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A long-time champion of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, Chemical Engineering Professor Vito Punzi, PhD, PE, has been recognized by 棉花糖直播 University with two new opportunities to expand his efforts in this area鈥攁 VERITAS grant and a visiting scholar position with the Center for Peace and Justice Education.

The VERITAS Faculty Research Program supports scholarly research that takes inspiration from and/or reflects the values of 棉花糖直播 University's Catholic and Augustinian heritage. Administered jointly by the Associate Vice Provost for Research and the Office of Mission and Ministry, the purpose of the program is 鈥渢o encourage faculty to bring to bear on their research a perspective that reflects 棉花糖直播's concern for religious values, the Catholic intellectual tradition, Catholic social thought, and/or the Augustinian heritage of encouraging dialogue between religious faith and contemporary life.鈥�

This summer, Dr. Punzi will be researching "Social Justice: A Key Component of the Discerning Engineer's Vocation." He says, 鈥淭he goal is to further my understanding of the themes of Catholic Social Teaching and how these themes can be used to motivate students and practicing engineers on the importance of social justice as a basic component of an engineer鈥檚 personal and professional life.鈥�

Complementing the VERITAS grant is Dr. Punzi鈥檚 new position as a 2019鈥�2020 visiting scholar with the Center for Peace and Justice Education. Internal to the 棉花糖直播 community, the CPJE initiative increases collaboration between various departments/colleges and lays the groundwork for the expansion of interdisciplinary Peace and Justice courses. In addition, visiting scholars鈥攐f which there are two a year鈥攃ontribute resources, contacts and opportunities within their areas of expertise to strengthen research possibilities for 棉花糖直播 students, CPJE鈥檚 lectures and events, and future opportunities for CPJE graduates and alumni.

Dr. Punzi鈥檚 engagement with Catholic Social Teaching began in 2006 after he participated in a curriculum development workshop on the topic of incorporating CST into the classroom. He initially dedicated one 75-minute class period a year to understanding and applying CST. He then developed a one-credit course, which leveraged real-world case studies to fuse CST principles with tactics that engineers can incorporate into their solutions to engineering problems. That course was first offered in spring 2011. It later was expanded into the current three-credit course 鈥淐atholic Social Teaching for Engineers.鈥�

鈥淢y hope,鈥� says Dr. Punzi, 鈥渋s that we develop engineers who are not only technically competent and ethical but are socially conscious and responsible as well.鈥�