As a Calvin engineering student, you can address global water shortages with Calvin’s Clean Water Institute. Not only will you be connected with immersive, hands-on projects in your field, but you will also be exposed to the real experiences of communities all over the world.
Every community has a different story. That’s why the Clean Water Institute partners with local experts or NGOs in areas experiencing water shortages. A better understanding of the problem leads to more relevant and durable solutions.
An indigenous Ecuadorian engineering firm, CODEINSE, is one organization that recently approached the Clean Water Institute with a research need. Leaders at CODEINSE developed a new spring water capture system that they believed was more efficient than traditional methods of collecting drinking water. They contacted Calvin to assist in validating their hypothesis.
Calvin professors Julie Wildschut, Robert Hoeksema, and Chad Tatko (alongside students Carly Bogdajewicz ’22 and Derek Ten Pas ’22) led the study that followed. The study confirmed the new spring water capture system worked more effectively for collecting drinking water than traditional methods. This study led to a unique opportunity for these undergraduate students to participate in and be credited in an academic publication, and to be immersed in a project with real-world implications.
Led by engineering professor Julie Wildschut and chemistry professor Doug Vander Griend, the Clean Water Institute is made up of a team of Calvin profs from a range of academic disciplines. The work of the Clean Water Institute is one of many ways students and professors partner in living out Calvin’s mission to think deeply, act justly, and live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world.
Learn more about opportunities available to students in Calvin’s engineering programs. Other research opportunities are available as well.