A University of Colorado engineering professor who put students and engineers to work in poor communities around the world has been selected as one of the winners of this year’s Heinz Awards.
Professor Bernard Amadei said Tuesday he’ll devote much of his share – around $125,000 – to a new part of his mission: setting up vocational schools.
That would help address needs of the world’s mushrooming numbers of people under age 25 – half the world’s population – who live in low-income communities with few options for making a living, Amadei said.
“The risk is terrible, if you have a lot of young people who do nothing,” he said. “They could get in unhealthy ways of expressing their creativity. We have some examples of that – 9/11 is an example.”
Amadei, 53, was selected as a co-recipient of the 13th annual Heinz Award for the Environment, among the largest individual achievement prizes. He’s among six Americans who will be announced this morning as winners of the awards set up in memory of the late Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania.
Amadei won for “harnessing the power of networks and design to improve the lives and fortunes of some of the world’s poorest people,” Heinz Family Foundation chairperson Teresa Heinz said in a release. “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.”
Born in France, Amadei moved to California in 1979 to complete his doctorate, then in 1982 to Colorado. He’s been teaching at CU-Boulder for 25 years.
In 2000, he founded the U.S. branch of Engineers Without Borders, which pairs students with professionals on grass-roots water, electricity, sanitation and other projects. Some 8,000 participants have worked in 43 countries.
The projects are small. Staffers at a converted shopping mall office between Longmont and Boulder review proposals submitted by villagers.
Staff writer Bruce Finley can be reached at 303.954.1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com.
For more information on Amadei and his work, see Engineers Without Borders’ website at www.ewb-usa.org.
