Collaboration on Global Health lecture and discussion with Dr. Gene Bukhman of Partners in Health and Dr. Hilarie Cranmer of Emergency as they discuss the challenges and rewards of international NGO collaboration (Mae-Ling Lokko '10, Talya Peltzman '10, Kai Andrews '10)

Transforming the Energy Market: Our New Generation We all know that energy prices are soaring, and most of us are concerned that the US is responsible for one quarter of the world’s harmful CO2 emissions. We all want to be able spend less on our heating bills and on filling up our cars, while curbing our greenhouse gas emissions. So why aren’t we yet? During this conference, leaders in business, finance, and government will elucidate and discuss how recent changes in the energy sphere have created a growing market for their products. They will focus on the role of startup companies in commercializing new solutions, and on the role that students and graduates can play in this growing field.

Mirembe Kawomera Coffee began with one man’s dream. In 2004, JJ Keki, a Ugandan coffee farmer, walked door to door asking his Jewish, Christian, and Muslim neighbors to put aside old differences and come together. Their community of third and fourth generation coffee farmers was struggling to make a living off the low prices offered by the local market. With the assistance of Laura Wetzler from the US-based organization Kulanu (All of Us), these Jewish, Christian and Muslim farmers formed a cooperative and joined with the Thanksgiving Coffee Company to build lasting prosperity in their villages and to spread a message of peace throughout the world. Join us on March 4th to hear JJ Keki, Laura Wetzler, three of the farmers from different religioius traditions, and Ben CoreyCorey-Moran from the Thanksgiving Coffee Company tell this extraordinary story. The lecture will be introduced by a visual and music presentation prepared by photographer Richard Sobol and ethnomusicologist Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit of Tufts Hillel, who have been conducting research with the cooperative in Uganda. The Institute for Global Leadership’s Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award will be presented to the Peace Kawomera Cooperative, Kulanu, and the Thanksgiving Coffee Company. Sponsored by the Institute For Global Leadershiop and Tufts Hillel’s Merrin Moral Voices Program

The ESI sponsored the Tufts chapter of Initiating Mutual Understanding through Students Exchange (IMUSE). The program was formed by a group of students from Harvard, Peking and Tsinghua University as a way to encourage cultural understanding leading up to the 2008 Olympics. The students sat on a panel along with four Tufts students and discussed the role of energy issues in the future of US-China relations.

Lunch with Asraf Ghani, Former Minister of Finance of Afghanistan and Director of the Institute for State Effectiveness, on "The Future of Kosovo: Challenges and Opportunities"

During the winter 2008 trip to San Jose Villanueva, El Salvador, Tufts Engineers Without Borders learned of the need for a bridge in an area of town where the road is prone to flooding and impassable by pedestrians and vehicles during the rainy season. Mike Jenkins, head of the NGO with which Tufts EWB partners in El Salvador, alerted the EWB January travel team to the situation and brought the team to visit the site. Among local community members, there was widespread desire to construct a bridge, but insufficient funds with which to pay for the bridge design. After returning from the trip, Prof. John Durant presented the bridge design project to a Spring 2008 Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE-81) class. Antoine Debiais, Allison McCarthy, Courtland Hemphill, and Jason Varney accepted the project and with it, the responsibility of generating a feasible preliminary bridge design for the site under the supervision of Salim Ayas, P.E. The students wrote proposals for the Dean's Grant and the Undergraduate Research Fund and received enough financial support to take an exploratory trip to the bridge site. The trip allowed them to conduct a site survey, familiarize themselves with common building practices, and acquire copies of local codes and a hydraulic and geotechnical report for the site. After returning from El Salvador, they conducted a bridge type study. They are currently finalizing designs in preparation for a final recommendation and preliminary design package that can be used by the community of El Matazano to raise funds for the construction of the bridge.

"The Moral Instinct" group discussion, led by Austin Siadek '10