Faisal Mased, Dr. Phillip Thompson, Sonya Milonova, Meghan Reha, Ian Tromble.
The Zambia
Waterwheel Senior
Design Project was awarded the third place prize at the National Academy of
Engineering's Grand Challenges Summit student poster competition. The NAE has
identified 14 Grand Challenges for engineers in the 21st
Century which have been discussed at regional summits across the nation over
the past year. The most recent and final summit was hosted by the University of
Washington from May 2-3, 2010.
While the
focus of the conference was on the challenge of engineering new medicines,
CEEGR sophomore Hannah Rolston presented the SU team's poster
"Sustainable Water Distribution and Treatment". Judges found that the
waterwheel driven spiral pump and the Centers for Disease Control's Safe
Water System were
appropriate and sustainable technologies for developing areas with limited
resources. The team was awarded a $100 cash prize and a travel stipend for the
NAE National Summit that will be held October 6-8, 2010 in Los Angeles.
The first
and second prizes were awarded to UW teams that presented "Transcutaneous
Bilirubinometer and Mobile EKG Diagnostics: Students Engineering Solutions to
Global Health Challenges" and "Facilitating Renal Stone Clearance by
Using Ultrasound", respectively.
Hannah will be joined by Justin Milne (pictured below) as they both travel to Chirundu, Zambia for two months this coming summer to continue working on the waterwheel project. They will be accompanied by SU's Director of Facilities Operations and Maintenance Steve Szablya and other members of Professionals Without Boundaries. Their objectives include creating technical drawings for the latest version of the spiral pump and developing a construction manual so that other communities along the Zambezi River can adopt the pump for water supply and irrigation needs.