DALLAS, April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Methodist University's Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity will present its inaugural Visionary Award to Dean Kamen, the humanitarian inventor behind the Segway human transporter and other technological breakthroughs, including devices helping those in the developing world.

Kamen will be honored at a dinner on Wednesday, April 13, during Engineering & Humanity Week – a series of participatory events focused on free-market solutions for those living in extreme poverty.

Numerous speakers, panels, films and exhibits from around the globe as well as experiential learning opportunities will be featured on campus April 11-14 under the theme, "Redefining What's Possible."

The physical centerpiece for Engineering & Humanity Week will be the "Living Village," where students will live, cook their meals and sleep in temporary shelters designed to house people living in extreme poverty or displaced by war and natural disasters.

Students, faculty and local members of the community will build the village on the SMU campus lawn, showcasing structures ranging from standard-issue United Nations tents to the experimental EcoDome, which uses wire to stabilize walls constructed of long, earth-filled tubes.

The Living Village will be dedicated to the late Sargent Shriver, the driving force behind the Peace Corps and Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, at 4 p.m. Monday, April 11, by his son, Anthony Shriver.  This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.

Most of the week's events are open to the public with tickets.  A complete list of speakers and other information is available at www.EandHweek.org.

SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools.

The Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity, located in SMU's Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering, is focused on using technological innovation and market-based solutions to address the needs of those in poverty.  The Institute is collaborating with businesses, non-governmental organizations, universities and others to develop this market-based alternative to traditional philanthropy as a means of promoting global development.

Gensler Dallas, part of the global design, planning and strategic consulting firm with more than 2600 professionals networked across 35 locations worldwide, is working in collaboration with the Hunt Institute on Engineering & Humanity Week.

SOURCE Southern Methodist University