Increasing Global Education Opportunities for Engineering Students: Pilot Collaborative International Project Studying Coffee Wastewater Treatment

Full Paper This paper describes a pilot collaborative international project studying the treatment of coffee wastewater treatment. Seattle University (SU) and the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) want to expand global engagement opportunities for students and faculty. Additionally, the Office of Global Engagement and CSE aim to develop partnerships with the members of the International Association of Jesuit Engineering Schools (IAJES). However, challenges exist for both students and faculty to participate in global programs. Students face multiple barriers, including potential impacts on time to graduation, cost, and competing summer plans, such as internships and athletics. Faculty teach heavy course loads and limited resources exist to support development of co-curricular activities. This pilot collaborative international engineering project provided a global engagement opportunity for students and faculty that addressed many of these barriers and furthered strategic priorities of the university and the college, including increasing global engagement and enhancing the student experience. The purpose of this project was to develop a pilot collaborative international engineering project that allowed faculty and students at partner institutions to work virtually and in-residence on a shared research topic. A faculty-student team at Seattle University partnered with a faculty-student team at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá (PUJ), a member of IAJES. Their joint research aims to study the treatment of wastewater from coffee processing and to find low-cost solutions for smallholder farms to clean wastewater. The teams began with virtual collaboration in the spring via Zoom to become familiar with the project, conduct a literature review, and begin initial analyses. In spring, students at SU carried out laboratory work to create a synthetic coffee wastewater. PUJ visited Seattle University in early summer to conduct laboratory tests using the synthetic coffee wastewater with granular media and bag filters. SU went to Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá in late summer to tour coffee farms, see various coffee bean harvesting and water processing techniques, and conduct laboratory tests using the same filters but with real coffee wastewater. Experimental results show that sand filters could significantly improve turbidity but suffered from severe head loss, while the bag filters performed poorly with synthetic wastewater but showed promise with real coffee wastewater. Future testing should focus on use of bag filters as they are easier to install, use, and maintain. The pilot project was successful in multiple ways. In addition to the technical skills developed, both visits offered rich cultural exchange opportunities to students as they served as both host and also visitor. Students learned about the civil engineering practice in a new culture, while simultaneously improving environmental justice, connecting the work to the mission of SU. Students were surveyed after the pilot program was completed to assess its impact on their technical knowledge, connection to the university missions, and appreciation for cultural exchange as part of engineering education. The authors hope this pilot project will serve as a framework for future collaborative engineering projects between SU and IAJES partners, expanding global educational opportunities for CSE students and faculty.