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SU students, faculty part of water purification effort in Ghana

 

Southern University students and faculty are part of a research effort to develop low-cost materials help to help provide sustainable water purification in Ghana.

The students and faculty are in the African country of Ghana for the next 30 days conducting research and developing means of improving drinking water in Ghana.

The effort is part of an International Research Experiences for Students $250,000 award from the National Science Foundation to the SU's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Office of Research and Strategic Initiatives.

Southern's participating students, include: Shola Falodun, a senior Urban Forestry major from New Orleans; Kristen Hypolite, a senior mechanical engineering major from Lake Charles, La.; Lamar Burton, a senior agricultural sciences major from Greensburg, La.; and Gabrielle Muhammad, a senior physics major from Baton Rouge.

Students from two other colleges are part of the project. They include Jacquelyn Ford, a Xavier University of New Orleans senior Biology major from Palmdale, Calif., and Kimberly Cribbs, a University of Arkansas, senior chemical engineering major from Pea Ridge, Ark.

SU faculty members participating, include, Principle Investigator of the project Dr Patrick Mensah, a professor of Mechanical Engineering; Dr. Fareed Dawan, a professor of Mechanical Engineering; Dr. Samuel Ibekwe, professor and Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and Bernice Ruth, an assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The students will concentrate on determining how best to remove an excess of naturally occurring fluoride, which can cause health problems, in ground and well water in the Bongo Region of northern Ghana.

The SU group will be part of a collaborative effort with the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) faculty and students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.

According to an NSF press release, the project will attempt to develop a low-cost, but effective composite material for sustainable water purification to ensure an effective, innovative and transformative approach to the concerns of the Global Impact of Sustainable Water Supply and Purification (GRA-SWP).

The project is also expected to raise the awareness about related, global water issues and the need and advantages of studying similar subject in a multidisciplinary and internationally collaborative environment.

 

(Pictured from left, Kimberly Cribbs, Gabrielle Muhammad, Lance Burton, Bernice Ruth, Dr. Patrick Mensah, Dr. Fareed Dawan, Shola Falodun, Jacquelyn Ford and Kristen Hypolite. Photo by John Oubre, Office of Media Relations)