About Us

About the Mortenson Center

Our Team
Our Programs
Our Students
Our Alumni
Our Board
Our Affiliates

The Mortenson CenterÌýcombines education, research, and partnerships to improve development tools and practice. We train engineers to recognize the issues at the core of development challenges, and collaborate withÌýpartners across the CU-Boulder campus and the world toÌýcreate sustainable, scalable, evidence-based and multidisciplinary solutions to global development problems. Our program provides multiple pathways for engineers to enter the field of global engineering.

Program Educational Objectives:

The Mortenson Center at the University of Colorado Boulder promotes the role and skills of engineers in identifying and addressing the unequal and unjust distribution of access to basic services such as water, sanitation, energy, food, transportation and shelter, and places an emphasis on identifying the drivers, determinants and solutions favoring equitable access.ÌýThrough our curriculum, we:Ìý

  1. Introduce students to the historical causes and present conditions of global inequality, and identify the opportunities and limitations of professional engineering engagement.Ìý
  2. Empower students and working professionals to engage in a historically contextualized, anti-imperial contribution to global engineering.Ìý
  3. Identify and promote the relevance and role of the engineering profession in supporting the reduction of poverty and increasing prosperity.Ìý

About Us

Mission

We positively impact vulnerable people and their environment by improving development tools and practice.

Vision

A world where everyone has safe water, sanitation, energy, food, shelter and infrastructure.

Values

We believe inÌýimproving livesÌýthrough producing high-quality, actionable evidence.

We valueÌýpartnershipsÌýwith communities, governments, universities, businesses and nonprofits to align our skills and maximize impact.

We value professionally, culturally, economically and ethnicallyÌýdiverse, inclusive and relevant perspectives.

We don’t have all the answers, and we can’t do this alone. We valueÌýhumilityÌýin our work.

We valueÌýevidence-based decision makingÌýin the application of tools and practices.

We act withÌýintegrityÌýto protect those involved in our workÌýand prioritize our community partners.

Pillars of Teaching, Research, & Practice

Certificate and Professional Masters Curriculum

Organizational Theory and Systems Science

Water, Sanitation, Energy, Infrastructure, Agricultural Technologies and Methods

Impact Measurement Data, Tools and Technologies

Engineering in disaster relief, Shelter and Infrastructure