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LeadershipGraduate student spotlight: Dave VargasDave Vargas, an August2009 graduate of thecivil and environmentalengineering master’s program,is in a leadership category all hisown.Having traveled the world andworked extensively in Moroccothrough the EngineeringLeadership Development Minor(ELDM), Vargas has cultivatedDave Vargasa passion for internationalendeavors and cultural learning experiences. It is also throughthe minor that he was able to perfectly match his master’sthesis, Rainwater Harvesting: A Sustainable Solution toStormwater Management, with the goals of the ELDM.“It’s not just the fundamentals of engineering that you needto understand,” explained Vargas. “You need to understandengineering design in a global context while being aware ofcultural, social, and environmental issues.”Vargas explained that the mission of the ELDM is to exposestudents to many different aspects of engineering, includingengineering in a global context, engineering that can help thehuman condition, and engineering for a sustainable future.“Engineers need to be passionate that, through the creative useof their skills, they can improve human lives,” he said.For his thesis, Vargas assessed rainwater harvesting—thecollection of rainwater for non-potable uses, such as irrigationor flushing toilets—as a sustainable solution to stormwatermanagement. His thesis abstract notes that “it is becomingincreasingly important to better utilize the limited amountof available water resources as global population growth andclimate change are forecasted to increase water stresses such asflooding and drought.”Vargas anticipates that water management will become anincreasingly important issue, especially in the developingworld.“Water is a major reason for war or conflict,” said Vargas.“International water management is going to be the key to apeaceful future in this world.”For his master’s degree, Vargas worked under his thesis coadviserand Director of the ELDM Richard Schuhmann. Hewas also a research assistant for Schuhmann and has taughtseveral courses for the minor, taking the students abroad toMorocco and Hungary through the courses’ embedded travelprograms. He has also led students working on projects inJamaica, Peru, the Amazon, and Cambodia and has attendedconferences in Malaysia and Mexico.“Having the experience of taking students and travelingabroad, seeing their reactions, and seeing them becomeglobally aware and open up their eyes to the world was just socool,” said Vargas, who has visited more than twenty countries.“There have been students we’ve taken to Morocco who hadnever left Pennsylvania. They come back and they’ve seen theworld.”Since graduating, Vargas has moved to Mexico City wherehe started a rainwater harvesting company called “SolucionPluvial” (Rainwater Solutions), of which he serves as president.The company designs and installs complete rainwaterharvesting systems, which promotes water independence inMexico City.“We are here watching a city of 22 million people run out ofwater,” said Vargas. “We have a sustainable solution that isenvironmentally conscious and culturally sensitive.”In addition to running the company, Vargas is also workingwith a non-governmental, non-profit organization, serving asproject coordinator of a project called Isla Urbana, in whichrainwater harvesting systems are installed in a low incomeneighborhood in Mexico City—an area where families gomonths without water.To help fund this project, Vargas is also starting a non-profitorganization based in the United States called the TemoFoundation that will fund projects that are helping to buildsustainable communities, starting with Isla Urbana.The Isla Urbana project seeks to install a rainwater harvestingsystem in each of the 500 households in the neighborhood,eventually building a sustainable, urban, water-managementmodel through the use of rainwater harvesting in lowincomeneighborhoods—a model that could be replicated indeveloping areas all over the world.“I am trying to change the world,” said Vargas. “And whatbetter a way than by filling up Mexico City with rainwaterharvesting systems!”Did you know?During the month of April in 2009, recent civil and environmentalengineering master’s graduate Dave Vargas initiated a “TurbanAwareness Month” to raise awareness of the use of turbans in Arab andMuslim cultures in order to dispel negative associations and to counterdiscrimination and intolerance.Undergraduatestudent spotlight:Caitlin ZankowskiVery few college students have the opportunity tolead thousands of people in a multi-million dollarfundraising effort.Caitlin Zankowski is one of the few.Zankowski, a senior studying industrial engineering andengineering leadership development, was selected to be the2010 Overall Chairperson for the Penn State IFC/PanhellenicDance Marathon, the largest student-run philanthropy in theworld.The dance marathon—most commonly referred to asTHON—raises money to help fight childhood cancer. Studentvolunteers raise money throughout the year by canning, pledgebooking, and sending letters to family and friends to ask fordonations. The fundraising culminates in a 46-hour, “nositting,no-sleeping” dance marathon.In 2009, more than 300 organizations, 700 dancers, 3,300coordinators, and 15,000 student volunteers participatedin the event. More than $7.4 million were raised for theFour Diamonds Fund, which assists children treated at PennState Hershey Children’s Hospital and their families throughsuperior care, comprehensive support, and innovative research.According to the Daily Collegian, Zankowski’s previousTHON experience includes serving as a member of therules and regulations committee in 2006, a captain of theCaitlin Zankowskivisited the PeruvianAmazon as part of herELDM course.committee in 2007 and 2008, and overall committee chair in2009.In addition to chairing the largest student-run philanthropyin the world, Zankowsli balances a full engineering courseload and is very involved with the Engineering LeadershipDevelopment Minor (ELDM).In 2009, Zankowski participated in an eight-day trip to thePeruvian Amazon, a joint effort between the ELDM and theCenter for Amazon Community Ecology. While in Peru,Zankowski and five other ELDM students did an initialassessment of copal resin—sap from a Burseraceae tree—andhow this non-timber product could be made more profitablefor the Bora people of the Ampiyacu River region.After returning from the Amazon, Zankowski had a wealthof first-hand knowledge that she applied to the project inher “International Entrepreneurship and OrganizationalLeadership” class. In the course, ELDM students form virtualteams with economic students in Budapest, Hungary, andwork on real-life, socially relevant projects around the world.In this case, Zankowski worked on the copal resin project withthe Bora people.“Zankowski’s leadership skills are already positively affectingpeople from Peru to Pennsylvania,” said Richard Schuhmann,director of the ELDM. “She is a great example for Penn Stateand for the Engineering Leadership Development Minor.”48 | SEDTAPP News | Spring 2010 Spring 2010 | SEDTAPP News | 49