Sage Professor and Students Receive EPA Grant, Will Present Water-Purifying Catalyst at National Sustainable Design Expo
The Sage Colleges Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Emilly Obuya, Ph.D., and her Intro to Research Methods students have received a nearly $15,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s People, Prosperity and Planet (P3) award program. The P3 student design competition is a two-phase grant competition that challenges students to research, develop and design solutions to environmental protection and public health concerns.
The Sage team is collaborating with partners along the nearby Hudson River and as far away as Kenya as they apply green chemistry principles and nanotechnology to develop a catalyst that will be used to provide safe drinking water to affected communities.
Sage received a Phase I award. The students will present a prototype at the National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington, D.C on April 7-8 and will be eligible to compete for a Phase II grant to advance their research.
“It is amazing, most fulfilling to come up with a project that connects students to the local and global community. The students are really, really engaged,” said Obuya who is also working with Sage’s Office of Service Learning to measure how a implementing a course-based research project affects learning outcomes.
“The Sage Colleges is grateful to the Environmental Protection Agency for supporting undergraduate research and I am exceptionally proud of Professor Emilly Obuya and her students,” said Sue Beatty, Ph.D., provost of The Sage Colleges. “The P3 program gives Sage students an opportunity to engage in relevant national and global research in water sanitation, and to apply their knowledge to finding solutions to complex environmental and public health challenges.”