Beyond the Classroom - David Pines (Part 2)

Join Beyond the Classroom host, David Schonfeld, on Thursday, March 13, 2014 from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m (repeated at 7:30 p.m.).

In Program #28, David talks to David Pines.

David Pines is Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture, at the University of Hartford.

In the first segment, Program #27, David talked about his education, his interest in water, his experience in aerospace engineering, and his turn toward environmental engineering; challenges in water capture, management, and distribution; an innovative fresh water project underway in an Indian village; the need for a collaborative, holistic, team-based approach and for long-term follow-through; water safety issues; the effect of global climate change on water availability in the hot countries; opportunities for solar power development in these countries; a project to design and manufacture an improved threshing machine for Kenyan farmers; concomitant changes in social and economic organization and in gender roles.

In today's segment, David talks about the pros and cons of traditional farming techniques; scalability of technical innovations; "thinking big and starting small"; University involvement in the India and Kenya development projects; community involvement in the development process; logistical obstacles in bringing people and materials to work sites; the upcoming student trip to Germany to research alternative energy practices.