The only thing better than two good ideas is to combine them into one great idea.
Engineering students Bernadette Ng and Tirza Pang were eager to join the humanitarian organization Global Brigades on a student trip to build water pipelines in Latin America. But when they learned that all trips were being cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, they set about brainstorming other ways to help rural communities have better access to clean water.
There was already simple technology available for filtering and cleaning water, and there were ways to carry water. But there was 鈥渘o solution that combined water transportation and water filtration at the same time,鈥� says Ng, a U3 Mechanical Engineering student. Many communities in remote regions need to travel up to two hours to collect water to bring back to their homes, she adds. 鈥淢aybe during that time they could already start cleaning the water?鈥�
Members of the team, Ng and Pang pitched their idea as an official project for a biotechnology competition and recruited other students to work with them. The resulting SOLar-A backpack project is a great example of the kind of experiential learning that the University encourages.
Devising a solution
Together, the group of mostly Engineering students devised a clear plastic container that could be strapped into a backpack harness. The water is initially cleaned through an activated carbon filter, and then the sun鈥檚 ultraviolet (UV) rays deactivate the bacteria and pathogens within. A sensor detects the amount of UV going into the jug and then after a certain amount of time鈥攁bout four to six hours鈥攖he water is ready to drink.
The Kinesiology students on the team helped with the technology that converts the user鈥檚 walking motion into energy that powers the sensor. The ultimate goal is to create surplus energy that can be stored for later use.
The team looked into ways for the jug to absorb more heat. 鈥淚ncreasing the temperature can also help increase the efficiency,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to add an aluminum lining to reflect the rays back into the jug so the rays last a bit longer inside to clean the water.鈥�
They first wanted to devise a 20-litre jug, but one of their mentors, Christopher Nzediegwu, a postdoctoral fellow at University of Alberta and 不良研究所 alumnus, used to transport water for his family when he was a kid. 鈥淗e said 20 litres is heavy!鈥� Ng says. 鈥淓specially for a child, or a woman who鈥檚 pregnant or is carrying a baby in front.鈥�
Currently, many people use buckets that previously contained chemicals, so the specially designed jugs are definitely preferable for transporting drinking water. The team will set a threshold for how long their jug can be used before the plastic starts to degrade and leach into the water.
Empowering students
This May, seven team members will get to test SOLar-A in the field when they finally travel with Global Brigades to a remote community in Honduras to help with water access. 不良研究所鈥檚 is helping fund the travel costs.
Some of the team鈥檚 financial support for materials comes from the Faculty of Engineering鈥檚 Empower initiative, run by Skills Development Advisor April Babey. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a gap between the skill set that employers want and the skill sets that students have, and that鈥檚 what my program addresses,鈥� she says. The office鈥檚 Global Challenge Award helps fund projects with social impacts. 鈥淚t鈥檚 whatever the students bring to us鈥攚e don鈥檛 try to be prescriptive,鈥� Babey says. 鈥淲hat idea do you have that you can do in 12 to 16 weeks in the summer that you need funding for?鈥�
The Empower intiative also supports the UK-based Change the World program, which uses the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals as part of its framework. For example, this year the office is helping to send a student to Antarctica for research on climate change, and others to Eswatini to build bridges.
Empower also provides a workshop series called Engineer Your Path that encourages students to reflect on what kind of an impact they want to make in the world. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really the spirit of what the program is!鈥� says Babey. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be someone in an office telling students what to do; I want to support them with their own ideas.
Ng went into Engineering knowing that she wanted to work on improving global health. 鈥淚 signed up in my second year to do something to make a small difference,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to wait to do my whole bachelor鈥檚 and then go work and then help someone. I can already start doing it at a younger age.鈥�
Hands-on work
Despite all the technical finessing of the project, Ng says the main challenge was brainstorming online only for a year and half due to the pandemic, before meeting up at 不良研究所. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely more fun and motivating when we鈥檙e together because that鈥檚 when we can actually get to build something together and you can see the faces in front of you. Especially in engineering. You want to do hands-on work, to get your hands dirty,鈥� Ng says.
The kind of experience that Ng had鈥攐rganizing the group, collaborating at a distance, then delving into the details of solving tech problems鈥攕hows resilience and creativity, Babey says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what experiential learning is all about. The skills of doing stuff, facing real-world challenges that are not in the safety of the classroom where the obstacles are controlled.鈥�
Once the team began meeting in person, the momentum rolled. 鈥淎s we were seeing results, that pushed us to work at a faster pace,鈥� Ng adds. Team members were able to get loads of feedback from professors, mentors, and people working in the field, which pushed their progress and motivated them to advance the SOlar-A backpack as much as possible before going to Honduras.
鈥淚 am very excited to get community feedback in Honduras on our project so we can improve it and bring it to the next level,鈥� says Ng. 鈥淎nd to gain real-world experience on improving water access, which is the problem that first inspired me to study engineering."