Peace Engineering

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Camille George challenges her students to think globally as she engages them in Peace Engineering projects.

“My five-year goal is to feed 100,000 Haitian school kids a day.”

A member of Engineers Without Borders and Engineers for a Sustainable World, George led a project in which students helped women’s cooperatives in Haiti harvest breadfruit for use as a flour

Dr. Camille George and Prof. Sidy Ba from the Institute of Agriculture and Applied Rural Research of the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa (IPR/IFRA) work on a low energy evaporative cooler

substitute. Another endeavor found George and her students in the West African country of Mali to investigate how to make the production of shea butter more efficient.

Their efforts have produced a manual shredding device, a labor-reducing mixer, a low-power cooling system and a solar-powered water pasteurization system.

Each project has used engineering to empower impoverished women and enabled them to profit from their countries’ natural resources.

ON THINKING GLOBALLY

I am compelled to help build a more sustainable world, a world with a more just and equitable distribution of our finite resources. I feel especially privileged that I have been able to engage students and other faculty members on projects in the developing world.

ON HER CRITICS

I get a lot of people who don’t think this engineering is up to snuff, that it’s kind of weak or lame. But I am going to prove them wrong because my engineering will impact the lives of people who have been traditionally neglected by mainstream engineering. I think this is true engineering, thinking outside the box to create simple solutions that can radically transform lives.

ON INTERACTING WITH STUDENTS

Beyond engineering and instead of simply asking about their grades, I ask students, have you accomplished something good, something useful or something that contributes to other people’s dignity and well being?

For more on Peace Engineering at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering see:

• Dr. Camille George Homepage
• Compatible Technology.org
• UST Engineers for a Sustainable World Student Club
• Selected projects in ENGR 480-481 Senior Design Clinic
• St. Thomas Magazine "It Starts with a Seed" Camille George, Tony Caruso and other St. Thomas folks endeavor to assist a Mali village help itself