E4C Solutions Library 2.0 

E4C is now actively moving forward with an important new program: our "Solutions Library 2.0." The new and improved program, building on E4C's present Solutions Library, has fielded a diverse team of leading thinkers and practitioners from across the world of sustainable development to co-design and develop the resource to aggregate, evaluate, and share information on appropriate, technology-based solutions. Their goal is to create a comprehensive, searchable repository of solutions available via the Web to allow broad-based expert analysis and feedback as well as ongoing news and updates. E4C's Solutions Library 2.0 will be both a decision-aid tool for designers, manufacturers and users of products as well as a spur to the marketplace, to catalyze the production of high quality, fit-for-service products to address the needs of underserved communities. For more information, please contact Iana Aranda, E4C's Senior Program Manager, at iana@engineeringforchange.org

AAES Honors E4C's El-Ghobashy 

We are very pleased to share with you that E4C's president, Noha El-Ghobashy, was recently honored by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) with the 2013 Kenneth Andrew Roe Award. The Roe Award recognizes the engineer who has been most effective in promoting unity among professional engineering societies. Noha earned the honor for the work she's done at the helm of E4C, fostering professional collaboration in the delivery of multi-disciplinary sustainable solutions for quality-of-life challenges around the world. 

Please join all of us at E4C in offering congratulations to our president – well done, Noha!

E4C Webinars – Best in Class Learning Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

The E4C Webinar Series continues to be the place to learn at the leading edge of the Engineering for Global Development world. Next up: July and August E4C webinars featuring great FREE learning opportunities you won't find anywhere else:

World Toilet Day: Global Branding at Zero Cost on July 17 with Jack Sim, Founder, World Toilet Organization; 

Rural Development Consulting, Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development on August 29 (in English) with Bryse Gaboury, Cofounder and Director, Advancing Engineering and on August 27 (in Spanish) with Daniel Garcia, P.E., Founder, Emergent Engineers

As you know, engineers in North America can receive one Professional Development Hour (PDH) for each E4C webinar they attend, either previously recorded or live. (Certification is awarded by IEEE). Send an e-mail to continuinged@ieee-elearning.org with your name, the webinar's title and code (available during the webinar), and you'll shortly receive your PDH certificate by email. 

E4C and SWE – Perfect Together 

Engineering for Change is delighted to report that The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has signed on again as an E4C leadership sponsor for the coming year.  Since 2011, the number of SWE members participating in E4C has increased by 76 percent!  More than 230 SWE members are actively involved with E4C, building their resumes and giving back by applying their engineering know-how to real-world problems. Members have helped build footbridges washed out by floods, drill wells in arid communities lacking clean water and secure reliable energy sources for underserved populations.  

“We often talk about improving the world for the next generation, and Engineering for Change does just that,” said Lester McNair, the programs manager at SWE. “Through this partnership, our members creatively apply their considerable experience to develop affordable, sustainable solutions to urgent humanitarian needs around the world.”  

Each month, SWE members learn about E4C through a free interactive Webinar. Members of your organization can do the same.  To learn more about how your company might get involved, please send an email to partners@engineeringforchange.org.

Meet E4C’s Summer Intern for 2013 – Rebecca Ciez 

Please join us in welcoming 2013 Summer Intern Rebecca Ciez to the E4C team. Rebecca is a 2013 graduate of Columbia University, where she majored in Mechanical Engineering and minored in both economics and in sustainable engineering. During her time at Columbia, Rebecca worked with Engineers Without Borders on projects around the world from, as she put it, "almost before my freshman year began." The daughter of engineers, Rebecca grew up in Murrysville (a suburb of Pittsburgh), PA. After her summer stint with E4C, Rebecca will move on this fall to Carnegie Mellon University to pursue Ph.D. research on energy storage technology, microgrids and batteries. Did we mention that she's taking Carnegie Mellon up on an offer of full scholarship plus stipend? We were impressed too.

While you're with us, let us say: Welcome Rebecca - we're delighted to have you on the team this summer and glad you're here. Now -- let's get to work!

Noam Chomsky response to honorary degree

June 14, 2013, AUB

It’s unnecessary to dwell on the fact that it is a real privilege to be awarded this honor from a great university.

I wish I could feel that my generation, and its predecessors, deserve to be honored for the legacy that we are leaving to those who will soon have the fate of the world in their hands. There have been impressive achievements in past years, but also striking failures, which leave young people today with problems and choices that are of a new order of difficulty and urgency. Some are specific to the region, but others are shared with the rest of the world. 

For the first time in history, humans have progressed to the stage where they can destroy the basis for decent survival. There are two grim shadows that hover over every topic we consider: nuclear war, 

and environmental catastrophe.The first has been with us for 70 years. Reviewing the record, the fact that we have escaped disaster is close to miraculous, and unless policies are significantly changed the miracle is unlikely to persist for too long. Threats in fact are constant, some of them not very far from here.

The environmental threats were also with us 70 years ago, but then rarely perceived. By now only the willfully blind can ignore them, and fail to realize that we are marching towards a cliff like the proverbial lemmings. A few years ago the grand old man of American biology, Ernst Mayr, pondered the question whether intelligence may be a lethal mutation. He observed that the evidence for that thesis is strong. Biological success is greatest for organisms that mutate rapidly, like bacteria, or that have fixed ecological niche, like beetles. And in fact they will happily survive the catastrophes we are preparing. But as we move up the ladder of intelligence, survival declines. There are, for example, very few primates, and the explosion of humans is too recent to mean anything and is unlikely to persist.

Mayr also observes that the average life span of a species is about 100,000 years, about how long homo sapiens has existed. Whether Mayr’s thesis is correct will very likely be determined by those who are entering the wider world today, facing a somber but unavoidable task.

Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, historian, political critic, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. In addition to his work in linguistics, he has written on war, politics, and mass media, and is the author of over 100 books.

Chomsky holds views that can be summarized as anti-war but not strictly pacifist. He prominently opposed the Vietnam War and most other wars in his lifetime. He expressed these views with tax resistance and peace walks. Chomsky has made many criticisms of the Israeli government, its supporters, the United States' support of the government, and its treatment of the Palestinian people, arguing that " 'supporters of Israel' are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction" and that "Israel's very clear choice of expansion over security may well lead to that consequence."

LambaLabs Participation in TEDxAUB and PechaKucha night !

One word could be said about both events: Unforgettable !

Every year, the TED event is given to innovative thinkers who have what it takes to make a difference -- by putting their thoughts and feelings into action in order to fulfill a world-changing vision.

This year, TEDxAUB 2013 was a space for AUB students, Alumni and Staff to get their mental gears turning. Mentors, colleagues, and friends wanted to put their heads together with the TED community and brainstorm even further:

How would you choose to make an impact with one million dollars ?

What is the strongest muscle in the human body?

Presenting the awesome talk of 

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

War War war war everywhere !

Skepticism: Question Everything

Our stand; Introducing people to a 3D printer

The third speaker during the TED event was Raja Oueis  - introducing us to the hacker community, and why it is important.

PechaKucha Night

The event being held in Platform 39 - Beirut, featured some leading figures from different backgrounds. They introduced attendees to different fields of arts, sciences, sociology, and technology. Beirut Design Week, Street Photography, To Draw or To Plot, Illustration, and most importantly "Lamba Labs" .. were all parts of the event. Hassan Slaibi introduced people to new culture of Hackerspace: What is DIY [Do It Yourself], Starting with a Good Design, Market Leaders, the emerging roles of peers, and so much more...

www.lambalabs.org