The Humanitarian Engineering Possibility Carl Mitcham ( with Juan Lucena, Jon Leydens, Jen Schneider, et al.)

Introduction The humanities and the social sciences can contribute to engineering, ethics, and practice But such contributions have been attenuated in part because of weaknesses in the humanities and social sciences — toward humanitarian engineering

Apologies Operating here with intuitions more than fully developed arguments Relying a great deal on collaborations Two points followed by a report on a curriculum initiative

Point #1 Engineering as a profession is subordinate to external rather than internal values “Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.” (Thomas Tredgold, 1828)

Point #1 (continued) From “use and convenience” To “public safety, health, and welfare” — But in definitions provided by non- engineers, members of the medical profession, or economists

Point #2 Humanitarianism involves critical reflection on convenience and use or public safety, health, and welfare Indeed, humanitarianism and engineering share parallel histories

1. Originating Institutionalization, 1850s-early 1900s — Nursing — The Battle of Solferino (1859) and creation the Red Cross / Red Crescent (1864) — ICRC seeks to “humanize war”

2. Humanitarianism in World Wars, — World War I ( ) — Herbert Hoover ( ): Engineering relief work — Emergence of humanitarian NGOs — World War II ( ), from ICRC and Holocaust to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

3. Humanitarianism and Development as Free World Ideology, — Marshall Plan — Truman’s point four program — UN — OECD — Peace Corps

4.Institutional Transformations, — Nigerian Civil War / Biafra (1969) — Founding of “Médecins sans Frontieres” (MSF or Doctors without Borders) in 1971 — Early 1990s: Engineers Without Borders — Fred Cuny ( ): From Biafra to Chechnya — Paul Farmer (1959-present) — 1990s: “Humanitarian war”

5. Challenges of Success and Terrorism, 2001-present — David Rieff, A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis (2002) — David Kennedy, The Dark Sides of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism (2004)

Connection and Application Humanitarian Engineering: Ethics, Theory, Practices (Spring 2007) Engineering and Sustainable Community Development (Spring 2008)

Comments Both courses were intensively team-taught, interdisciplinary, and involved exceptional preparatory work and collaboration. Engineering practice makes assumptions about the beneficence of engineering that deserve critical examination —to which the humanitarian movement can contribute.

Comments (continued) Engineers can make crucial contributions to humanitarian relief efforts — especially if engineers become self-critical about what it means to be an engineer. The humanitarian engineering possibility may be able to help address the pipeline problems.

Comments (continued) The humanitarian engineering possibility is simply one more expression of increasing efforts to broaden and transform engineering.

Conclusion “We aspire to a future where engineers are prepared to adapt to changes in global forces and trends and to ethically assist the world in creating a balance in the standards of living for developing and developed countries alike.” — The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century (2004) p. 51, emphasis added).