#HokiesHelpMzuni – Devastating Library Fire

On Friday, December 18, Dr. Emily Van Houweling and I travelled to the Lilongwe International Airport, Malawi, to board our return flight to the U.S. after an extremely productive visit to Mzuzu University. We had spent a week meeting with faculty and university administrators to develop the logistics and content for a joint WASH course in Malawi, which we are offering to students at Virginia Tech, the University of Denver, and Mzuzu University in July 2016. On our drive to the airport we learned some tragic news. The Mzuzu University Library – which contained some 45,000 books and other resources – was completely lost to a fire during the early morning. The library had also housed several critical computer servers, taking the university’s web page and other key services offline.

I took the picture of the library below on Thursday, December 17, around 12 hours before the fire. The picture was taken during a final walk of the campus before we began the five hour drive from Mzuzu to Lilongwe.

The importance of the Mzuzu University Library and its computer servers to the functioning and future development of the university cannot be overstated. The library is the primary source of information for students, from small children, who regularly visit the children’s library (see the image on the right), to graduates. In addition, during our meetings over the past week we learned how the university was planning to roll out a 15 mbps internet network, which represents a threefold increase in the current speed of the network. I suspect the fire will significantly delay this initiative, which will impact Mzuzu University’s plans to launch an expanded online learning strategy.

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In the spirit of advancing a Global Land-Grant Institution and Ut Prosim, I challenge Virginia Tech’s students, faculty, and staff to consider creative ways in which we can support Mzuzu University’s effort to rebuild its library, servers, and research capacity. Please share your ideas via Twitter using the hashtag #HokiesHelpMzuni.

Emily and I plan to return to Mzuzu in July, 2016 for the joint WASH course. Over the coming months we will work with Dr. Rochelle Holm, the Director of the Mzuzu University Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation, to identify strategies to help rebuild WASH-related resources in the library. Similar strategies will be needed in all of the university’s core areas of competency, which include mathematics, chemistry, biological sciences, physics, history, languages and literature, geography and earth sciences, religious studies, forestry, fisheries, education/distance learning, energy and renewable technologies, water resources management and development, sanitation, health sciences, nursing and midwifery, optometry, ICT, tourism and hospitality, and land management and surveying.

In addition to sharing ideas via Twitter, I’d be happy to talk with anyone who would like to discuss their ideas in person. The TEAM Malawi group of faculty and students on campus will also develop a coordinated response. For those students planning to take the joint WASH course, this turn of events will impact how we prepare for our time in Malawi. The experience of working with international partners to achieve a real and important objective will present many opportunities for learning and service.

Experience WASH in Malawi – Course Application Open

If you are a student at Virginia Tech, please consider applying to the Experience WASH in Malawi study abroad course. The course will run from July 11–29, 2016 (Summer II). The application deadline is February 1, 2016.

TRB 2016 Annual Meeting Workshop

At the 2016 TRB Annual Meeting, I will be taking part in a workshop entitled Sustainability in Transportation – Making it Count. This workshop will introduce key concepts from our new book – Sustainable Transportation: Indicators, Frameworks and Performance Management – with the objective of empowering participants to critically review and analyze the challenges of using indicators to promote sustainability. The aim is to move beyond simple prescriptions and one-size-fits-all lists of performance measures, to explore how an understanding of frameworks and indicator applications can make sustainability count.

Time/Location:

Thursday, January 14, 2016, 8:00AM – 12:00PM

Convention Center, 204B

Speakers:

Angel Aparicio – Technical University of Madrid
Henrik Gudmundsson – Technical University of Denmark
Ralph Hall – Virginia Tech
William Lyons – VOLPE
Greg Marsden – University of Leeds
Debra Nelson – New York State DOT
Joe Zietsman – Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Experience WASH in Malawi – Info Sessions

On Monday, November 16, I will be holding two information sessions (at 9:30am and 3pm) on the “Experience WASH in Malawi” study abroad course I will be offering during the summer of 2016. The information sessions will be held in room 111 of the Architecture Annex (and via polycom in room 220, Prince Street, Alexandria, VA).

This applied and service oriented study abroad experience will provide undergraduate and graduate students with a grounded understanding of WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) in Malawi. The first part of the course will take place in the classroom with lectures, discussions, and small group projects led by faculty at Mzuzu University, Dr. Emily Van Houweling, and I. The course will begin with a general review of the state of water and sanitation services in different parts of the world and will raise the question of what constitutes access to water. We will review important concepts in WASH and provide an overview of the most pressing WASH issues in Malawi. Following this introduction, students will study the design of relevant WASH technologies and educational programs from the perspective of public health, cultural appropriateness, and sustainability. Armed with an understanding of critical WASH issues and technologies, students will then undertake community-based fieldwork on a WASH-related problem in partnership with the Mzuzu University Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation.

A unique aspect of the course is that Virginia Tech and University of Denver students will work alongside students from Mzuzu University to explore a wide range of WASH issues both in the classroom and the field. This pairing of students will promote cultural exchange and enable discussions about ethics and power in the field of international development. The joint teaching model, combined student cohort, and experiential approach to learning will provide students from the U.S. and Malawi with a rich educational and cultural experience.

The course is designed for students interested in working in the global WASH sector or pursuing a career in international development.

Public Health Grand Rounds Seminar – 12pm, Oct 22 (Webcast)

At 12pm on Thursday, October 22, Sophie Wenzel and I will give a seminar on our research group’s work relating to rural water services planning. We will support the presentation with a story map that can be accessed by clicking on the image below.

Since the webcast will not enable viewers to ask questions, I have set up a public Google Doc in which viewers can ask questions or provide feedback/comments. We will do our best to respond to these questions at the end of our presentation. If we run out of time, I will post a written response to questions we were unable to address on this blog.

U.S. Experts to Participate in the IITK-VT Workshop in Kanpur, India

IITK-VT Partnership on Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure

The following leading experts from the U.S. will be taking part in the IITK-VT workshop on “Water Infrastructure Management for Performance, Resiliency, and Sustainability” on December 17-18, 2015, at IITK:

Mr. David Hughes, P.E. Manager, Water Research, Innovation and Environmental Stewardship at American Water, New Jersey. Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest investor-owned U.S. water and wastewater utility company. American Water operates as regulated Utilities in 16 U.S. States and serves an estimated 15 million people.
Mr. Rajendra Bhattarai, P.E., Division Manager, Environmental and Regulatory Services Division at Austin Water Utility, Texas. For over 100 years, Austin Water has been committed to providing safe, reliable, high-quality and affordable water services to their customers. Austin Water consistently ranks among the best in the country when it comes to water quality.
Mr. Walter Graf, Program Director – Infrastructure Management. The Water Environment Research Foundation, formed in 1989, is America’s leading independent scientific research organization dedicated to…

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Workshop on ‘Water Infrastructure Management for Performance, Resiliency, and Sustainability’

Please consider attending the IITK-VT workshop on Water Infrastructure Management for Performance, Resiliency, and Sustainability at IITK, Kanpur, India, on December 17-18 , 2015.

IITK-VT Partnership on Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure

A workshop on Water Infrastructure Management for Performance, Resiliency, and Sustainability is being organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), India and the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) Center, Virginia Tech, USA, on 17th-18th December, 2015 at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

This workshop is a part of the ongoing collaborative Project on ‘Creating an International Program for Sustainable Infrastructure Development’ under the Obama Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative under the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India.

The workshop will bring together professionals from water utilities, academic institutions, regulatory bodies, professional organizations, and private industry to help understand complex water infrastructure systems, to better define each other’s roles and responsibilities relating to these systems, and develop a roadmap for effective utilization of available resources working towards the creation of sustainable and resilient water infrastructure systems. The event will seek to bridge the gap between academia and real-world…

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