Environmental Solutions in Developing Countries

Catalog description

The course is designed for students of all majors (engineering, science, health, and others) and covers technology, education, and social approaches to successful WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) projects in the developing world. The course covers technical, social and economic aspects of successful humanitarian projects. This includes appropriate safe water, sanitation, air pollution technologies, and public health principles, for developing nations. Additionally, the course focuses in detail on social and educational approaches, and project management principles required for successful project implementation. In addition to classroom presentations and discussion, students will participate in a variety of field activities such as use of a wide variety of field tests for chemical and biological water quality; use and testing of common water and sanitation technologies used in developing nations (e.g., chemical disinfection and filtration technologies, solar disinfection technologies); testing and surveying using handheld GPS; and other projects. The topic spans social and technical.