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Alumni Spotlight: Prateek Shrestha builds technology to raise awareness about Nepal’s poor air quality

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:26:22 +0000

Alumni Spotlight: Prateek Shrestha builds technology to raise awareness about Nepal’s poor air quality Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/02/2021 - 10:26

Rachel Leuthauser

Prateek Shrestha (PhDMechEngr’18)

A University of Colorado Boulder alumnus is developing a program to raise awareness about the air quality in Nepal, a country facing some of the most dire impacts from air pollution in the world. The program starts with a single air-monitoring drone that Prateek Shrestha (PhDMechEngr’18) hopes will inspire citizen scientists to build similar technology.

Shrestha, who received his PhD in mechanical engineering from CU Boulder in 2018, grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal. He watched the city’s air quality deteriorate over the past three decades as the population boomed.

Nepal’s air quality is considered the third worst in the world. It’s ranked 178 out of 180 countries, according to Yale’s 2020 Environmental Performance Index. In Asia, Kathmandu is rated as one of the most polluted cities.

“There’s a plethora of problems when you look at a place like Nepal,” Shrestha said. “Originally coming from there, I always felt like I needed to give back to the community. With the lessons that I learned at CU Boulder and the expertise that I built here, I want to contribute however I can.”

Shrestha’s idea to give back begins by educating people about the state of Nepal’s air quality. To accomplish that, Shrestha partnered with Nepal-based satellite company ORION Space to engineer a versatile aerial-monitoring instrument that maps local air pollutants.

The locally developed device is a low-cost sensor box that detects the pollutants, attached to a drone. Shrestha said the sensor box itself is easy to build, with some basic knowledge of ‘do-it-yourself’ electronics. Shrestha then collaborated with academics from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Engineering in Kathmandu, who provided the drone.

Shrestha said he expects the adaptable sensor box and drone combination could take air quality measurements at any location within a three-dimensional space, permitted by local regulations.

A look inside the air-quality sensor box used for the aerial-monitoring device.

“Because the system is so small, we’re talking about one tiny drone with limited range and endurance carrying this instrument around, we are only focusing on hyper-local mapping for right now,” Shrestha said. “Which means if there’s a road with a lot of traffic blowing dark diesel exhaust, we can focus on that region of the city.”

The air quality monitoring device is still in development. Shrestha said his team is optimizing the sensor box and testing the drone flights, carrying the sensor box as a payload.

Once the aerial-monitoring instrument launches, Shrestha intends for it to be a demonstration for how the technology can be used. The pilot program will also be proof that other people can build similar devices in Nepal, he added. That is where Shrestha’s proposed network of citizen scientists comes in.

Amateur researchers can build their own instruments based on low-cost sensors, take measurements and share the data publicly. The idea is inspired by people in the United States, and around the world, who are getting involved in air quality and weather monitoring from their own homes.

Shrestha pointed to Weather Underground as an example. It is a company that receives a lot of its data from consumer-grade science equipment in people’s backyards. Shrestha said it’s a great tool for increasing public awareness.

“There is no general involvement of citizen science that is easily accessible to students and academics who want to do their own research on a very low budget in Nepal,” Shrestha explained. “I felt that if I could take this low-cost sensor technology to Nepal, we could build local capacity in citizen science and at the same time, get a sense of which parts of the city are more polluted and which are less.”

Technology used to develop the drone that carries the sensor box.

Shrestha envisions a versatile platform that locals in Kathmandu developed. He wants citizens to use the technology, know how to maintain and repair the instruments if something breaks down, and have the expertise to expand the platform’s capabilities if a need arises.

The data could be utilized in various ways, Shrestha said. He anticipates it will be collected to create air pollution maps that show air quality problems in certain parts of a city or town. Those measurements could galvanize small intervention steps, like watering a dusty road to suppress pollutants in the air. The data could also encourage regulatory agencies to take action.

“The data could be further analyzed to show how many people are getting impacted by the pollutants and highlight the severity of those impacts,” Shrestha said. “An outcome of this could be to even urge the local government to take necessary steps, like paving and repairing roads in specific locations, and provide supporting data.”

With the aerial-monitoring instrument still in development, Shrestha is looking for more collaborators and funding. CU Boulder faculty and students should reach out to Shrestha if they are interested in working on this project and making a difference.

“One of my visions is looking at academic research as a means to utilize technology to address real world problems, whether that’s in a developed or developing part of the world” Shrestha said. “If the problem stays the same despite us having knowledge about it for 20 years, it’s meaningless.”

Shrestha is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Integrated Building Performance Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The air-monitoring drone project is Shrestha’s volunteer activity and is not affiliated with the laboratory.

ME alumnus Prateek Shrestha has developed an aerial-monitoring sensor that will help educate people on mapping air pollutants in Nepal.

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Air Quality Inquiry project extends from rural Colorado into Mongolia

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:54:18 +0000

Air Quality Inquiry project extends from rural Colorado into Mongolia Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2020 - 10:54

Oksana Schuppan

For the past three years, Air Quality Inquiry (AQIQ) has been reaching K-12 students across rural Colorado, teaching them to conduct their own air quality research with affordable sensors developed by Professor Michael Hannigan. This year, AQIQ Education Director Daniel Knight decided to mix things up. He and his team extended the program across the globe to reach Public Lab Mongolia, a nonprofit whose mission is to make data available to the Mongolian public.

Above: Mechanical engineering graduate student Evan Coffey teaches partners in Mongolia about the AQIQ Pods during his trip to Mongolia in November 2019. Photo credit: Enkhtungalag (Tunga) Chuluunbaatar.
Top: View of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in November 2019. Photo credit: Evan Coffey.

When Public Lab Mongolia learned of AQIQ, they were determined to adopt a similar model so that high school students in Mongolia affected by poor air quality from burning coal to heat households could learn more about the science behind it. In spring 2020, they traveled to CU Boulder and signed a partnership agreement with CU Boulder Provost Russell Moore. They agreed to form a new chapter of AQIQ at the National University of Mongolia.

Knight said he is excited to see the impact of their newest partnership in Mongolia in addition to continued work with five rural high schools on Colorado's Western Slope and three rural high schools on the High Plains in Northeastern Colorado.

As part of the program, a mechanical engineering course at CU Boulder, Project-Based Learning in Rural Schools was developed to equip college students with the skills needed for working with high school students to develop an air quality project of their own. A similar model will be implemented at the National University of Mongolia. College students will learn to use Pods in their first semester, and their second semester will give them an opportunity to teach and mentor younger students who will be designing their own air quality experiments.

Before travel restrictions came about as a result of COVID-19, the full AQIQ team had planned an in-person training that would take place during the summer with Public Lab Mongolia and the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. Since prior plans were no longer an option, alumni of the Project-Based Learning in Rural Schools course at CU Boulder stepped up and taught the AQIQ curriculum remotely despite the 15-hour time difference. Public Lab Mongolia was able to use the Pods they had taken home following their visit to CU Boulder earlier in the year. As part of their training, they gained experience by completing an AQIQ research project studying automobiles and public transportation in Ulaanbaatar.

Civil engineering graduate student Britta Bergstrom.

One of the CU student mentors who helped with their training was Britta Bergstrom, an MS student studying civil engineering and pursuing a teacher’s licensure through the School of Education’s Post-Bac Licensure Program. Bergstrom taught partners at Public Lab Mongolia a module which explored how to design an AQIQ research project. Bergstrom's involvement with AQIQ is captured in her responses to the questions below.

Why did you get involved with AQIQ?

I saw the AQIQ program would allow me to combine my passion for teaching, engineering, and travel, and I quickly emailed Dr. Knight to discuss enrollment. What made me want to stay involved was a combination of a variety of things including the welcoming and easy-going faculty, an opportunity to travel, a lighter workload and most importantly, the opportunity to get into a classroom and teach.

Describe the AQIQ course, Project-Based Learning in Rural Schools.

In the fall, we spend each week simulating what we will be teaching in the spring, and by the end of the fall semester, we go to our assigned schools once for a chance to meet and engage with our K-12 students through an ice breaker game. Then, in the spring, mentor-teacher pairs visit their schools a handful of times to teach four different themes: an introduction to air quality, an exploration of combustion, how to design a research project, and how to interpret and present data. The lessons end with a poster symposium, which allows the students to present their air quality research and the data they collected. These projects explore everything from the difference in volatile organic compound amounts in cologne versus perfume to how much carbon dioxide an old truck outputs versus a new hybrid car.

How has AQIQ inspired interdisciplinary collaboration?

AQIQ's partners in Mongolia conduct an experiment using an AQIQ Pod to study automobiles and public transportation in Ulaanbaatar as part of their summer training. Photo credit: Enkhtungalag (Tunga) Chuluunbaatar.

I am pursuing an MS in civil engineering and a teacher’s licensure through the School of Education’s Post-Bac Licensure Program. This course was the perfect intersection between my areas of study. When I joined the class, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my classmates represented a variety of educational backgrounds. This course is appealing to students with a variety of passions, including teaching, environmental issues, research and study design and global engineering. This ultimately creates a very enriching culture within the class, because despite students taking the class for different reasons, there must be collaboration between students with different interests in order to teach the younger students.

Looking ahead, what excites you about AQIQ?

This coming year we are broadening the diversity of educational backgrounds of students involved by reaching out to non-engineering programs such as the School of Education and the Environmental Sciences Program. Students in this class do not need to have background knowledge in air quality, but they do need to have a basic understanding of how research projects are conducted and be excited to work with middle or high school students. As this program moves forward, I’m personally most excited to see the course continue to connect departments across the University of Colorado Boulder, as well as a way to connect universities and schools across the world. We’re seeing this already with our Public Lab Mongolia partnership, and I think there is high potential to work with other non-governmental organizations and schools globally in the future.

What did you learn from your experience training Public Lab Mongolia this summer?

Working with Public Lab Mongolia this summer gave me my first opportunity to practice remote training, which is closely tied to remote teaching and is already proving helpful in my teaching courses this fall. Specifically, I was able to practice presenting a powerpoint and giving explanations over Zoom, as well as how to effectively brainstorm remotely as a group. I was also able to increase my global mindset and experience by learning about Mongolia! During our first meeting, we learned about the air quality and environmental challenges in Mongolia and got to experience the language as all of the materials were translated into Mongolian. Then, partway through the summer, one of the lead mentors, Tunga, gave us an impromptu lesson on Mongolian culture where we learned about traditional Mongolian wrestling, festivals and food. I love learning about different cultures around the globe, so this was a very meaningful experience for me.

For three years, Air Quality Inquiry has been reaching K-12 students across rural Colorado. This year, Daniel Knight and his team extended the program across the globe to reach Public Lab Mongolia, a nonprofit whose mission is to make data available to the Mongolian public.

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Self-guided design project turns into an opportunity to save lives

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 14:47:43 +0000

Self-guided design project turns into an opportunity to save lives Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/16/2020 - 08:47

Oksana Schuppan

CU Boulder engineering student Adrian Gutierrez designed an automated bag valve mask with the potential to help those affected by coronavirus in Mexico

Adrian Gutierrez, a rising senior pursuing CU Boulder's Engineering Plus program with an emphasis in mechanical engineering and a concentration in engineering management.

Rising Engineering Plus senior Adrian Gutierrez has successfully developed an automated bag valve mask, a device he hopes will help those with coronavirus in Mexico, his home for 18 years.

A bag valve mask, sometimes referred to as a self-inflating bag ventilator, is a handheld device that assists patients struggling to breathe. A BVM is typically used for short periods of time – like during transportation in an ambulance – because it requires manual compression for air to be pumped into a patient’s lungs. An automated device works on its own and can be programmed to provide consistent pressure and volume of air for any patient.

An automated BVM is not meant to replace a ventilator, but it is helpful for someone with coronavirus whose symptoms are not yet critical or who can’t access immediate hospital care, Gutierrez said.

“The goal is not to replace the ventilator,” said Gutierrez. “Our goal is to figure out a way to make a BVM faster and easier to work with.”

When CU Boulder transitioned to remote learning during spring 2020, a hands-on mechanical engineering course in component design was one of many classes affected by the inability to gather and exchange material in person.

While student teams are ordinarily tasked in this class with developing vehicles powered by drills, coronavirus called for a new approach, including the option for students to complete a self-guided project of their choice.

"The campus shutdown meant the elimination of the hands-on project for component design, but Adrian found a way to complete a meaningful hands-on project that applied the key concepts from the course," said Adrian's instructor, Teaching Professor Derek Reamon.

Above: View of the linear actuator that compresses the automated bag valve mask to simulate breathing.
Top: Automated bag valve mask prototype designed by Adrian Gutierrez and a team of engineers at Kopar, an industrial automation company.

Gutierrez began his work on the automated BVM upon returning to Mexico to live with his family during the peak of the pandemic in the U.S. In Mexico, the pandemic was still on the rise with forecasts pointing to a surge in coronavirus cases in early June.

“We’re seeing a shortage of ventilators and even after the peak, there will still be a need,” said Gutierrez. “We can help the people who really need the ventilators get them by providing the automated BVM to those who are not in critical need.”

Knowing this, Gutierrez worked diligently in partnership with a team of six professional engineers at Kopar, a Mexican industrial automation company, to execute as quickly as possible. The team includes head engineer Antonio Cardoza, application engineer Edgar Gonzalez, project facilitator Jimena Gutierrez, application engineer Ivan Hernandez, Siemens specialist Edgardo Martin, and CAD engineer Yamileth Reyes. In just two weeks, Gutierrez’s design and working prototype were complete.

“What we did was mount it with a linear actuator going up and down,” Gutierrez said.

This allowed for a constant flow of air and adjustment parameters like number of breaths per minute, volume of air, and a pause between inhale and exhale.

“At the time, I was also taking a course through CU Boulder in fluid dynamics, so as we were figuring out settings that would allow for a certain number of breaths per minute, I was using theoretical flow analysis concepts to troubleshoot,” said Gutierrez.

Gutierrez said another important feature is the screen interface, designed for a medical professional to learn in just 15 minutes. There are three presets: one for infants, one for children, and one for adults, allowing for quick care even when little is known about the patient.

“You can turn it on and have someone surviving,” said Gutierrez. “When a medical professional knows more, they can customize the settings further.”

Flow, pressure and temperature sensors make this possible.

Gutierrez said his passion for serving his community began in middle school. When he realized he had access to the parts for an automated BVM, he was again determined to help.

“I said, we need to do this if we can. Why don’t we give it a shot? Hopefully, we do get it out there, but if not, we tried,” he said. "The automated BVM we’ve developed is also not for profit. We just want to help. If it’s replicated anywhere else, that would be nice."

He said some people will get sick and not have the money to have a ventilator, so a low-cost option is important.

In Mexico, Gutierrez and his team continue to work on the device, troubleshooting and fine-tuning to ensure it will work reliably and keep people safe. At this point, it is ready to be replicated if needed, including all software. Gutierrez said he hopes the device will one day make it to hospitals where it has the potential to save lives.

[video:https://youtu.be/QrHB6Rq7riY]Demonstration of the automated bag valve mask as number of breaths per minute, volume of air and a pause between inhale and exhale are adjusted.

Rising Engineering Plus senior Adrian Gutierrez successfully developed an automated bag valve mask, a device he hopes will help those with coronavirus in Mexico, his home for 18 years.

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Outstanding Student Q&A: Mohammed Alwakeel, Outstanding Undergraduate for International Engagement

Anonymous — Fri, 08 May 2020 14:10:00 +0000

Outstanding Student Q&A: Mohammed Alwakeel, Outstanding Undergraduate for International Engagement Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/08/2020 - 08:10

Outstanding Undergraduate for International Engagement Mohammed Alwakeel

Mohammed Alwakeel is a mechanical engineering student being awarded an Outstanding Undergraduate for International Engagement Award from the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. Learn more about him and his accomplishments in the Q&A below.

Mohammed Alwakeel at the Kurobe Dam in Japan as part of the Misk Global Leadership Program at the University of Tokyo.

Share about your background and what led you to study engineering.

Searching for my passion has been a long journey. It started in elementary school, and I still have not reached my final destination. The process of elimination is what helped me find my passion. In high school, I was involved in different activities, such as summer programs, national physics Olympiad, and I conducted research at a local university. These experiences combined with my love for physics and math helped me eliminate what I was not interested in. Through reading about the different fields of study, talking to professors and visiting universities, I found that mechanical engineering was the best fit for me.

What does the award you are receiving mean to you?

I am honored to be named an Outstanding Undergraduate for International Engagement. This recognition is a motivation for me to keep being engaged internationally.

Share an accomplishment from your time at CU Boulder that you are proud of.

The accomplishment that I am proud of the most is how much I have grown since freshman year, both academically and personally. CU Boulder gave me the tools and skills to think and execute my ideas, and I am proud that I used these tools and skills to grow.

How have you gotten involved throughout your college career?

I have been part of different organizations on campus, such as CU International, CU Gold and the Saudi Students Association. I also had an internship at the University of Tokyo. I learned from these experiences how to work with people from different backgrounds and be open to ideas that are different from my own. Getting out of my comfort zone and expressing myself in a different language were my biggest challenges, but I was rewarded with meeting great people and making long-lasting friendships.

What do you plan to pursue post-graduation?

After my graduation, I am going back to Saudi Arabia to work in a petrochemical company.

What is the impact you hope to have on the world?

I hope that I can be part of making the world a better place through STEM.

Have you received any other awards/honors?

My business capstone project won first place in the shark tank competition.

Any closing remarks?

I would like to thank my parents, family and friends for their constant support and encouragement. I would also like to thank SABIC for sponsoring me and giving me the opportunity to study abroad.

Mohammed Alwakeel is being awarded an Outstanding Undergraduate for International Engagement Award from the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. Check out his Q&A to learn more.

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Catching rainwater in Rwanda, student spends summers with Engineers Without Borders

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2019 22:19:11 +0000

Catching rainwater in Rwanda, student spends summers with Engineers Without Borders Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/07/2019 - 16:19

Oksana Schuppan

Meet Curtis Gile, Department of Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Graduate for International Engagement

Curtis Gile and Engineers Without Borders teammates stand at the base of a rainwater catchment system that they designed and built in Rwanda.

Curtis Gile and teammate, Nicola van den Heever spend time with locals in Rwanda.

“What’s amazing about engineering is you can literally create something that changes lives,” said mechanical engineering graduate Curtis Gile.

Though Gile grew up in Denver, not far from CU Boulder, his involvement with Engineers Without Borders led him to travel nearly 8,500 miles to Rwanda where he developed a system for collecting clean water. It also earned him mechanical engineering’s Outstanding Graduate for International Engagement award.

“There’s no better way to integrate with a community than by working alongside them,” Gile said. “When I returned to Rwanda for a second time, the friends I had made during my previous visit ran to see me.”

Engineers Without Borders, which started at CU Boulder 17 years ago, works alongside developing communities around the world, completing engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and equip leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

Along with his teammate, Nicola van den Heever and mentor, Travis Greiman, Gile built rainwater catchment systems, designed to collect water from the roofs of large sheds. Rainwater is relatively clean, but the team treated it with bleach and developed methods for keeping out debris.

Gile said it has been amazing to see the locals change their perceptions around drinking water. Because of disease, they were fearful, but when Gile returned for a second time, he saw people had created their own versions of what Engineers Without Borders had built.

“The best thing that can happen is that the locals replicate what we’ve designed,” said Gile. “This means we’ve succeeded in making it easy to copy.”

An important focus for Gile has been ensuring that designs are sustainable. Recently, he has focused on local sourcing of materials, using wood instead of steel so the Rwandans could repair the catchment systems at lower costs without help from Engineers Without Borders.

“We listened closely to the locals, because they are the ones who will be living with our designs,” Gile said. “When locals disagreed with our recommendations, my mentor reminded me that people have known how to build things for hundreds years; only recently have we known why they work.”

Gile said he learned you will never have all the information you need, there’s no such thing as double-checking too many times and that it’s important that everyone is made to feel part of the same goal.

Beyond his degree in mechanical engineering, Gile has also been inspired by his time in Rwanda to pursue a second degree in economics.

“After seeing how a country can go from one of the worst genocides in the world to being a clean, safe place, I wanted to learn more about how countries develop,” Gile said. “This way, maybe one day I can affect even greater change.”

In support of his economics degree, Gile interned in Washington, D.C., with Sen. Michael Bennett where he determined optimal ways to finance paid family leave.

Gile will graduate in May 2019 before moving to Chicago where he will work for Techedge, an international consulting firm.

Gile said his experience working internationally while at CU will only prepare him for what lies ahead.

“The world is only going to get smaller,” Gile said.

Curtis Gile was selected as the Spring 2019 Department of Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Graduate for International Engagement. He spent two summers developing rainwater catchment systems in Rwanda with Engineers Without Borders. In May 2019, he will graduate with degrees in mechanical engineering and economics.

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