Chris Swan, Sarah Freeman, and Doug Matson
We met on February 21st, 2020 with Professor Chris Swan, Dean of Undergraduate Education at the Tufts School of Engineering, Professor Douglas Matson, and a wonderful Institute alumna, Sarah Freeman. One objective of this meeting was to secure the naming of Tufts’ Engineers Without Borders in honor of our deceased wonderful common friend, Fred Berger. He was a long time member of the Institute’s External Advisory Board. The occasion also allowed us to introduce LEAP to Tufts Engineering, EWB, and Sarah.
In 2004, Institute Board member David Cuttino had introduced me to Fred, then the Chair of the Board of Louis Berger, Inc. An engineer by profession, Fred was an alumnus of the Tufts Department of Economics, and became a member of the Tufts Board of Trustees. He expressed to me his interest in the creation of what he termed an “engineering Peace Corps,” and his frustration at the lack of traction this idea received at Tufts. With his support, the Institute suggested creating an Engineers Without Borders chapter, and honored Bernard Amadei, the Founding President of EWB-USA, with a Dr. Jean Mayer Award.
Our vision, and the EWB mandate, was to encourage students to work closely with faculty mentors and field experts to provide engineering support to serve the needs of communities in developing countries. To ensure the sustainability of their projects, the students built relationships with the communities that they work in before beginning their projects, and developed a plan in collaboration with, and fully sensitive to the interests and concerns of, those community.
EWB’s very first trip to Tibet was led by Sarah, then an undergraduate engineering student under the advising of Doug Matson. The project created latrines and solar-powered cookers to destroy medical waste. Mindful that they were traveling to a Chinese-controlled zone, we sensitized the students to what it means to work in such a sensitive environment, providing orientation sessions on language, culture, and China-Tibet governance and politics.
I have reconnected with Tufts Shafiqul Islam, a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor of Water Diplomacy at Tufts University, a good friend, and the father of one of my wonderful former students, Maia Majumder. Shafiqul and I affectionately call each other “Bunky,” commemorating the time we spent as bunkmates during an EPIIC Outward Bound retreat.
For the 2005 EPIIC Oil and Water year, together we convened a professional workshop on “Water as a Source of Conflict and Cooperation: Exploring the Potential,” which then became the Water Diplomacy Project at Fletcher and the Water Systems, Science, and Society initiatives. These are part of the wonderful legacies that the Institute left for Tufts. Shafiqul will serve as a Convisero and LEAP mentor.