– Article by Sheetal Sohoni.
“Stone age did not end because we ran out of stones.”
The above phrase will resonate for a long time even after end of WEEF 2018, Albuquerque New Mexico (NM). The central theme of WEEF 2018 was Peace Engineering. The theme reverberated through each panel discussion and session. Each panelist stressed the importance of the role of engineers, and how engineering graduates and educators need to work on developing tools to address the global problems that our planet and humans are facing today or will be facing within the next 20 years. Tim Keller, Mayor of Albuquerque, NM, formally inaugurated WEEF-GEDC 2018. 44 countries were represented at the event.
Michael Auer, outgoing President of IFEES, stressed how the theme of the conference is very important and applicable for today’s times. Natacha DePaola, GEDC Chair, emphasized how through engineering we can bring change, preserve good things, solve issues, and create a better world for future generations. Hans Hoyer, secretary of IFEES, discussed how representation at these events has dramatically improved in the past few years, far surpassing initial expectations. He also discussed how this platform has helped in developing bonds of friendship, which is the need of the hour.
On the last day of the conference, VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) Chennai and IUCEE formally invited delegates of WEEF-GEDC 2018 to WEEF 2019 Chennai. The theme for next year’s conference is “Disruptive Engineering Education for Sustainable Development.” The conference will be held in Chennai in association with VIT, IUCEE IFEES (International Federation of Engineering Education Societies), EPSI (Education Promotion Society for India), SCALE (Student Consortium for Advancement and Learning in Engineering Education), and SPEED (Student Platform for Engineering Education Development). The website for WEEF 2019 was also launched at the event. Dr.Krishna Vedula (Executive director), Dr. Sohum Sohoni (Associate Director), Dr. Claire Komives (founder IUCEE Silicon Valley Chapter), Mrs.Sheetal Sohoni (Multimedia Communication developer), Mr. Kantha Reddy (Director Operations India), and SCALE team: Sanket Dhadke, Rajat Sharma, Jatin Bharadwaj, and Shreya Adabala represented IUCEE at the event.