ABE Students Part of Award-Winning Team

Published Jan 15, 2009

Three ag and bio engineering students, Maren Somers, Kyle Hegger and Cheryl Weyant, are part of an interdisciplinary team of University of Illinois engineering students who were awarded the Fourth Annual Environmental Protection Agency P3 grant of $75,000 for their project, "Sustainable Water Development Program for Rural Nigeria." Bruce Litchfield, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and assistant dean in the College of Engineering, is one of the faculty advisors for the group.

Weyant, who graduated from the Department last year, and Somers and Hegger, both master’s students, traveled to Nigeria in 2006 with the rest of their team to begin the first phase of the project. They spent a month working with the rural community of Adu Achi to create a sustainable water development program for the village, where children often walk more than two miles to a contaminated stream to collect water for their families. The award funds will be used to continue their efforts to develop a water management program and distribution system.

To read more about these students and their award-winning project, please click here.

News writer: Leanne Lucas

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