Marty Moss-Coane

Disaster relief expert Fred Cuny. Since January he's been in Sarajevo, implementing new water and gas systems. A former professor of engineering and public affairs, Cuny is hired by governments and agencies to coordinate responses to floods, famines, cyclones, earthquakes. He says, "Disasters are a function of underdevelopment" and he finds much humanitarian aid and relief satisfies the needs of the donor before it helps the recipient. Cuny was a Senior advisor to the US government on the Somalia famine in 1992.

Ms. Magazine cofounder Letty Cottin Pogrebin's new book explores the roles friendship plays in our lives.