Participating in AguaClara for Course Credit
The research, development, and design project courses specific to AguaClara are focused on developing technology that can be used to improve the drinking water quality of surface water sources in the Global South. The project is structured to allow students with different levels of expertise to collaborate, share knowledge, and create new knowledge. Because the need for clean water is urgent and the cost of implementing the technology is minimal, the development effort includes multiple tracks.
The project tasks evolve from semester to semester as we develop sustainable water treatment technologies. We maintain this wiki as an active repository of what we are learning to help transfer knowledge from semester to semester. We also encourage students to participate in the project for multiple semesters so there is continuity of team members to aid in the transfer of knowledge from semester to semester.
CEE 2550
Fall and Spring
Instructor: M.L. Weber-Shirk
No prerequisite
co-meeting with CEE 4550
CEE 2550 is available to all undergraduate students and can be used as an advisor-approved elective, or as an extra course.
Student teams conduct research, build working models, design full scale prototypes, create design algorithms, and create educational materials for technology transfer to improve drinking water quality in Honduras.
Students are required to attend two 50-minute meetings per week that are used to present project information, organize teams, present reports, meet with the instructor, and work on the team project.
Students in CEE 2550 will participate in an apprenticeship role on teams led by students in CEE 4550 or 5051/5052. They are expected to help with reporting and documentation, but will not be required to take on a leadership role. They are required to help write and/or edit the team's semester report, and reflect critically on their experience.
The first two weeks of the course are spent defining tasks and organizing teams. Students participate in problem definition, solution strategy, team formation, and task scheduling. Student teams write a project proposal early in the semester describing their approach to solving the research or design challenge. Teams present progress reports in the form of PowerPoint presentations and wiki-based reports twice per semester.
Midterm interviews with each student are required to discuss his/her contribution to the project. Final reports summarizing semester progress will be submitted by teams. The content of the final report is also presented to the class as an oral presentation using PowerPoint.
CEE 3090 Special Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering (var cr.)
Instructor: M.L. Weber-Shirk
No prerequisite
CEE 3090 allows students to work on the AguaClara project during the summer. Individual expectations and coursework will be decided on with faculty at the beginning of the summer. Depending on the student's previous involvement with AguaClara, CEE 3090 will be similar to either CEE 2550 or CEE 4550.
CEE 4550 Sustainable Water Supply Project (3 cr.)
Fall and Spring
Instructor: M.L. Weber-Shirk
Prerequisites CEE 4530 or CEE 4540
co-meeting with CEE 2550
CEE 4550 is available to third and fourth-year undergraduates and graduate students, and can be used as a Major Approved Elective or as a Design Course. (CEE 255 cannot.) Students can take both courses multiple semesters, but can only receive design credit and Major Approved Elective credit once for CEE 4550. Students in CEE 4550 are expected to take on a larger leadership role than students in CEE 2550.
Student teams conduct research, build working models, design full scale prototypes, create design algorithms, and create educational materials for technology transfer to improve drinking water quality in Honduras.
Students are required to attend two 50-minute meetings per week that are used to present project information, organize teams, present reports, meet with the instructor, and work on the team project.
The first two weeks of the course are spent defining tasks and organizing teams. Students participate in problem definition, solution strategy, team formation, and task scheduling. Student teams write a project proposal early in the semester describing their approach to solving the research or design challenge. Teams present progress reports in the form of PowerPoint presentations and wiki-based reports twice per semester.
Midterm interviews with each student are required to discuss his/her contribution to the project. Final reports summarizing semester progress will be submitted by teams. The content of the final report is also presented to the class as an oral presentation using PowerPoint.
CEE 4540 Small-Scale Sustainable Water Supplies (3 cr.)
Fall
Instructor: M.L. Weber-Shirk
Prerequisite CEE 3310 or permission of instructor
This course involves the design and analysis of small-scale systems that are appropriate for providing safe drinking water to the one billion underserved people. Students will work in teams to design sustainable supply and treatment systems. This will require an understanding of the major threats to public health as well as the constraints of implementing technologies in the Global South.
One of the goals of the course is to encourage creative thinking about solutions to the enormous challenge of providing everyone on the planet with safe drinking water. We will challenge the myth that this task can be accomplished by applying existing technologies and identify major technology gaps where better solutions are needed. Engineers are integral to challenge the existing assumptions and to create and document new sustainable solutions.
For more information, refer to the CEE 4540 Course Website.
CEE 5051/5052
CEE 5051/5052 are open to graduate students looking to fulfill design course requirements in the CEE department. Please contact Professor Weber-Shirk with any questions about this option.
Graduate Opportunities
Other Relevant Courses at Cornell
Latin American Studies Program
The LASP courses provides a mechanisms to receive Liberal Studies Distribution Credit for participating in the AguaClara project. Students who take LAT A 4010 in the Fall and who are selected to participate in the AguaClara January trip can receive 3 credits through LAT A 4940 in the Spring. LAT A 4940 will meet with LAT A 4010 for the first half of the spring semester. Note that we are still waiting for liberal studies distribution approval for these courses.
In the department of City and Regional Planning
Environmental Aspects of International Planning
Concrete Manifestations: The Political Ecology of Infra-structure in Developing Countries
Latin American Cities
Urban Transformations in the Global South
International Institutions
In the department of Development Sociology
International Development
In the department of Communication
Communications in Developing Nations