Summer 2024 begins. A group of Rice University civil and environmental engineering students are double-checking their packing lists and arranging rides to the airport. Their thoughts race as they prepare to leave Houston to study abroad.
CEE students Jordi de Jong, Nancy Martinez, and Gwyenth Perez land safely in Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world. They are amongst a small cohort of Rice engineering students participating in the International Summer Experience in Engineering Design (iSEED) program organized by the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK). Their instructors, Dr. Jorge Loyo and Dr. Deirdre Hunter, accompany them and respectively teach CEVE 314 Sustainable Water Treatment and ENGI 350 Needs Identification and Design. For the next month, Mexico will be their home away from home–one week in bustling Mexico City before traveling to the lush hillsides of San Cristóbal de las Casas in Southern Mexico.
Dr. Loyo wants his students to learn about the engineering principles that go into sustainable water treatment, especially for those in low-income and non-urban communities. More importantly, he also wants them to understand that engineers must also consider the social and cultural aspects of communities when creating engineering solutions.
“I want students to understand why many projects seeking to provide safe water to these communities routinely fail, and to identify how we can make these projects more sustainable,” says Loyo, a CEE instructor and the Associate Director of Education at the NEWT Center. Teaching the course in Mexico allows students to hear directly from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in this area, such as Isla Urbana, Cántaro Azul, and Olintlalli. “Students are learning directly from organizations working to bring safe drinking water to underserved communities, instead of reading about them from far away in Houston. I am eager for them to see firsthand the impact engineers can have on people’s lives, learn from people from different backgrounds, and experience new cultures.”
When the day’s scheduled activities finish, the instructors encourage students to venture out and explore the communities where they are living. Between lectures, visits with the various NGOs, and working with her design team, CEE junior, Jordi de Jong, is grateful that there’s still time to indulge in delicious restaurants and tour culturally significant sites. She is also thankful for her instructors’ guidance on solving problems and creating solutions for specific communities. “Dr. Loyo and Dr. Hunter have been invaluable in teaching Rice students how to work internationally with empathy and how to refine designs to meet community needs,” says de Jong. “To be able to see and experience the things we talked about in class — from water filters to NGO clients to infrastructure…Seeing firsthand how communities don’t have a limitless or even constant supply of safe drinking water helped me appreciate the experiments we were running to test for safety and potability.”
CEE junior, Nancy Martinez, is excited to do hands-on and real-world assignments outside of the traditional classroom’s online homework and worksheets. “The professors are supportive and inspiring, always motivating us to try different solutions than the ones we were accustomed to,” says Martinez. “It is an amazing opportunity to collaborate with other students in Mexico and foster amazing friendships. Because of iSEED Mexico, I have a deep appreciation for global engineering and have a new outlook on what I want to do with my academic career.”
“¡Buenos días!” Kind greetings and warm smiles welcome CEE senior, Gwyneth Perez at every turn. “Everyone is super nice and manners are very important in Mexican culture. From the big city of CDMX to San Cristóbal, everywhere we went, we were treated with kindness.” For Perez, seeing the hydrology concepts she learned at Rice come to life in communities in Mexico is revealing her role in the global community as an engineer solving problems like clean and sustainable water. “I understand that there are hundreds of thousands of people working, every day, worldwide to solve the hydrologic problems that come our way. Meeting the scientists who bring these amazing ideas to the table and then, as an engineer, to take these ideas and let them come to life is amazing.”
The month passes swiftly, and it is time to return to Houston. As the students and instructors lift off and look down upon the green valleys and soaring mountains, a deep gratitude settles upon them as they remember the delicious meals, enchanting views, and friendly people of San Cristóbal de las Casas and Mexico City.
“I really enjoyed the iSEED Mexico experience and found it incredibly rewarding both as an opportunity to explore a new country and culture and as a way to challenge myself academically. Both the professors and my peers on the trip were incredible. I gained so much from our month in Mexico. I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in a program like this,” says de Jong.
For Nancy Martinez, the trip to Mexico was eye-opening about her future as an engineer. “This trip was truly wonderful and transformative! It expanded my perspective of engineering and design far beyond what I’m accustomed to. Witnessing a completely different engineering approach was super refreshing and made me want to learn more every day.” She now wants to pursue a minor in Energy and Water Sustainability.
Dr. Loyo is proud of the work his students accomplished while in Mexico and is eager to see how this experience will shape who they are once they’re back on campus. “Traveling abroad is a great opportunity to engage with the world, especially for those of us interested in solving complex issues such as safe and sustainable water access for everyone. As engineers and scientists, we need to understand how our proposed solutions would work in the communities that they are intended for. Even more, we need to learn from those communities what the real issues are and how we can work on these solutions together, rather than imposing our views on them.”
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Dr. Loyo wants to thank the OEDK for organizing and sponsoring this trip as part of the iSEED program, and NEWT for supporting his participation in it. “I would also like to thank all the NGOs who are always eager to share their knowledge with us and set aside some of their very limited and valuable time to do so. Finally, I would like to thank the students who have participated in my class, both in Mexico and at Rice; I always learn a lot from them, and their feedback is invaluable to improve the course every semester.”
For student blogs about the experience click HERE and HERE.
CCE’s SSPEED Center has a Summer 2025 trip to Amsterdam and London. Please email Dr. Phil Bedient for more information.
To read more about CEE students studying abroad: “The Importance of Collaboration”: Civil and Environmental Engineering Students Deepen Learning and Build Community in Spain
