Increasingly undergraduate students are interested in cross-cultural international experiences, particularly those that validate concepts they learn in the class room. Environmental issues and their related influence on human health in developing countries including sanitation, and air and water pollution are key factors diminishing both quality of life and life expectancy. With this in mind, my research group involves undergraduate students both from Duke, and our collaborators institutions both in the US and abroad, in our research activities. In addition, we have developed a course that addresses these issues by creating an interactive environment between students and faculty members at Duke and collaborative educational institutions abroad. We have conducted projects in a variety of international locations including Bolivia, India, and China. We have found that by rallying around environmental issues, students from around the World are catalyzed to work together and learn not just about science and engineering, but about how to work together in teams, communicate with one another, and accomplish important work.
Highlighted peer-reviewed publications
Vreeland, H., Norris, C., Shum L., Pokuri, J., Shannon, E., Raina, A., Tripathi, A., Borse, D., Patel, A., Dixit, P., Bergin, M.H., Stoner B.R., Collaborative efforts to investigate emissons from residential and municipal trash burning in India, RTI Press, doi.org/10.3768, 2018.