the Program Booklet - IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology ...

Panel Speakers:
2012 GHTC Page 50
Thomas H. Colledge, PhD, PE
Humanitarian Engineering & Social Entrepreneurship
(www.hese.psu.edu)
Editor in Chief: International Journal for Service Learning
in Engineering (http://www.ijsle.org)
Thomas H. Colledge, PhD, PE is an Assistant Professor of
Design in the School of Engineering Design, Technology
and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP) in the College of
Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Colledge began his
academic career with SEDTAPP twenty one years ago. He initiated
Humanitarian Engineering efforts at Penn State in 1997 and has seen those
efforts evolve in the intervening years into the Humanitarian Engineering and
Social Entrepreneurship program (www.engr.psu.edu/hese) at the University.
Student projects, long-term collaborations, and associated travel have been
undertaken in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Belize, Ecuador, Jamaica, Nigeria,
Kenya, and the United States. He serves as the coordinator of the
(Humanitarian) Engineering and Community Engagement certificate program.
Colledge is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the International Journal for
Service Learning in Engineering: Humanitarian Engineering and Social
Entrepreneurship (IJSLE) which has served to promote and encourage
scholarship in the fields of Humanitarian Engineering, Social Entrepreneurship
and Service Learning in Engineering since 2006 (www.ijsle.org). A primary
purpose of the Journal is to foster inquiry into rigorous engineering design and
research and direct those efforts toward solving problems of marginalized
communities. The examination of cultural appropriateness is emphasized along
with the application of appropriate technologies and entrepreneurial application
of sustainable solutions. Focus is also placed on associated pedagogy and the
dissemination of project results as the Journal seeks to nurture service learning
in engineering as a distinct body of knowledge.
Colledge recently edited a book on these topics, published by IJSLE in 2012,
entitled, ‘Convergence: Philosophies and Pedagogies for Developing the Next
Generation of Humanitarian Engineers and Social Entrepreneurs’.
His professional interests include design and management of economically
sustainable, infrastructure-related endeavors which address the needs of
marginalized communities as well as the integration of such multi-disciplinary
projects into the undergraduate curriculum. He enjoys providing opportunities
for students to contextualize their education through real life collaborations and
actual engagement and construction of solutions that benefit communities.
Colledge’s academic background includes undergraduate degrees in Science
(Biology), Mathematics Education and Civil Engineering, with graduate degrees
in Civil Engineering and Agricultural &Biological Engineering, minoring in
Instructional Systems. He is a registered professional engineer.