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Today's Featured Biography

 
David Munoz

David was born in Rushville and raised in Bloomington, Indiana. His mother worked as a civil servant in the Panama Canal Zone in the mid/late 1940s and later returned to Central America as a missionary in the early 1950s. She met and married David's father (a Honduran) while working on the mission field. This familial relationship to Honduras has had a profound effect on David's life and especially the latter portion of professional career.

David spent 26 years (1986-2012) as a faculty member within the Engineering Division of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). He earned the Ph.D. and MS degrees from Purdue University and the BS from the University of New Mexico (all in Mechanical Engineering). While at Mines he spent a one-year sabbatical as a Visiting Professor to Monterrey Tech (ITESM) in Monterrey, Mexico and a second sabbatical as lead technical analyst on a USDOT-Federal Transit Administration funded project to consider high-speed maglev as an alternative for expanding I-70 along the Colorado mountain corridor. He also served as CSM Director of the Division of Engineering for three years.

He has advised engineering students on hundreds of design-build and research projects on topics ranging from hybrid electric vehicle design (1992-94) and implementation to potable water systems (geophysical prospecting through distribution design and field implementation) in Honduras and Uganda (2004-10). He has taught several thermo-fluid science and design courses, including a course that he developed entitled Sustainable Engineering Design, to specifically broaden the young engineer’s view of the engineering design process. He served as the Director of the Humanitarian Engineering minor program, the objective of which was to prepare students interested in using their engineering skills while also following their heart to develop positive working relationships with the economically poor. He is interested in working on interdisciplinary efforts toward achieving global peace and sustainability. He was a member of the Fetzer (Institute) Advisory Council (2011-2016) for Engineering Professions to explore the possibilities of incorporating the power of love and forgiveness into engineering practice.

In retirement David volunteers as treasurer for the Acequia de Los Lovatos and serves on the Taos Valley Acequia Association Board. Acequias are an ancient system of ditches that conduct irrigation water from a river to agricultural interests in a community. These systems have added resiliency to global communities since 3500 BC. David also serves on the Board of Renewable Taos, Inc. a volunteer organization promoting the development of 100 percent renewable energy within our community by 2030. This past year our local electric cooperative achieved the milestone of 100% solar energy derived electricity during the summer daylight hours.

David is blessed with two children. Lydia is a high school math teacher in the Seattle area (after graduating with a BS degree in Math from Seattle Pacific U. and a Masters in Education from Antioch U. New England) while also raising two children and Gabriel is a Philosophy and Business graduate from Colorado State University working in Technical Sales in Boulder, CO.

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