UNH President Ann Weaver Hart signs the two memoranda of agreement. Pictured with her are (front row, from left) Ihab Farag, Hamel Professor of Innovation and Technology; Carolina Gonzales, MARN employee and UNH graduate student; Hart; CEPS Dean Arthur Greenberg; and Maj. Gen. Joseph Simeone, deputy adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard (second row) Tony Giunta, director DES Waste Management Division; Mike Sandock, USAF ret., interpreter; NHANG Lt. Col. Nicole Bixler; and Ted Howard, director of the UNH Center for International Education; (back row) Brian Lenzi, NHANG ret.; Zachary Boyajian, NHANG environmental program manager; and Tom Ballestero, associate professor of civil engineering. (UNH Photographic Services)

UNH signs formal agreement to further work in El Salvador

By Robert Emro, CEPS

UNH has formally agreed to work with El Salvador’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) and the University of El Salvador (UES) on research and training.

UNH President Ann Weaver Hart signed two memoranda of agreement with the institutions Jan. 20, which pave the way for further collaborations in the areas of pollution prevention, water resources and hazardous materials handling. The agreements also open opportunities for cooperation in other areas, including vulcanology, medicinal plant studies, and marine sciences.

“ We have very different climates and very different environments, but the pressures are the same, and global,” said Hart. “The presence of pollutants in people and animals living in the Arctic show that there is no place on earth that is so remote as to be immune from the pressures of our modern society on our environment and natural resources. And there is no academic institution that survives without collaborations like these with the institutions and people of El Salvador.”

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) Dean Arthur Greenberg and chemical engineering professor Ihab Farag took the agreements to El Salvador, where they were signed by MARN Minister Walter Ernesto Jokisch Restrepo and UES Rector Maria-Isabel Rodriguez on Jan. 26.

“ UNH will be very much enriched by this experience,” said Greenberg, noting El Salvador’s rich biodiversity, active volcanoes and the new research funding opportunities made possible by the agreements.
“ We have the opportunity to increase our interactions with faculty (at UES) and hopefully, some of its graduates will decide to do graduate work with us,” he said.

The agreements grew out of cooperation between the institutions started under the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, which brought pollution prevention experts from CEPS and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) to El Salvador in November.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Simeone, deputy adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard, was on hand to celebrate the signing of the historic agreements, as were Anthony Giunta, director of DES’ Waste Management Division, and Carolina Gonzales, a MARN official who decided to pursue graduate studies in environmental engineering at UNH.

“ I was particularly impressed with the work being done here at UNH,” said Gonzales, who first visited the campus with a group of government officials brought to New Hampshire by the State Partnership Program in 2002. “Despite the differences in climate, I’m enjoying it very much.”

From Nov. 2-8, Greenberg, Tom Ballestero, associate professor of civil engineering, and Farag, Hamel Professor of Innovation & Technology and director of the Pollution Prevention program at UNH, were in El Salvador where they met with government officials, industry leaders and UES faculty. They presented workshops on how to properly handle hazardous materials and maintain water quality.