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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Lunch and Lecture with Mark S. Ward (U.S. Agency for International Development) discussing, "Humanitarian Disaster Relief: Capacity, Challenges and Opportunities for Technological Innovation".
**View Event Summary and Video Footage from similar event. Thanks to Emory University School of Public Health for sharing their footage of Mr. Ward.
Mark Ward is Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and through January 2011, was Acting Director of USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.
Mark S. Ward has directed the U.S. government international disaster assistance responses from Pakistan floods to cholera in Haiti. This position naturally calls for significant coordination across the full range of interagency actors, including CDC, the Department of Defense and its combatant commands, the Department of State and FEMA. He has considerable experience on development and humanitarian assistance in areas where a lack of security is a factor, and can speak to a range of approaches, including technological innovation, to expand the capacity and effectiveness of humanitarian disaster relief.
Mr. Ward joined the Foreign Service in 1986 and has served in Pakistan, Egypt, the Philippines, and Russia. Past positions include Special Advisor on Development to the head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Acting Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Asia at USAID, USAID Mission Director in Pakistan, and most recently Acting Director of USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.
Mr. Ward is a native of San Francisco, and received his Bachelor of Arts in political science and Juris Doctor from the University of California at Berkeley.
