Saint Francis welcomes Fulbright Scholar Dr. Ruben Mamani

The Saint Francis University School of Science, Environmental Engineering Program, and Center for Watershed Research & Service is pleased to welcome Fulbright Scholar Dr. Ruben Mamani to campus.  

Dr. Mamani hails from Bolivia and has expertise in air quality and international development projects. He has contributed to research projects investigating air pollution and climate change in the high Andes of Bolivia. He studied the transport of aerosols from Amazonian biomass burning reaching the glaciers of the Andes mountains as an associate researcher at the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory of Universidad Mayor de San Andres (UMSA, Bolivia). He also coordinated the study “The Economics of Climate Change in Bolivia” by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB/ECLAC). Dr. Mamani has taught air pollution control at the Environmental Engineering Program of the Catholic University of Bolivia (UCB La Paz).

Dr. Mamani has been the director of operations of the nonprofit organization Engineers In Action since 2008. Engineers In Action coordinates the installation of potable water, sanitation, irrigation, and renewable energy projects in poor rural communities across Bolivia. Saint Francis University has partnered with Engineers In Action since 2010 on a project to improve irrigation water quality in a mining-impacted watershed near the world’s largest silver deposit at Cerro Rico de Potosi. 

This will not be Dr. Mamani’s first time in the States, as he attended the University of Tennessee for his undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering.  He also received his Masters and PhD degrees in Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut, where he researched air pollution modeling and control methods. 

While at Saint Francis University this year, Dr. Mamani will teach courses on air pollution control, global climate change impacts, and wastewater treatment. Via the Fulbright program, Dr. Mamani has also been invited to give talks at Bluefield State College, Howard University, and Clemson University.