CU Boulder — EVEN 2909 — Welcome & Global Context
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Introduction to Global Engineering

EVEN 2909: Introduction to Sustainability Engineering

Evan A. Thomas, PhD, PE, MPH — University of Colorado Boulder — Fall 2026

1 — Title

Course Overview

  • Syllabus is posted in Canvas
  • All assignments and readings are posted in Canvas
  • Required text: The Divide by Jason Hickel — available at the book store
  • Most lectures will be posted in Canvas
  • Labs are conducted in class, on east campus, and as homework
  • Groups in Canvas for the first project
My personal goal is to empower you for a meaningful professional career. — Evan Thomas
2 — Course Overview

Evan Thomas, Professor

Environmental Engineering Program, CEAE Dept, Aerospace Engineering Dept

Mortenson Endowed Chair in Global Engineering, Director

Education

  • PhD, Aerospace Engineering
  • MBA, Fletcher School, Tufts University
  • MPH, Oregon Health & Science University
  • PE, Professional Engineer

Experience

  • NASA Johnson Space Center
  • Portland State University
  • DelAgua Health

Accomplishments

  • 87 refereed journal publications
  • 7 patents
  • 5 books/chapters
  • 2 pieces of legislation

CU Better Planet Lab

Instructor photo Field work Global engineering CU Boulder
3 — Instructor
One-Minute Essay

"Why are you here? At CU? In Engineering? In this class? What are you hoping to gain?"

4 — Essay
In-Class Activity

World Geography Exercise

How well do you know the world map?

5 — Geography

Geography Challenge

Group Activity

Map the World

Working in small groups, you will receive unmarked maps. Your task:

  1. Form groups of 3–4 students
  2. Receive blank, unmarked maps of the world and Africa
  3. Fill in as many country names as you can in 5–10 minutes
  4. Compare results across groups

This exercise reveals gaps in geographic knowledge that are common among engineering students — and demonstrates why global context matters for sustainability work.

Reference Maps

World map World map exercise Map exercise Africa map
Continent outlines Geography exercise Country identification
6 — Maps
Context

The Global Context

Images from communities around the world where sustainability engineering matters most.

7 — Global Context

DR Congo & Field Context

DR Congo Community context Development context Infrastructure
Community Field work Global context Development
8 — Photos
Global Health

Global Burden of Disease

Understanding the scale of the challenge.

9 — GBD Intro

Global Burden of Disease

Explore the data at healthdata.org

5.6M
Children under 5 died (2016)
15,000
Child deaths every day
99%
In low & middle income countries
10 — GBD Stats

What is Poverty?

According to the United Nations:

Income Poverty

Family income below a federally established threshold.

International Poverty Line

$1.90 per day, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).

Absolute Poverty

The amount of money necessary to meet basic needs: food, clothing, and housing.

Relative Poverty

Defined in relation to the economic status of others in society.

"Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read." — United Nations

Today, poverty is understood as social, political, and cultural — not merely economic.

11 — Poverty
Concepts

What is Global Development?

Goals, actors, models, and the evolution of development thinking.

12 — Development Intro

What is Global Development?

Overall goal: Improve quality of life, health, education, and opportunities for impoverished people.

Foreign Aid

Financial assistance from a donor country or agency, as grants or loans.

Grassroots / Participatory Development

Driven by small non-profits, cooperatives, and businesses at the community level.

Key insight: Small and medium NGOs are not necessarily structurally different from multilateral organizations. Most funding comes from linear financing — charity, donation, and aid without sustained feedback loops.

13 — Development

Who Does Global Development?

Broad fields include Global Health, Global Development, Global Engineering, and Poverty Reduction. There is no single "right" answer, but a great deal has been learned. Many disciplines are involved:

Development Economists Civil Engineers Environmental Engineers Public Health Researchers Physicians & Nurses Anthropologists Political Scientists Sociologists Geographers Agronomists Urban Planners Data Scientists Lawyers Social Workers Journalists
14 — Who

Development Models

Historically

  • Top-down approaches with large infrastructure projects
  • Programs often failed due to lack of community buy-in, participation, education, and revenue

Today

  • Grassroots, community participation considered best practice
  • Sustainability: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
15 — Models
History

History of International Development

Five broad stages from colonialism to the SDGs — shaped by failed experiments, slow learning, and persistent debate.

16 — History Intro

Development Policy Timeline (Part 1)

There is no definitive textbook on the history of international development. Policies have moved from simple to complex through failed experiments, slow learning, and groupthink.

1500s – 1940s
Colonialism
  • Extraction of resources from colonized territories
  • Imposed economic and political structures
  • Legacy continues to shape development challenges today
1940s – 1960s
Post-War and De-Colonization
  • World Bank and IMF established at Bretton Woods (1944)
  • United Nations created (1945)
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
  • Cold War — spheres of influence; "Third World" originally meant non-aligned countries
  • De-colonization began; nationalization of resources and industries
  • Infrastructure focus driven by industrialization; "trickle down" economic growth
  • Large multilateral aid agencies dominated
  • Development as modernization — "catching up" with the West
  • Focus on macro indicators like GDP growth
  • "First Decade of Development" (1960s, per JFK)
  • Little attention to social development or local context
  • Marshall Plan for Europe used as template (but different context)
  • Theoretical basis: Rostow's stages of economic growth
17 — Timeline 1

Development Policy Timeline (Part 2)

1970s
Humanization and Focus on Poverty
  • Growing liberalism in the West; cultural relativism, rejection of Western dominance
  • Oil price rise, economic contraction
  • Dependency theory — aid viewed as imperialism
  • Interest in local context — participatory development emerges
  • Basic Human Needs approach: healthcare, education, water, sanitation
  • Emergence of "appropriate technology" concept
  • Small is Beautiful (Schumacher, 1973)
  • Robert Chambers and participatory rural appraisal
  • Women in development discourse begins
  • Environmental concerns emerge (Club of Rome, Limits to Growth)
1980s – 1990s
Neoliberalism and Structural Adjustment
  • Economic slowing and shocks; potential collapse of states due to debt
  • Cold War peak and eventual end — collapse of Soviet bloc
  • Washington Consensus: fiscal discipline, reduced spending, open markets, trade liberalization
  • World Bank/IMF structural adjustment programs
  • Privatization of state enterprises
  • Rise of NGO sector; good governance agenda
  • Shift to conditionality in aid
  • Human Development Index introduced (UNDP)
  • Rio Earth Summit (1992) — sustainable development
  • Growing criticism of structural adjustment
  • Recognition that markets alone are insufficient
  • Emergence of rights-based approach
18 — Timeline 2

Development Policy Timeline (Part 3)

2000s – Today
MDGs, SDGs, Paris, and Accra
  • Continuing democratization; multi-pole power structure (BRICs)
  • New calls for better global governance
  • MDGs (2000–2015): 8 goals with measurable targets
  • SDGs (2015–2030): 17 goals, 169 targets, universal framework
  • Paris Agreement on climate (2015)
  • Accra Agenda for Action — aid effectiveness: ownership, alignment, harmonization
  • Rise of South-South cooperation
  • Growing role of private sector and impact investing
  • Digital revolution and data for development
  • Localization agenda
  • Climate change as a central development issue
  • COVID-19 pandemic impact
  • Rise of populism and nationalism
  • From charity to partnership; aid to cooperation
  • From doing good to doing evidence-based good
19 — Timeline 3
Debate

Foreign Aid: Does It Work?

$2.3 trillion in aid over decades — what has it achieved?

20 — Aid Debate

Foreign Aid Works (?)

The Optimists
  • 440 million vaccinations delivered
  • Malaria reduction: 360 million bednets distributed
  • HIV/AIDS reduction: 6.1 million people on antiretroviral therapy
  • A billion people lifted out of poverty in 50 years
  • Dramatic improvements in child survival, literacy, and life expectancy
The Pessimists
  • Not all progress is attributable to aid
  • Some countries and situations are worse off
  • Dependency on external funding
  • Corruption and market distortion
  • $2.3 trillion in aid with limited accountability
  • Structural issues remain unaddressed

The key question for sustainability engineers: How do we move from doing good to doing evidence-based good? How do we design interventions that are sustainable, locally owned, and measurably effective?

21 — Aid Results
Looking Ahead

Public Health Engineering

Engineering solutions for the world's most pressing sustainability challenges.

22 — Closing

Contact

Evan A. Thomas, PhD, PE, MPH

Director & Professor — Mortenson Center in Global Engineering

evan.thomas@colorado.edu

23 — Contact