Professor Kirshen's thoughts on the EPIIC/WSSS collaboration

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"I appreciate all EPIIC's help in assembling the speakers for the water part of the Oil and Water Symposium and our workshop. But I am most grateful for the opportunity to participate in an EPIIC Symposium, which has always been a goal.

While all the speakers were first rate, I was most impressed by the students. They are clearly some of the best students at Tufts; naturally inquisitive, internally motivated, driven to make a difference in global conditions, and polite yet firm in questioning. One I got to know particularly well after an introduction through EPIIC was Adam Koeppel. I became one of his advisors on his undergraduate ME thesis on the use of indigenous clay pipes for irrigation. Adam was a joy to work with, his thesis received high honors, he won the DeFlorez Prize in Human Engineering, and we are investigating further testing in Burkina Faso in January.

What could be a better outcome! EPIIC and Tufts certainly gave him an opportunity to develop his passion.

Working with EPIIC has also resulted in other useful contacts for the WSSS Program including some private water suppliers, a UN official, and a meeting with Andrew Natsios, Head of US AID. These opportunities arose because of the stellar reputation of your program.

I hope WSSS and EPIIC have the opportunity to collaborate in the future."

- Paul H. Kirshen
Director, Water: Systems, Science, and Society (WSSS) Research and Graduate Education Program; Research Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering