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about me
Name Katherine Kirby Neubert Birthday 09.13.87 Email katherineneubert@hotmail.com -- writer, jolter, aspiring photojournalist.
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alexis design the daily collegian the daily jolt the new york times wordswift |
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
What do engineering, well water and spending spring break in Kenya have in common? If you're not sure, just ask University of Massachusetts graduating senior Julie Gagen and she will tell you.President of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), Gagen is graduating May 24. Four days later, she will head to Kenya for six weeks. Gagen is a civil and environmental engineering major and this will be her third and longest trip since she's been at UMass. Gagen and four peers, accompanied by one professional advisor, have been traveling to the village of Namawanga, Kenya, working on a water project to help 3,000 people. Their first trip was during spring break of 2006 and their second in January 2007. In Kenya, Gagen and her peers work to create a treatment for hazardous waste sites and conduct investigations for cleaning dirty soil and water. After taking a water sample and figuring out what is wrong with the sample, the students develop solutions to help the people of the village. "One of the problems we were having in the village was that a bunch of cows would stand in and around the water that was supposed to be used for drinking," said Gagen. "Our first solution was to create a fence and a gate around the water so the cows couldn't get to it anymore. The second solution was to put a mound of dirt on top of the water so that nothing could get to it from above, and the third solution was to create a drainage system for it." These solutions are then taught to experts in the village so they can continue identifying and eliminating problems after Gagen and her group leave. One of the major problems in working in these villages is the economic situation. "It costs $20,000 to drill a well in Kenya, and people in that village only make $400 a year on salary," she said. Besides combating the costs of protecting water, EWB also puts together educational materials the people of the village can use as a resource library. "We are different than NGOs [non-governmental organizations] who come drill, leave and come back 10 years later to a disaster," added Gagen. "We are partly engineering, but more about community interacting. We help the community and the quality of life." Fundraising is the only thing that pays for EWB's trips to Kenya and elsewhere. Without the fundraising, students would have to pay out of their pocket. Yesterday's "Skip-A-Meal" at the dining Commons donated a percentage to this specific cause. Another big donator is Rotary International, who pays for drilling costs in the village. This summer's trip to Kenya alone will cost about $40,000, according to Gagen's estimates. Once they arrive in Kenya, the group is picked up by a local guide and they stay overnight at a hotel in Nairobi. "We always have a translator just in case, even though they are taught English in school," Gagen said. The second day, the group is driven to Namawanga, where they again stay in a hotel. Two meals a day are included at the hotel, while they eat one in the village. Gagen and her group reimburse the people of the village at the end of their trip for the cost of food. During her spare time, Gagen goes to high schools in the area to educate them about engineering and her experiences with EWB. "I'm so impressed with those kids involved in EWB in high school," she said. After Gagen's Kenya trip, she will begin working for Camp, Dresser and McKee, Inc., in Cambridge, who has a partnership with EWB nationally, while she continues to get her professional license, which will take about five years. Camp, Dresser and McKee teach theory and design, while subjecting employees to a lot of fieldwork. "I'll be out there in a hard hat and boots taking water samples with biologists and chemists," Gagen said. She first became interested in the field of engineering after a science teacher at Rangeley Lakes Regional School, where she graduated with 12 other people, thought she might like it and helped her get involved in activities. "I knew I could do it," said Gagen. "Not a lot of women do it and I thought, 'What the heck?'" --- *You can view this article here. "Kat" [
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