I like this concept, of a “deciding factor”. It possesses similarities to “the straw that breaks the camel’s back”. Some may see it as a cop out or the inability to weigh all components objectively, thus relying on one component to make a decision. My view on it differs slightly. The brain or one’s judgement is much like any physical object. It is capable of having momentum. I am fairly certain everyone is familiar with “train of thought”. I think the phrase is fitting, seeing how each does not want to be derailed. Most people will strongly resist hindering their thoughts or the acquisition of knowledge, much like a train “resists” stopping easily. When accumulating information, your brain or judgement gains momentum. It might be important not to hinder this momentum and let it peak… that is the deciding factor.

Everyone on NEWT internships, allow yourselves to fully take in these experiences and the knowledge you’re gaining. Take advantage of every moment, and use it to delve a little deeper. I have a  strange feeling if we all do this, that we will be even more effective at our positions, and gain even more insight into how to utilize the benefits of this great opportunity. When our brains are going at a full head of steam, who knows what breakthroughs will occur.

I want to say choo choo so bad, but even I know when to stop… no I don’t. All aboard? 😉

 

This is the second weekend in Malawi, and instead of venturing out to a new mountain for hiking or going to Lake Malawi, we spent Saturday going to Blantyre market, exploring it in greater detail than before. It was not just an amazing vegetable market, but clothing and electronics were also sold there as well in shops that wound through alleyways and around corners. There was a group of carvers making small trinkets up the hill. By the river, an entire row of vendors selling shoes, displaying nearly a thousand different choices. Sunday was the first day of hand washing. I have hand washed clothing at school before—shirts that needed special care and sweaters that could not go into a machine. I have never attempted to hand wash a week and a half worth of clothing before and it was quite an exhausting exercise.

Monday and Tuesday each have more village visits planned, hopefully one of which will be our choice site for our project. We have asked for the help of Village Hygiene Project as well as WASHTED, two programs related to our goals. WASHTED will take us to the Ndema village, an isolated place near Chikwawa. They have reported water contamination problems and use shallow well/open water sources as well, meaning there is great potential for our design. The second location, suggested by Hygiene Village Project, is Ndemanjie. It also uses open water sources, but is closer to Blantyre than Ndema. This means it is easier to continuously collect samples from here over time, allowing for long term study of the treatment project. Samples will be taken and tests run, but it will be a large discussion past simple test results to determine which, if either, site is viable for our project.

 

 

Midweek we planned a visit to two different rural sites to investigate their water sources, and if they employed any types of treatments, what sort of water problems they experienced, and if they would be interested in a water treatment apparatus. We first went to the Njuli village site, investigating three water sites. The first was a hole dug into the soil near farming land. This water was extremely turbid, but the villagers said that if they planned to drink the water, they would boil or treat the water with chlorine first. The main concern with this site would be run off from the farming, especially if they used fertilizers. The leader of the village gave us permission to take the water sample and then escorted us to two other places in the village, all using deep wells that were covered. This water seemed significantly less turbid than the first sample. However, at all three sources, residents expressed that the main issue with their water sources was not necessarily cleanliness, but access. The water table would recede greatly, meaning that they could not get water whenever they wanted.

We then went to a second village, Lunzu, where an open reservoir was used for some water sources. We gathered the sample directly from the open source, meaning that it was more likely that this sample would contain biological contaminants than at the first village. However, we have yet to obtain equipment for adequate biological sampling, so we cannot test for parameters other than simple ones such as hardness and conductivity for these preliminary collections. When we were returning, we lost one sample jar to a bumpy road, meaning that we only had two samples from the first village. At both villages, the leaders and other members of the community were very welcoming, which made the visits both productive and exciting, even if we lost one of the samples.

Tests for hardness, conductivity, pH, and turbidity will be done in the lab, but because only one site had the potential for biological contaminants and many of the villages treated their drinking water to some degree, it seems unlikely that these sites will be used for our proposed apparatus. Therefore, these samples are more for establishing lab procedure and outlining parameters.

Outside of the project, it has been interesting to see the contrast in development between cell service and more traditional things like postal services. It is quite easy to have clear reception in the villages we visited, removed from urban environments. However, it is hard to find post offices in Blantyre, even though it is a city. Malawi seems to have skipped over certain technologies as it has developed, leaving empty space in areas such as a developed and reliable postal system or landline services in favor of the newer cellular technologies. This may be partly because the US and Europe, when investing money in Malawi and the rest of Africa, focused more on telecom companies, rather than postal services.

My first week back in Arizona has been hectic but yet marvelous at the same time. In between all the papers, lab work, and textbooks I am able to socialize with friends that I have not been able to see in a year.  I am starting to get acclimated to the arid heat and have found what I believe to be the best route with the most shade going to and from the lab.

Aside from the heat and my friend this week has been very productive. I started off by reading a lot of papers on titanium dioxide (TiO2) and have finally gained enough knowledge to start uncovering some of its properties pertaining to Photocatalytic Activity (PCA). At the beginning of the week, I attended a lab training session so that I could work in the lab for the duration of the summer. Soon after, Dr. Bi monitored me in developing a methylene blue (MB) and buffer mixture to be able to measure the light waves that it can absorb. As the week went on I began collecting data by a 96 multi-well plate technique on a TiO2 and MB mixture. By Thursday I was using a UV transilluminator and examining the effects of TiO2 on MB. Through these series of tests I was able to grasp a better understand of TiO2 and the meaning if PCA. Friday is known as meeting day. This Friday I met Dr. Westerhoff for the first time in a reflective meeting with his graduate students. Soon after the group meeting Dr. Westerhoff spoke to me and Dr. Bi about my research,progress, and the importance of them both. 

I look forward to the challenges I will face this upcoming week! 

Having had a few days to settle in and meet professors at the Polytechnic, we began to develop an idea for the project. A mechanical engineer, traveling with the Watson Fellowship, collaborated with our NEWT team. He had experience building water treatment systems in Southeast Asia, which has been very useful for our planning. We are thinking of using a multi-filter flow system that pulls the water through gravel filtration, fine sand filtration, and a final biochar filter. We plan to test the capabilities of the Moringa seed as well in order to determine if it can greatly increase the effectiveness of the treatment process. We will try to either include it as a step in the flow system or create a more transportable alternative treatment system that is hopefully more portable.

Initial planning has included determining desired test parameters. Working off Dr. Mkandawire’s initial research, we decided to test for biological content, physical properties such as turbidity and pH, as well as several chemical compounds and heavy metals, which could be a result of pollution. By mid next week, hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday (June 7^th/8^th), we plan on going to several village sites, after seeking approval from the health board and local traditional authorities. We will collect samples and run tests, as well as ask questions, to find a desirable site.

This weekend, we visited an industrial construction supply warehouse to find quotations on materials we need to build our system. Walking through the less polished section of Blantyre was a great experience, displaying the contrast with some of the fundamental health and safety standards in the United States. Workers at the warehouse we visited climbed barefoot on rusted steel sheet metal and there was very little lighting in the storage rooms of materials as dangerous as barbed wire. This highlighted just how different we in the developed world can be. It will be interesting to see, as we go further into this project, what other safety protocols so highly valued in the U.S. have not taken hold in Malawi.

The following day, we, along with several other students from the Global Health Initiative among other programs, took a hiking trip to Mount Mulanjie, which peaks at over 3,000m. Walking up the mountain, we saw Malawians cutting down trees and hand sawing the logs to create boards. This showed that Malawi was growing and developing, needing new construction materials, but at the same time, it raises concerns as to what the environmental cost might be. There is likely little regulation on proper harvesting, leaving the possibility of destroying natural wildlife for the sake of expansion. Whenever this has happened, it seems that in hindsight, governments had wished they had better regulations in place. Maybe it can be prevented in Malawi.

Scheduled to depart Monday, May 30 at 8.25pm from Houston, I sat on my living room floor Sunday night, surrounded by supplies and clothes. I needed to decide, the night before, all the things that I might possibly need for my trip to Blantyre, Malawi. Should I pack hiking boots and sneakers or sandals and dress shoes, a raincoat or a sweater? I have never been to Malawi before, much less any other country in Africa, meaning that I was bound to pack the wrong things. In a panic, I realized that duct tape might be a good idea, not knowing if I could even get such a thing at a store in Blantyre. Simply, I really just did not have any idea of what could happen.

 

All I knew was that Texas weather in the summer would not hold a candle to the ideal temperatures that waited for me in Blantyre. A high of 75°F in the day, and lows into the 60s at night would be amazing—perfect for exploring the various parts of the country. I read that hiking was a popular activity for expats and tourists visiting the country, as well as taking trips to Lake Malawi and the game reserve parks. While potentially touristy and not so much of a typical Malawian activity, I still greatly want to try these out. As a sort of balance, I hope I can walk throughout the town during the day, going to the markets and stores while I live there for the next 8+ weeks.

 

However, during most of the day I would be working on a Water Treatment project through a partnership with the Polytechnic. We were tasked with devising a treatment plan for the villages that use shallow wells and river/stream water for some of their water sourcing. This water was high in bacteria and turbidity, so we will work on reducing these, potentially using the Moringa seed as a coagulant and disinfectant.

In less than 3 hours I will be boarding my plane to Tempe, Arizona where the temperature will be at least 115 degrees for today and tomorrow. This will not be my first time to traveling to Tempe as I did research in the same area with Mathematical Biology. This opportunity to go back and do a different field of research will allow me to see people I haven’t seen in almost a year. I look forward to reuniting with all of my friends that live in the Arizona Region.

In preparation for my trip, my parents loaded me with tons of information on safe travel and jet lag, there is a 3 hour time difference. They warned me not to call them anytime past 8 pm my time, 11 pm their time, for they will not answer the phone. Other than the small jokes that were passed, they helped me make sure I have everything I need before they drop me off at the airport.

Regarding the research and schedule with Dr. Alford, Dr. Bi, and Dr. Westerhoff I can expect to learn a lot about photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles for reactive oxygen species production. Tuesday will be the first day I will start my lab training to help prepare me set of the experiments I will be conducting with Dr. Bi.

I am very exited to meet everyone and stay in Arizona for the next 7 weeks, although I wish the weather was a little cooler.

In just a few days, I will be starting a 7 week internship at Rice University organized by the NEWT. I will be working with Dr. Verduzco to perform membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) to carry out energy efficient water desalination. The initial stages of the internship will be focused on developing a flow coater device. A flow coater device will enable us to coat a thin film of the polymer we wish to deionize onto the electrodes in our MCDI cell.

In flow coating, the polymer solution is held beneath a blade by capillary forces. Eventually, as a result of the edges of the solvent in the solution vaporizing, the volume of our polymer solution will decrease. Due to this, frictional drag will cause part of our solution to escape underneath the blade and set itself apart in the form of a wet film. This wet film then dries, which allows to coat the electrodes with it.

To build the flow coater device, we will need a blade that is to be placed atop the polymer. Glass slides are often chosen to act as blades due to their inexpensiveness. We will also need a three axis rotating stage to hold our blade and allow us to control its angle of motion.

I would like to thank Dr. Veronica Leautaud for all that she has done for the 2016 NEWT interns. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with brilliant engineers who strive to make the world more energy efficient and am excited to begin this new project of designing a flow coater device with Dr. Verduzco’s team.

I look forward to blogging again soon.