Young Scientists from United States Nominated for Worldwide 'Mondialogo Engineering Award'

* International jury selects 40 project ideas for final of worldwide innovation prize

* Seven U.S. nominated universities among the top 40 project ideas

* More than 1,700 participants from 79 countries

STUTTGART, Germany, and PARIS, March 9 -- An international jury has nominated the finalists for the "Mondialogo Engineering Award", the first worldwide intercultural contest seeking ideas for sustainable technical improvements in developing countries. 40 project ideas from international universities, selected from 111 submitted proposals (39 of which included U.S. participation), have now been short-listed for one of up to 20 awards, which together carry 300,000 euros in prize money. The winners will be announced during an international ceremony at the end of May in Berlin, Germany.

Among these final 40 project ideas, seven include participation of U.S. academic institutions:

   *  Colorado School of Mines with Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana,
      Honduras (Project: "Investigation of appropriate water and waste
      management technologies for villagers within developing countries")

   *  Lehigh University of Bethlehem with Bengal Engineering College, India
      (Project: "Providing arsenic-free water in remote villages in West
      Bengal, India")

   *  University of Colorado at Boulder with University of San Simon,
      Bolivia ("Sprinkler irrigation and terrace construction for the Yanayo
      Community")

   *  Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art New York with
      Tribhuvan University Kathmandu, Nepal and the Technical University
      Iasi, Romania ("Economical eco-friendly housing in Nepal")

   *  University of California at Davis and Massachusetts Institute of
      Technology with University of Zambia, Zambia and DISCARE, Zambia
      (Project: "Rural distributed power with biogas-powered Stirling")

   *  Engineers Without Borders and Orissa University of Agriculture &
      Technology, India and Kalinga Institute of Agriculture & Technology,
      India and the Association for India's Development, India (Project:
      "Biodiesel development in rural India")

   *  Colorado State University with Tribhuvan University Kathamndu, Nepal
      and Engineers Without Boarders, Nepal/USA (Project: "Lighting up the
      Nepalese villages")

Assessment of the project ideas was based on the criteria of technical excellence, sustainability, feasibility and intercultural dialogue within the project group. More than 1,700 young engineers and students from 79 countries had registered for the contest and formed 412 international teams.

The "Mondialogo Engineering Award" is an initiative from DaimlerChrysler and UNESCO aimed at the worldwide promotion of dialogue among civilizations. The initiative calls on students from industrialized and developing countries to work together on technical proposals addressing the UN Millennium Development Goals, particularly the eradication of poverty and the promotion of environmentally sustainable development.

Among the finalists nominated during the jury meeting in Stuttgart are teams representing all continents. Working with their project partners, students and engineers from universities in the regions of Asia/Pacific, Africa, Arab states, Latin America/Caribbean, North America as well as teams from Europe have successfully managed the leap into the group containing the best project proposals submitted worldwide.

The international jury includes Prof. Peggy Oti-Boateng (Director of the Technology Consultancy Centre at Kwame Nkrumah University, Ghana), Prof. Gulsun Saglamer (Istanbul Technical University, Turkey), Prof. Shirley Malcom, USA, (Head of Education and Human Resources for the American Association for the Advancement of Science), Prof. Dato Lee-Yee Cheong from Malaysia (President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, WFEO) and Prof. Wei Yu (Director of the Research Center for Learning Sciences, Southeast University, China). Chairmen of the Jury are Deputy Director-General of UNESCO Prof. Marcio Barbosa (Brazil) and Chief Environmental Officer of DaimlerChrysler AG Prof. Herbert Kohler (Germany).

The aim of Mondialogo is to encourage dialogue between people who work together across continents on a joint project. This cooperation is intended to develop understanding, tolerance and friendship between people with different cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds.

In addition to the "Mondialogo Engineering Award", the partnership initiated by UNESCO and DaimlerChrysler also includes the "Mondialogo School Contest", a worldwide contest aimed at promoting intercultural dialogue between school students and an Internet Portal in four languages with a magazine featuring intercultural topics.

More information at http://www.mondialogo.org/.