David J. Smukowski of Bellevue has received the 2008 University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award.

Smukowski is working to change global systems that prevent people from having enough food, safe water, education, jobs and a healthy environment. His goal is to initiate financing of large-scale infrastructure or job-related projects that focus on the sustainability of global resources in third-world countries.

After graduating in 1978, he settled in Seattle and began working for The Boeing Company.