|
November 30, 2009
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Washington, D.C.
Reference: Ms. Carissa Williams' application for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
I am writing this letter in my capacity as professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at San Diego State University, California, a position which I have held for the past 29 years. Over the course of this period, I have supervised the work of more than 6,000 students, of which about 15 percent of them are graduate students. I teach a good mix of undergraduate and graduate classes, and my students typically join the workforce to practice hydraulic engineering at various levels. This letter is in support of Ms. Carissa Williams' application for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. I have known Ms. Williams as a student in one of my classes, CIVE444 - Applied Hydraulic Engineering, for the past four months. Ms. Williams joined our program in the Fall of 2008 to pursue a course of studies in Environmental Engineering leading to the M.S. I have been directly involved and have supervised Ms. Williams' acedemic progress since her joining my class. There are 62 students in the class, with a mix of abilities and backgrounds typical of our state university. Ms. Williams has shown an uncommon dedication to the subject, which translates into an A in both exams that have taken place so far. The subject of hydraulic engineering can be complex, and Ms. Williams' performance attests that she is highly qualified to tackle complex subjects. Subjects like pipe flow, structural design, and cavitation are among the subjects treated. Ms. Williams' grasp of the inherent complexities is uncommon, and bares well for her future in engineering. She is currently getting an A in my class, which should be confirmed readily at the end of the semester (December 2009). Her current academic record is a strong indication of her potential and of the probability of success in graduate school. Ms. Williams brings to San Diego State University a proven record in the development and implementation of environmental policy, with specific application to the City of Worcester, Massachussets. In 2005, she led the drafting of the Clean-energy Resolution, which enabled the city to reduce its carbon footprint at a time when this concept was still not widely disseminated. Prior to this effort, Ms. Williams was instrumental in the development of a city-wide public education campaign to inform residents about the benefits of renewable energy and to seek their support to meet established conversion targets. The success of this outreach campaign demonstrates Ms. Williams' ability to communicate effectively to a variety of target audiences. Early in her academic career, Ms. Williams researched land-use change using GIS tools, and developed a methodology to convert analog to digital geographic data to support land-use modeling. In this capacity. Ms. Williams became conversant in the use of GIS and related software, demonstrating her ability to learn, apply, and benefit from the use of commercial software tools in real life. Ms. Williams' current involvement with Engineers Without Borders merits careful consideration. Engineers Without Borders is a global NGO that assists communities in developing countries with tackling and solving engineering problems in order to enhance environmental health and public safety. At SDSU, she is the lead developer of a project in Otavalo, Ecuador, whose objective is to improve landfill containment and to capture excess methane for proper disposal. At the present time, the landfill is leaking, and a brew of contaminants is reaching the local sources of water supply, jeopardizing public health. This summer (2010), Ms. Williams will lead to team of SDSU students to Otavalo to make a needs assessment and finalize the project design. Ms. Williams' research proposal is well thought out. The problem is not a lack of water, but the fact that most water is saline, i.e., contains dissolved solids which renders it useless. Her project focuses on an improved way to clean ocean water of its salts, to produce potable water with an economic advantage. Ms. Williams' project involves the use of the CDT (capacitive deonization technology) approach, which, unlike RO (reverse osmosis), promises to be economical and efficient in its use of energy. The high cost of energy is what has impeded broad usage of desalination, thereby limiting the sources of potable water. In the present state of affairs, the use of desalination is widely seen as the next frontier in the development of potable water sources. Ms. Williams' research and project scope clearly address this societal need. Thus, the intellectual merit and broad societal impact of the proposed research are guaranteed. An NSF fellowship will enable Ms. Williams to trust her abilities and energies to a well-defined goal, and to dedicate herself fully to the pursuit of discovery in her chosen field. Ms. Williams' short but meaningful record of accomplishments documented herein attests to this fact. I cannot think of anybody more qualified than Ms. Williams to commit to this endeavor. I have personally become acquainted with thousands of young people as they walk their way through academia. I am pleased to report that Ms. Williams clearly rates in the top 1 percentile of her generation. Please let me know if I may further assist in assessing Ms. Williams' academic qualifications, strength of character and unswerving committment to the task at hand.
Sincerely,
Dr. Victor M. Ponce Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92129 USA
|