Meet our students

Emma Chapman, MS in HES: Environmental Engineering ’23, BS in Mechanical Engineering (George Fox University)

My thesis topic is water security as it pertains to the houseless communities in Portland, Oregon, my hometown. After learning about humanitarian engineering through the Grand Challenge Scholar Program at my undergraduate university, I immediately realized that it was the degree I wanted to pursue in graduate school. Once I realized that I could use my engineering training to promote equitable and sustainable solutions to co-defined humanitarian problems, I jumped at the opportunity. I am the current Graduate Student – Faculty Liaison for the HES Graduate Student Council and enjoy the community we have built here on campus

Nina Guizzetti, Geological Engineering and a minor in Engineering for Community Development ’23

Nina is from Rainier, Washington, and she is studying Geological Engineering and earning a minor in Engineering for Community Development.

When asked how she wants to apply HE in her future career and life, Nina says, “I want to interact with communities that are affected by geohazards! Being able to understand the need for community engagement and apply community engagement methods/skills to engineering projects in my future career is the goal! Ultimately, HE has taught me to be a conscious engineer, but also human being, and I will always apply the values of HE wherever life takes me.”

Why does Nina love HE? She says, “What don’t I love about HE? It’s hard to choose one thing, but one of my favorites is the people. The faculty and students of HE are amazing! Everyone is so supportive and inquisitive, and the faculty seem to have endless connections to wonderful organizations and people. The best decision I ever made was minoring in HE!”

Colleen McCulloch, Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a focus area in Community Development ’24

Colleen is a current student in the BSE program and has a focus area for her major in the Humanitarian Engineering focus area of Community Development. She is an outdoor enthusiast from all over the place! She loves traveling and going on new adventures and is one of the first female Eagle Scouts. She enjoys helping others and plans on applying to the Peace Corps after graduating from Mines to help build a more independent and sustainable world.

Colleen would love to travel to different locations around the world to help promote environmental sustainability and better eco-tourism. One of her favorite projects was building a series of Leave No Trace (LNT) signs for a community in Texas to educate the community on proper hiking etiquette and responsible outdoor recreation.

Mateo Rojas, MS in HES: Environmental Engineering ’23, BS in Environmental Studies (U of California – Santa Barbara)

My research through the HES program seeks to understand why existing efforts to create community-owned gold processing plants have not been successful in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities in Colombia. The collaborative ideals of the HES program are interwoven into its structure in a way that has empowered me to focus my thesis on something that is deeply important to me. I greatly value the core lesson that the social and technical dimensions of our problems and solutions are inseparable, and this program has been equipping me to carry this idea forward and serve as a liaison between communities and engineers seeking to alleviate social injustices.

Sofia Schlezak, MS in HES: Environmental Engineering ’23, BS in Chemical Engineering (Universidad Nacional de La Plata)

I am a Fulbright & Ministry of Education Scholar from Argentina who has worked as a public servant in Argentina’s National Ministry of the Environment and as a consultant for international organizations in the field of chemicals and waste. For my thesis, I am investigating socio-technical interventions to reduce chemical risks in informal e-waste recycling livelihoods in Buenos Aires. I aim to work closely with the local community, particularly with the workers, families, and neighbors exposed to hazardous chemicals, to co-design and co-analyze affordable, accessible, and sustainable solutions, thus promoting greener, safer working conditions. The HES program is a perfect match for my aspirations and has opened doors to new concepts and paradigms from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and STS (Science and Technology Studies). Interdisciplinary techniques helped me design appropriate research questions and methods, as well as interact with a variety of stakeholders so that the aims of my project correspond with the interests of the community.

Larkin Martini
MS in HES: Geological Engineering ’21, BS in Geological Engineering (Mines)

Larkin is beginning a PhD in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech after taking a gap year, spending time traveling with family to Tanzania, Kenya, Ecuador, Peru, Norway, and Iceland. When not traveling, she helped tutor middle school students in math and continued her own studies in engineering education research and worldbuilding. Larkin hopes to study neurodivergence in engineering education, including creative ways to teach earth sciences to engineers and non-earth scientists.

Paige Kadavy
MS in HES: Environmental Engineering ’21, BS in Mechanical Engineering (Mines)

Paige says, “I am working as a Community Development Specialist for a technical assistance non-profit managing projects in small, rural communities with water contamination issues in the San Joaquin Valley. I find myself thinking about what I learned during my time in the HES program often. Every day I interact with stakeholders that have varying viewpoints to which I then have to find a way to cater project outcomes. I spend a lot of time collecting proposals from and then choosing engineering consultants, ensuring that I contract the firm that will help communities remain autonomous and self-sufficient while also providing them the support they are seeking. I genuinely believe the HES program not only provided me the skills to do the best work I can, but that I would not be in the career I am now without it.”

Dot Walch
BS in Civil Engineering and a Humanitarian Engineering minor ’19
Economic Development Administration (EDA), Department of Commerce

Dot was a Peace Corps volunteer math teacher in Guinea (until evacuation due to COVID-19). At the EDA, Dot provides technical assistance to communities receiving grants for infrastructure and construction projects
Dot says her goal is to make the perfect French omelet and also continue learning how to promote and facilitate equity through community-based development projects. Maybe she would like to attend grad school in urban development?

Kellen Malone
BS in Engineering Physics and a minor in Humanitarian Engineering ’18

Hello! My name is Kellen and I am currently a graduate student in physics and a recent graduate from the Humanitarian Engineering program. I got involved in humanitarian work after returning from a 2 week volunteer trip in Nepal with Hike for Help sophomore year, and I’ve tried to be involved in humanitarian projects ever since. I’ve been a part of Mines Without Borders intermittently as an undergraduate, working on a water distribution system in Nicaragua. I’ve also co-started a program at Mines that brings a few students during summers to teach math and science and work on engineering projects in Tanzania at an NGO that runs a technical college for village students. I am interested in applying engineering and physics concepts through a humanitarian lens, as well as improving the housing situation in Golden, CO. For senior design I worked on a project researching the environmental impact of above-ground nuclear bomb tests in Colorado from the Nevada Test Cite. At this time, my master’s thesis is focused on developing a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly method of refrigeration compared to vapor compression technology. Going through the humanitarian engineering program has helped me learn how to gauge the impact of engineering and physics projects, as well as how to steer projects towards more humanitarian goals. (That can be boiled down to “listen to people”) 

Wolf Reichard
BS in Mechanical Engineering and a Humanitarian Engineering minor ’18

Over the course of his Humanitarian Engineering (HE) studies and Mines, Wolf was able to work on an incredible number of real-world projects. From home heating systems for the Peruvian highlands to Solar Drip irrigation layouts for Uganda, there was never a dull moment while Wolf was in the HE program.

Ending his time at Mines with an HE sponsored trip to Peru to implement his team’s Capstone project, Wolf graduated with the HE minor and a Peace Corp prep Certificate in 2018, and was landed a job as a Human Centered Designer with iDE Mozambique (a direct result of the work he did in HE classes).

Wolf has been in Chimoio, Mozambique for about a month now, has already installed three large greenhouses, and, between user interviews and installations, traveled to 4 of the country’s 10 provinces. He is currently working with iDE’s international Design team and in-country leadership to determine the best method for starting a WASH initiative in Mozambique while also working on existing programs focused on market linkages for smallholder farmers.

Wolf cannot speak highly enough of the HE curriculum. Every day, he refers to articles, tools and resources the program connected him with. He says, “I still carry my Human Centered Problem Definition and Projects for People notebooks with me everywhere that I go. I’m using them as roadmap for the projects I’m working on every day… the user interview skills I learned in Engineers Engaging Communities come into play nearly every day. If it weren’t for my HE courses, I’d be completely lost.”

He’s also looking forward to meeting up with his friend and fellow Shultz Scholar Hannah Jewess who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in neighboring Tanzania

Michelle Pedrazas
BS in Geophysical Engineering and a minor in Humanitarian Engineering ’17

Michelle Pedrazas graduated with a B.S. in Geophysical Engineering and a minor in Humanitarian Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in May 2017. She participated in characterizing an aquifer in La Paz, Bolivia with Geoscientists Without Borders using geophysical techniques. She worked closely with communities to better understand what was already known regarding the aquifer beneath and to raise awareness on the potential outcomes of the project. She then worked as an exploration geophysicist for six months before completing graduate school at University of Texas at Austin in Geological Sciences with the objective of better understanding water dynamics in the near-surface. The impact of understanding how water moves in the Critical Zone ranges from risk mitigation (flooding, landslides) to characterizing the preferential path of water and solutes.

Nate Dauth
MS in Environmental Engineering ’12

Mines graduate Nate Dauth has long been interested in international development. A few years back he helped found the Mines student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (now known as Mines Without Borders) — and made several construction trips to Nicaragua as a result.

EWB, he says, was “one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. The club gave me the opportunity to apply myself, allowed me to explore a new corner of the world, and showed me how a small group of inspired students can make a big difference.”

Nate adds that the club “provides incredible opportunities to learn and grow and I highly recommend that anyone join, especially if they’re interested in humanitarian engineering or development work.”

While not an official Humanitarian Engineering student himself, Nate calls the HE course Engineering and Sustainable Community Development “the most rewarding class I ever took in college.”

Development, he discovered, is not just a matter of getting the technology right. You have to understand the cultural context as well. “Learning the context of why sustainable development is the way it is today was eye opening and it motivated me to continue learning about SCD. It was engaging, informative, and very much relevant to what I do now.”

After graduation from Mines, Nate served as a Peace Corps volunteer (or PCV) in Paraguay, stationed in idyllic Capilla Cué east of the capital Asuncion, returning in 2016. The area’s hills, forests, streams and waterfalls (left) give it the nickname “Eden of the Cordillera.” His assignment involved environmental issues, including working with a farmer’s organization to conserve fragile local soils. He also worked with a local youth group to take up conservation issues.