciplines (business, public health, public policy, sociology, history, etc.). They are exposed to project management, team work, R&D, and are invited to balance public service with their engineering education. Students learn the basic steps of the engineering design process from concept to implementation by working on real-world projects in developing communities including villages, refugee settlements, etc.
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