ITHACA, N.Y. -- Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America since 1995, will be the keynote speaker at the closing banquet for the Engineers Without Frontiers USA (EWF-USA) first national conference Sept. 17-20 at Cornell University.

Offenheiser, who is a Cornell graduate, will speak Sept. 20 at the Clarion Hotel near the Cornell campus (the public is invited to attend his talk, which will begin at about 8 p.m., without charge). Boston-based Oxfam America is part of an international confederation of 12 organizations cooperating to combat suffering and poverty in more than 100 countries.

Another conference participant will be Paula Huntley, author of the best-selling book The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo. She will speak on Sept. 18 at the Statler auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

The public is invited to attend her talk, as well as other conference events, without charge. For a complete schedule, go to http://www.ewf-usa.org/conference .

Also participating in workshops and panel discussions at the national conference will be many of the more than 400 members of the two-year-old student organization from more than 30 universities across the United States, including Cornell, where EWF-USA is based. The conference is titled "Bridging the Divide" and highlights EWF-USA's commitment to interdisciplinary and participatory methods for achieving appropriate, sustainable development.

Other conference speakers will include Patricia Galloway, president-elect of the American Society of Civil Engineers, George Bugliarello of the National Academy of Engineering and Cornell graduate Dan Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California-Berkeley.

EWF-USA is a national service organization that partners with developing communities to foster cultural, educational and technical exchange. It aims to engage students and young professionals in hands-on community planning through internships with development agencies, through service-based projects and through foreign study. EWF-USA chapters and the national organization have activities in South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the United States.