Arsenic-Free Water in Rural Asia

Project Leader: Dr. Ashok Gadgil

At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Dr. Gadgil leads a group of about 20 researchers conducting experimental and modeling research in indoor airflow and pollutant transport. He has authored or co-authored more than 70 papers in refereed archival journals and more than 100 conference papers. Dr. Gadgil has a doctorate in physics from UC Berkeley, and is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. He has substantial experience in technical, economic, and policy research on energy efficiency and its implementation — particularly in developing countries. For example, the utility-sponsored compact fluorescent lamp leasing programs that he has pioneered are being successfully implemented by utilities in several east-European and developing countries. He has several patents and inventions to his credit, among them the “UV Waterworks,” a technology to inexpensively disinfect drinking water in the developing countries, for which he received the Discover Award in 1996 for the most significant environmental invention of the year, as well as the Popular Science award for “Best of What is New – 1996”. In recent years, he has worked on ways to inexpensively remove arsenic from Bangladesh drinking water.

Other Team Member(s) Info:

Susan Amrose, PhD Candidate in Physics

Susan is a PhD Candidate in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Originally from Michigan, she received two Bachelors of Science degrees, in Philosophy and Physics with Highest Honors, from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor in 2000. Since then, she has done research in high energy astrophysics at Los Alamos National Lab, CERN and Silver Space Sciences Lab followed by electrochemical research to refine a novel process for arsenic removal in Bangladesh at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She has designed and tested electrochemical cells and worked with modern techniques such as XAS, impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (polarization studies), and SEM. She has also worked with Dr. Ashok Gadgil on a project to disseminate fuel efficienct stoves to refugees in Darfur, and a has taught math, astronomy, and physics to inmates at San Quentin Prision for 7 years.

Deborah Cheng, PhD Candidate in Energy and Resources

Deborah is a PhD Candidate in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree from Stanford University. She previously worked for Tetra Tech EM Inc., an environmental consulting firm, managing the removal and remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater at Superfund sites, and also at Global Footprint Network, a nonprofit organization that quantifies the human consumption of natural resources. Her research at Berkeley focuses on access to drinking water in developing countries, using an interdisciplinary approach that combines both engineering and social science methods.

Jessica Huang, Undergraduate in Civil Engineering and Business

Jessica is pursuing simultaneous degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Business Administration at the UC Berkeley with minors in Environmental Economics and Policy and City and Regional Planning. She is interested in the design of products and services to improve the health, environment, and economic opportunities of populations with limited resources, particularly in developing countries. She has worked in rural communities of Ecuador, Honduras, and Uganda and is currently part of the student team designing the preliminary electro-coagulation arsenic removal prototypes. She will be attending the International Development Design Summit at MIT this summer to continue working on solutions to address global poverty.

Michèle Itten, Undergraduate in Mathematics, Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Mellon

Michèle is a Mathematics Bachelor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, currently attending Carnegie Mellon as an exchange student. Her main area of study is Operations Research, although she enjoys broadening her mathematical horizon with courses in Logic and Game Theory. Enrolled in cross-disciplinary courses such as Game Design and People Centered Development, and studying in two languages other than her mother tongue, she believes that innovations happen where different disciplines meet with a common vision. The Swiss citizen aspires to invest her technical knowledge and her personal enthusiasm into enabling poor communities to meet their most urgent needs. She is committed to develop long-term solutions to their problems, and to always remember that she has just as much to learn as to offer, a conviction that was made manifest during a three month trip to Uganda in spring 2005.

Marianna Kowalczyk, Masters Candidate in Environmental Engineering

Marianna is an Environmental Engineering Masters student at UC Berkeley. She has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Manhattan College. After graduation, she plans on working in environmental consulting in New York. She hopes to work on water and sanitation in developing communities in the future. Marianna is currently part of team designing the electro-coagulation prototype for arsenic remediation.

Kristin Kowolik, Undergraduate in Chemistry

Kristin is a fourth year chemistry student at the University of California, Berkeley. Her major interests are environmental and organic chemistry. She spent the summer of 2006 and 2007 at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory studying the remediation of arsenic from drinking water by means of electrochemistry. She hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in the field of organic chemistry.

Marc Muller, Masters Candidate in Civil Engineering, Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley

Marc is a Masters student in Civil Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL). He is currently affiliated to the University of California at Berkeley as a visiting scholar. He has Bachelor degrees in Material Science and Civil engineering from the EPFL and his current main fields of study are water engineering and hydraulics. He is particularly interested in the interfaces of science, technology and society in resource scarce, developing communities. Specifically, the Swiss citizen with a permanent Cambodian visa thrives to improve their livelihood using his skills and personal commitment to work towards efficient, acceptable and sustainable solutions, and has concretized this desire through several projects and field researches among Cambodian rural and suburban communities. Marc is part of the team that designed the first Berkeley electro-coagulation arsenic remediation prototype in spring 2008.

John Wang, Undergraduate in Business

John is a fourth year Business Administration student in the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He has interned at Hitachi Data Systems (hi-tech), Bayer Pharmaceuticals (healthcare), and Credit Suisse (investment banking). He is interested in establishing sustainable business models for new social ventures. He will be working at Google in August 2008.

Additional info:

The BEAR team is indebted to Dr. Jonathan Slack, Dr. Howdy Goudey, Joe Wallig, Jerry Pugh, Dr. Robert Kostecki and Antoine Peiffer for their invaluable help in the design efforts. We would also like to thank the Berkeley Arsenic Alleviation Group and Dr. John Danner and the "Entrepreneurship to Address Global Poverty" class in the Haas School of Business for their support.