The Geo-environment and Human Health in Developing Nations: A Challenge for geoscientists and engineers

Join us for a Global Health Exchange lecture, co-sponsored by The Duke Africa Initiative and DGHI. This event is free and open to the public so please spread the word to your colleagues and friends. Light lunch will be served. | ABOUT THE LECTURE: Availability of clean water, food security, poverty and human health are inseparable and inextricably connected in the underdeveloped world. In the rural communities in West Africa, available clean ground water is threatened with chemicals and heavy metal, e.g., nitrates due to application of chemical fertilizers to increase crop yield for their daily economic survival, heavy metals from waste oil disposal. Consequently human health is compromised: convulsions in babies, cancers in adults and miscarriages in pregnant women. | ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Fred Boadu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University. He holds a BS (Hons.) in Geological Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, and a PhD in Applied Geophysics from Georgia Institute of Technology. Prof. Boadu¿s research interests lie non-invasive characterization of subsurface geological materials. His research has implications in exploration and assessment of groundwater and petroleum resources. Fred applies artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic to enhance the prediction and characterization of the porous media.