Biography

This is an interdisciplinary, project-based course in the Whitaker Lab on water, pollution, and energy. Students will design, build and test innovative projects pertaining to water creation and management, pollution mitigation and eradication, and sustainable energy.  

The adventure will start with a study of water’s role in the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history and throughout the world, including our very own California. Students will design, build and study various innovations for water lifting, storing, and distribution. The adventure continues with a study of how plants and animals survive with little-to-no water in severe desert regions and how we can use these bio-engineered solutions for human survival. Next, we study the exponential growth of the human population and the increasingly negative impact on the planet. Drinking water is getting polluted, plastics are damaging our ocean ecosystems, and the planet is experiencing an unprecedented change in climate. We don’t stop there, however; we prototype solutions! The final topic will be the future of energy. Students will study all aspects of energy including production, transmission, storage, and consumption. Students will end the year with a deep dive project into the future of water, pollution, and energy as it pertains to our very survival by innovating solutions that will keep us thriving on planet Earth.  

Throughout the course, students will do hands-on projects that will help them develop a much deeper understanding of the material. This work will force us to be creative and innovative, yet tempered with practicality.

This class is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have a passion for innovation, solving problems, and thinking out of the box. Students will be required to be trained on various tools in the Whitaker Lab.

View student testimonials for this course and other science courses here.