Global Health Engineering

Lecturer of undergraduate students, Bachelor thesis coordinator, supervisor of Masters and PhD students, researcher

My doctoral research examined the impact of cash transfers on toilet use. Specifically, I investigated different payment structures to compensate households for urine production; this allowed me to estimate both toilet use fluctuations and price sensitivity.Key achievements:- Baseline and follow-up survey over 1400 urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT)-owning households in 9 communities in rural eThekwini, South Africa.- Baseline and follow-up measurement of urine production (1… Show more My doctoral research examined the impact of cash transfers on toilet use. Specifically, I investigated different payment structures to compensate households for urine production; this allowed me to estimate both toilet use fluctuations and price sensitivity.Key achievements:- Baseline and follow-up survey over 1400 urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT)-owning households in 9 communities in rural eThekwini, South Africa.- Baseline and follow-up measurement of urine production (1 month per household), as a proxy for toilet use- Design and operation of an incentivized urine-collection system with over 6000 unique visits - Choice experiment design and analysis using multinomial and mixed-logit methods- Cost-effectiveness analysis to determine optimal payment price and participation (toilet use)- Impact evaluation to determine key predictors of toilet use and participationSupervised by Prof. Isabel Guenther Show less

I am currently involved in the development and filming of a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) titled “Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies”. The course has been developed on Coursera in collaboration with EPF Lausanne. The 5 week will begin in September, 2014 and I will be presenting 6 lectures related to sanitation planning. The class is free and can be found here (and on the link below): https://class.coursera.org/sanitation-001Other teaching:Lecturer… Show more I am currently involved in the development and filming of a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) titled “Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies”. The course has been developed on Coursera in collaboration with EPF Lausanne. The 5 week will begin in September, 2014 and I will be presenting 6 lectures related to sanitation planning. The class is free and can be found here (and on the link below): https://class.coursera.org/sanitation-001Other teaching:Lecturer and Organizer of three-day short course for municipal staff: “Training of Trainers in the Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies”, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Peru. 29 June-2 July, 2011, and Managua, Nicaragua. 4 July-7 July, 2011.Seasonal lecturer: “Sanitary engineering in developing countries”, Masters course, EPFL, Fall Semester, 2009, 2010; and ETHZ, Spring Semester, 2008, 2009, 2010.Invited Lecturer: Training Course for Engineers and Scientists. “Water and Sanitation Engineering: From Emergency towards Development”, Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries Université de Neuchatel and ICRC. May 2, 2010.Invited Lecturer: “Sanitation Systems and Technologies in Developing Countries”, Engineers Without Boarders. 28-29 May 2009. Padova, Italy. Invited lecturer,: “Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries” International Labour Organization (ILO) Training Centre.18-19 November, 2008. Turin, Italy. Show less

1. The goal of the Household-Centred Environmental Sanitation (HCES) program was to develop, test, and revise guidelines to assist communities and sanitation planners in identifying the best combinations of sanitation technologies for their context (La Europa, Costa Rica; Waruku, Kenya; Chang’ombe, Tanzania).Key achievements:- Writing of the “Compendium of Sanitation Technologies and Systems” for use in workshops and meetings- Leading of community workshops in which… Show more 1. The goal of the Household-Centred Environmental Sanitation (HCES) program was to develop, test, and revise guidelines to assist communities and sanitation planners in identifying the best combinations of sanitation technologies for their context (La Europa, Costa Rica; Waruku, Kenya; Chang’ombe, Tanzania).Key achievements:- Writing of the “Compendium of Sanitation Technologies and Systems” for use in workshops and meetings- Leading of community workshops in which participants reviewed and discussed possible options in terms of acceptance, cost and responsibility- Developing and testing participatory tools for use in Community and Experts workshops- Documenting of process and results, and the development of a revised planning tool: “Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation Planning (CLUES)”2. As Co-PI of the Struvite from Urine in Nepal (STUN) project, I developed and supervised a multi-year research strategy to investigate the feasibility of recovering struvite from a peri-urban farming village in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Struvite is a safe, bioavailable fertilizer which can be precipitated from urine with only the addition of magnesium. Key achievements:- developing and testing a locally-built struvite reactor, filter and drying mechanisms- designing and testing of struvite effluent as feedstock for drip-irrigation- constructing and testing a rotating biological contactor for use in treating struvite effluent- organizing a urine bank for use by local farmers and toilet users- analyzing the financial feasibility of the urine bank and various nutrient recovery options3. The “National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South” was a multi-disciplinary, multi-national research network. As the Institutional Partner (IP) Coordinator for Sandec, I was responsible for the knowledge management of the Sandec and partner research within the “Health and Environmental Sanitation” Work Package. Show less

As a Masters student I worked as a researcher in the Engineering Department at Eawag:-Designing and executing laboratory research related to the composition of urine, the accurate measurement of important constituents in urine, kinetics of struvite recovery from urine, and the transformation of urine-derived struvite into calcium phosphate -Modelling of equilibrium experiments to validate laboratory dataSupervised by Dr. Kai Udert

I was hired to assist with all aspects of developing a two-week Water, Waste and Sanitation Module for 30 students participating the ‘Masters of Public Health Program Applying an Ecosystem Approach’ program. Key achievements:- Developing a course structure in collaboration with colleagues from Ecuador (Centro de Estudios y Asesoría en Salud -CEAS), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica-INSP), and UBC- Researching and compiling essential resources in English and… Show more I was hired to assist with all aspects of developing a two-week Water, Waste and Sanitation Module for 30 students participating the ‘Masters of Public Health Program Applying an Ecosystem Approach’ program. Key achievements:- Developing a course structure in collaboration with colleagues from Ecuador (Centro de Estudios y Asesoría en Salud -CEAS), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica-INSP), and UBC- Researching and compiling essential resources in English and Spanish to prepare students for topics in classical and alternative water treatment, sanitation, and solid waste management with an emphasis on health implications and outcomes- Responsible for developing, planning and overseeing quantitative field work component of the course including instruction on SODIS and microbiological analysis Show less

Funded by the (now defunct) CIDA, I had the opportunity to work with the NGO Atzin, in Tlamacazapa, Guerrero, Mexico.Key achievements:- Training of local boys and men (ages 15-65) in construction and operation of Dry Toilet and Tank (water harvesting) units; specifically, construction skills, basic measurement and calculation, team work, time management, hygiene promotion- Management of construction and training program: ordering, purchasing and allocation of material and… Show more Funded by the (now defunct) CIDA, I had the opportunity to work with the NGO Atzin, in Tlamacazapa, Guerrero, Mexico.Key achievements:- Training of local boys and men (ages 15-65) in construction and operation of Dry Toilet and Tank (water harvesting) units; specifically, construction skills, basic measurement and calculation, team work, time management, hygiene promotion- Management of construction and training program: ordering, purchasing and allocation of material and human resources on a day-to-day basis depending on availability of water, workers, resources- Trouble-shooting, evaluation, and iterative re-design of DT/T units- Collaboration with stakeholders (families, health promoters, trainees) to design suitable location-specific water and sanitation solutions that address the financial, space, and time limitations of the partners- Educating health promoters, families and school children about the use and maintenance of sanitation units- Training of women in water sampling of 7 local water sources for heavy metal, nutrients in the context of hostile water politics Show less