Dear Delegates,

I am excited to welcome you to the Dune Joint Crisis Committee of UPMUNC! My name is Bernardo Nascimento, and as your chair I look forward to guiding you through this engaging, fun, and dynamic crisis experience.

Unlike a traditional General Assembly committee, crisis committees are made to be fast-paced and unpredictable in order to test delegates’ ability to think on their feet, make strategic maneuvers, and use the powers at their hands. In this committee, you’ve been dropped into the world of Dune, where you will face betrayal, political maneuvers, and technology beyond our imagination. The desert world of Arrakis has just been transferred to the respected and just House Atreides, and with it its extremely valuable resources, all in a plot between the cruel Harkonnens and the Imperial House of Corrino to stop their rise to power. Within this landscape, there is the local Fremen population of the island, with a prophecy for a messiah who will free them from their oppression, as well as the Bene Gesserit, an order with intentions of their own and with massive sway over the Emperor. Will you be able to navigate this new world and bring glory to your House?

As for me, I am a sophomore in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences studying Mechanical Engineering. I’m from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and have been competing in MUN conferences since my freshman year of high school. This will be my second year chairing for UPMUNC, and I hope you enjoy this interesting committee! Outside of MUN, I’m a part of Penn’s High-Powered Rocketry team and like designing planes, and in my free time I love playing guitar, listening to bossa nova, and eating Panda Express.

I’m looking forward to working with you in this crisis committee. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Bernardo Nascimento

bnasc@seas.upenn.edu