Engineers Without Borders/Students for Sustainable Development
In summer 2005, I travelled to Pueblo Nuevo, Honduras to assess a potential Lehigh University project to improve the water supply and sanitation systems for this rural village. Meetings with the local doctor, educational leaders, and the town mayor identified a need and a desire on the part of the local community to work with Lehigh University students on designing and implementing these improvements. In Fall 2005, we started a Lehigh University Chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA within the broader Lehigh University student organization Students for Sustainable Development. Our goal is to work in multi-disciplinary teams to provide a safe drinking water supply for the community of Pueblo Nuevo.
SummerCHOICES
SummerCHOICES (Charting Horizons and Opportunities in Careers in Engineering and Science) is an engineering summer camp for middle school girls. I lead a hands-on environmental engineering project in which students learn about the global importance of safe water and sanitation and the processes involved in drinking water treatment, and then create drinking water from muddy water by applying their knowlege in the laboratory. This project has been fun and eye-opening for the students who have participated!