Hello! My name is Leanh Nguyen, and I am a rising junior at Rice University. I have just finished a week of my time at NEWT’s REU, and I had another amazing week with my mentors and peers.
On Tuesday, we started off with a meeting with Mr. Aaron Krupp, a member of Caminos de Aqua, an NGO based in Central Mexico whose goal is to provide adequate and affordable access to clean water for the residents there. Here, we were able to hear from Aaron about Caminos de Agua and its history with arsenic detection technologies, especially their surprising discovery of the colorimetric test strips’ inaccuracy from a fellow scientist and a tiny EPA disclosure.
Meeting with Caminos de Agua
With the context and information we received from Aaron, Naomi and I began to start building the Rodestat. Namely, we started construction of a Faraday Cage prototype using aluminum foil and a cardboard box to help reduce possible electrical noises that may affect the Rodeostat. However, we will need to do further testing to conclude the prototype’s effectiveness.
Faraday Cage Prototype
For the Rodeostat, I could only set up the preliminary Python checks as we were still waiting for some of the parts to arrive.
Lastly, we had a meeting with all of the mentors and students from UTEP to discuss and brainstorm our ideas and plans for Hueco Tanks Colonia. Once again, we were reminded of the importance of carefully analyzing the problem in terms of the present social, economic, and possibly political factors. In this case, for the residents of Hueco Tanks, the idea of simply constructing a water filter would not take into account the many factors at hand like the condition of the water storage tanks, the Pipas (water delivery trucks), or what the residents would really want and accept.
Meeting with UTEP mentors and students
Once again, thank Dr. Jorge Loyo, Dr. Silvia Chavez, and Dr. Eva Deemer for this amazing opportunity and for all of the guidance and knowledge they have given me. I hope we have another great week!
Thank you, Leanh! What happened to my head in the first photo?!