Scholar-in-Residence Program

The summer after his junior year at Villanova, Dr. Ermilio sold his car and bought a one-way ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For two months, he backpacked through Southeast Asia, immersing himself in remote communities and witnessing firsthand the challenges of poverty. The experience deeply impacted him, inspiring reflections on his post-graduation path. “I knew I didn’t want a traditional career,” he recalls. “The Augustinian values I learned at Villanova motivated me to seek a deeper sense of purpose.”

The Philippines
Ermilio found that purpose in the Peace Corps, where he spent three years in the Philippines working on renewable energy and water sanitation initiatives.

East Timor
He then transitioned to Oxfam International, contributing to post-conflict reconstruction efforts in East Timor as the country sought to establish independence from Indonesia.

Return to Villanova
After earning his graduate degree in 2006, Ermilio returned to Villanova as an adjunct professor in the Mechanical Engineering department. In 2011, the university launched the Villanova Engineering Service Learning (VESL) program, naming Ermilio its director. Under his leadership, VESL expanded from two service projects with a dozen students to hundreds of engineering students—from undergraduates to PhD candidates—working with international partners to improve the quality of life in developing communities.

Center for Humanitarian Engineering and International Development
In 2020, Villanova established the Center for Humanitarian Engineering and International Development, appointing Dr. Ermilio as its founding director.

Motivation
"Working with people is what motivates me. When you engage in a project, the relationship evolves from, ‘Let’s get to know each other,’ to ‘Let’s solve a problem together,’ and you become like family.”

Words of Wisdom
"If you want to have an impact, you have to immerse yourself in the problem by being humble and listening to others. You have to be willing to be changed in the process."

About the Artist

Dr. William Carr graduated from Malvern Preparatory School in 1968. He is a world-renowned pianist, Steinway Artist, and professor of music at Immaculata University. Following his graduation from Malvern Prep, Dr. Carr received degrees in piano performance from Temple University. He also received a scholarship to the Graduate School of the Juilliard School in New York in the Graduate Professional Studies degree program. At the Juilliard School, he studied piano performance with the renowned pedagogue, Adele Marcus. Dr. Carr earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Catholic University of America and has earned two post-doctoral certificates; one from the Munich Conservatory in Chamber Music and one from the Liszt Conservatory. At the Munich and Liszt Conservatories, Dr. Carr studied in Germany and in Austria with concert pianist Paul Badura-Skoda.

Dr. Carr has performed in the master classes of Claudio Arrau, Joerg Demus, Leon Fleisher and Horacio Gutierrez. Dr. Carr has performed throughout the U.S. and in many European cities. His performance credits include a 1988 solo recital at Carnegie Hall, solo performances in 2002 and 2005 at Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, and solo performances in 2003 and 2004 at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Verizon Hall Auditorium. In February of 2008, he performed Rhapsody in Blue on the main stage of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. In November of 2008, the Immaculata Symphony featured Dr. Carr as piano soloist for its performance of Vincent d’Indy’s Symphony on a French Mountain Air.

Dr. Carr is the former Artist-in-Residence at Cabrini College and at Gwynedd-Mercy College. In the spring of 2006, Dr. William Carr was recognized by the Steinway Corporation and placed on the international roster of Steinway artists. Additionally, Dr. Carr received a master’s degree in international relations/international business from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and he has given corporate seminars on creativity to the schools of business at Columbia University, the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College, and at the Aresty Institute of the Wharton School as well as to over thirty Fortune 500 corporations both nationally and abroad.

In 2021, Dr. Carr was named to serve on the Board of the YUN International Piano Festival and Competition and has given performance classes for students for this festival preparing for the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and conservatories in both Taiwan and mainland China. In September of 2022, he performed as a piano soloist for the Triumph Music Festival held at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia for a Rachmaninoff program featuring his performance and those of Russian pianists, Igor Resnianski, Svetlana Smolina and Tatiana Abramova.