Northwest Vista College Biology instructor Jessica Heppard received an opportunity last year to travel to India thanks to CAORC or the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
This program offers faculty from community colleges and minority-serving institutions to immerse in roundtable discussions, specialist-led site visits, and cultural excursions.
CAORC says there is a global perspective for faculty to help students broaden their cultural horizons and foster critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills for an increasingly interconnected world.
CAORC faculty development seminars are run in partnership with participating Overseas Research Centers (ORCs).
In a Power Point, Jessica highlighted a few of the items she learned during the trip, which includes:
Use of pottery as water filters, removes 99.99% of bacteria
Consideration of vegetarian diets, prevalence of vegetarian food options in India
Delhi Technical – bacterial anaerobic respiration to generate power from food waste
Use of electrodes to remove heavy metals from soil
Use of algae as bio-filters
Rain catchment systems – maximize water flow into recharge
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