Civil grad students take a on a “world’s challenge” at UBC

Civil Engineering Graduate Students won second place in the World’s Challenge Challenge at UBC for their work on a clean drinking water technology that could have applications in First Nations and small remote communities without access to potable water. The World’s Challenge Challenge is a competition hosted by the UBC Global Lounge encouraging students to form teams of three and tackle global issues. The interdisciplinary team of Civil MASc student Rajat Jain, Civil MEng student Jatin Maheshwary, and computer science student Karan Grover each took home a $1000 prize for their plan to commercialize the gravity-powered, bacteria-supported drinking water filtration system developed by UBC Civil Engineering Professor Pierre Bérubé. The team is also a contender for the prestigious Hult Prize, where they have advanced from the Canada-West round and are heading to the Regional Finals in San Francisco in March. This year’s UBC World’s Challenge Challenge winners, Allison Gacad, Renhao Wang and Rachel Cheang will be taking their response to issues of food security to the Global Final at Western University for a chance to win $30,000 towards developing their global solution.