On Tuesday, February 9 the Sutardja Center and the Jacobs Institute hosted the leadership team from ViCiLabs to launch the WaterSeer Collider Kickoff. With the goal of making water from thin air, WaterSeer is a proof of concept that uses condensation to create clean drinking water, drip irrigation, and a variety of other applications for dry or drought-stricken climates.
The project aims to minimize the amount of time women and children in developing countries spend traveling in unsafe conditions to collect water for cooking, bathing and irrigating gardens. Berkeley students are forming teams to design and develop working prototypes and are encouraged to be creative and innovative within specific size and materials constraints. The Collider project team has assembled a team of advisors specializing in design, materials and construction and the participants will be one of the pilot groups for the new College Maker Pass, giving the teams access to all of the maker spaces and labs across campus. ViciLabs along with representatives from USAID and the National Peace Corps Association will join representatives from Sutardja Center and Jacobs Institute to determine the winning design at the end of the competition in April.
This project is one of many new projects that are in the works between the Sutardja Center and the Jacobs Institute. The two Berkeley institutions kicked off a partnership this fall with the goal of bringing engineering and design students together to create more innovative projects and products.
