April 12, 2016  

Purdue graduate named Gates Cambridge Scholar

Marissa Henry

Marisa Henry 
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University graduate Marisa Henry has been named a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Henry, a Canadian citizen now living in Austin, Texas, is one of 55 recipients of the scholarship from a worldwide pool of 3,730 applicants outside the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

At Purdue, she has been a member of a multidisciplinary team designing a community-based water system in collaboration with the village of Endallah, Tanzania, and the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology. Last spring, Henry traveled with the team to Endallah, where she surveyed how villagers use, access and need water as part of the project to alleviate economic water scarcity in the region.

Venkatesh Merwade, associate professor of civil engineering and Henry's mentor for the Tanzania project, said she has "an ability to find solutions by all means," and developed a strong leadership role during her two years on the project. This included finding funding and publishing on the work of the Purdue University Global Development Team.

Henry represented Purdue as an undergraduate researcher at the International Session of the Engineering Education Festival in Daegu, South Korea. While study has also taken her abroad to Sweden and the Netherlands to examine issues of diversity, she also contributes to her local community.

As a Global Engineering Program and College of Engineering ambassador at Purdue, Henry developed a water purification activity for high school students, which introduces them to real world chemical and physical processes and monitoring methods used by the water industry.

"Marisa has a talent for motivating those around her to invest their thoughts and effort," said Larry Nies, professor of environmental and ecological engineering.

Henry graduated from Purdue in December 2015 with a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental and ecological engineering and a minor in economics.

"The learning opportunities I had at Purdue extended far beyond my engineering classes to research, teaching and studying abroad," she said.

At Cambridge, Henry will pursue a MPhil in engineering for sustainable development.

"I am interested in researching the use of economic principles in engineering to design system strategies for water resources management," she said.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established the Gates Cambridge Scholarships in 2000 with a $210 million endowment to enable outstanding graduate students from outside the United Kingdom to pursue full-time graduate studies in any subject at the University of Cambridge.

Henry underwent an application process through the National and International Scholarships Office, which is housed in Purdue's Honors College. NISO develops student-scholars' skills as they prepare their applications for Purdue's nominations for awards.

Source: Rosanne Altstatt, National and International Scholarships Office/Purdue Honors College, altstatt@purdue.edu 

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