INTERNATIONAL SERVICE PROJECT - MADAGASCAR

This partnership with Catholic Relief Services is dedicated to water supply needs in the island country of Madagascar. With the help of a USAID grant, the following projects have been completed to date:

82,000 people have been given sustainable access to water thanks to 24 gravity-driven water networks

24 gravity-driven water networks (providing 82,000 people with sustainable access to water)
239 functioning hand pumps
17,858 household latrines
105 villages have been ODF certified (Open Defecation Free)
10 community water & sanitation business plans

The collaboration also has resulted in:

Graduate research (research fellowships) on sustainable development
Technical briefs to document best practices
Faculty field visits
Technical assistance on the design of water supply infrastructure
Service learning courses
Summer internships
Capacity building to meet sustainability goals.
Workshops and seminars

UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

GRADUATE STUDIES

CONTACT

For more information about international service opportunities in the College of Engineering, including how you can help support our students in these experiences, contact Dr. Jordan Ermilio, director of the Center for Humanitarian Engineering and International Development at jordan.ermilio@villanova.edu or 610-519-6859.

IGNITING INTERNATIONAL CHANGE

CAMBODIA

In partnership with Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, Villanova Engineering faculty and students have designed and built a low-cost humanitarian explosive ordnance disposal robot capable of operating in low-income countries, like Cambodia. MORE...

MADAGASCAR

Villanova Engineers are working with Catholic Relief Services on the sustainability of water supply infrastructure in Madagascar. The project involves graduate students in the Sustainable Engineering program, as well Mechanical Engineering majors whose senior design projects are innovating solutions to water scarcity problems.

PANAMA

For more than 25 years, Villanova Engineers have partnered with Father Wally in the Bayano region of Panama to develop a sustainable water resources master plan, including gravity-driven water networks, dams and reservoirs. Other infrastructure projects have included bridges, schools and churches.

ECUADOR

With the support of the industry group IEEE and in collaboration with the local university ESPOL, Villanova Engineers are rehabilitating solar home systems in Cerrito de Los Morreños and developing a community intranet to share sustainable education resources among schools on the Island of San Cristobal. MORE...

MEXICO

Former Sustainable Engineering graduate student Christa Cook ‘20 MSSE and current Villanova students are working with Global Response Management to address issues of water, sanitation and hygiene at an asylum seekers camp in Matamoros, Mexico. MORE...