Duke Katsouleas NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Send a Call to Action

4/13 Pratt School of Engineering

Brainstorm, accelerate and deploy is the strategy

NAE grand challenges scholars logo
Duke Katsouleas NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Send a Call to Action

Andrew Mang graduated from Duke in 2012 with a degree in mechanical engineering, and in recent years started his own water engineering services firm in Rwanda. Rachael Lau is studying civil and environmental engineering and will graduate this spring, after working on numerous international development projects in Madagascar, Tibet and elsewhere. Both Mang and Lau are Katsouleas National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges Scholars at Duke and are calling their engineering colleagues to action in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

Their Call to Action asks engineers to brainstorm ideas and volunteer completed technologies or mentoring capabilities that can be accelerated and deployed where they are most needed. They are seeking a wide range of experience and expertise, as the hugely disruptive effects of COVID-19  extend far beyond health and medicine, to sustainability and recovery, security and quality of life—all themes that the NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program’s founding universities, including Duke, originally identified as areas that must be improved in order to improve life on our planet. 

The NAE’s Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) alumni and NAE members are participating as both contributors and mentors to GCSP students or other engineers as ideas develop, and technical specialists and social entrepreneurs will also take part in proposal development, according to the program’s website.

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