Research Opportunities at Tufts
With all the newly accepted Tufts students looking to make their final college decisions, I started to think of what blogs might be helpful in making…
Hello everyone! This summer I'm going to be doing a series of blogs showcasing some Tufts Engineers doing cool stuff in Boston! This will be a 4 part blog series showcasing research, internships and tufts programs happening during the summer! Today's blog is on Summer Scholars Research. Summer scholars is a program that funds rising juniors and seniors to pursue and independent research project with an original topic of their choosing. They are awarded a $3500 stipend with an additional $1000 for research. I interviewed two engineers this summer to learn more about their research!
Mateo Galeano was born in Colombia but he moved to Queens when he was 5 years old. At Tufts he is a Civil Engineer involved with the Center for STEM Diversity's STEM Ambassadors program, S Factor the all male acapella group and the Latino Center as a peer mentor. This summer is his first time doing research with Tufts Summer Scholars. In his free time, he says "I just chill".
Hi Mateo! Tell me about your your summer scholars project!
Its more of an environmental engineering project. I work with Professor Daniele Lantagne, looking at chlorine water, and rejections in its taste and odor in refugee and IDP camps. In these emergency settings, people tend to get their water from a centralized source then treat it with chlorine. With chlorine, there is a certain threshold where if you put too much chlorine it is not safe. However, we're looking at instead when chlorine levels elicit a negative reaction from humans in terms of taste and odor. This is much more of an objective threshold, lower than the "safe" threshold. We want to determine this level because there is no point having regulations if people do not want to drink the treated water with lower doses of chlorine.
How did you get involved with Summer Scholars?
I had been having frustrations with Civil Engineering. I used to envision myself as an architect, building homes but at the time I felt like my classes weren't compatible with social justice and humanitarian activity. Kristin from the Center for STEM Diversity connected me to Danielle Lantagne, an environmental engineering professor who focuses on water sanitation intervention in developing countries and emergency contexts. Danielle has a lot of projects that students hop in and out of and she was open to making a plan with me. We talked about summer scholars, scholarships, grants and even during a senior thesis. I'm really trying to run with this project. It is really interesting and I would love to see it through, travel to the camps, well see! Right now we're in Part 1 and I'm happy with it for now!
That’s awesome! What are the next steps for the chlorine research? What is Part 1, 2.. 3..?
Right now I'm doing all the literature review on chlorine thresholds and a little bit of lab work. Part 2 would be site visits and testing with chlorine. Our goal is to go to these camps to figured out how thresholds differ with different cultural contexts and perspectives. Part 3 would be gathering all the findings and conclusions and publishing a paper!
Your own paper! You're a senior now, what do you see yourself doing in the future?
I still think that civil engineering feels more detached to humanitarian work than environmental engineering but I like how at tufts the two departments intertwine. I don’t know, Civil engineering can lead me to things I want to do. I still want the knowledge of building homes and architecture. I want to build infrastructures in places that don't have them. Like thinking of my home country, its developing but It still has some ways to go. I'd love to be a part of that development.
Stay tuned for Engineers in the Summer: RESEARCH Part 2, INTERNSHIPS and BEST Scholars!
With all the newly accepted Tufts students looking to make their final college decisions, I started to think of what blogs might be helpful in making…
Creating a schedule for the first time can be a daunting task, especially for a first year engineering student. There are so many aspects to consider…
It’s Monday everyone! I’ve just spent the weekend studying and engaging in Boston’s gastronomy, but now it’s time to start the week. I truly hope…