Tyler Josselyn of Dillsburg Helps Improve Safety of Drinking Water in Chiapas, Mexico

2012 May 2

Dillsburg resident Tyler Josselyn, a graduating senior at Rochester Institute of Technology, has worked on a yearlong project to improve the safety of water kiosks in Chiapas, Mexico.

Josselyn is the son of Matt and Darla Josselyn of Dillsburg, Pa. He will graduate on May 26 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the RIT Kate Gleason College of Engineering.

Josselyn and an interdisciplinary team of senior engineering students at RIT improved the design of water-treatment kiosks for the Fundación Cántaro Azul (Blue Jug Foundation), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable drinking water to underserved Mexican villages.

The water treatment system uses double the EPA-recommended fluence of 400 joules per square meter of ultraviolet radiation to prevent pathogens from reproducing and to compensate for poor water conditions and power fluctuations. The gravity-fed design is based on a system developed by students at the University of California at Berkeley.

The RIT team designed a circuit board to detect a power outage or a failing UV light bulb. The sensor signals the safety system Josselyn worked on to turn off the gravity-fed system. The sensor triggers an alarm and a pulsing LED light to alert the operator. The team's design modifications can be retrofitted into Fundación Cántaro Azul's existing systems.

"Over the last year of working on this project I have seen first hand how the engineering skills and tools that we have learned can have a positive impact on the world and benefit those that are less fortunate than ourselves," Josselyn says.

Rochester Institute of Technology is internationally recognized for academic leadership in computing, engineering, imaging technology, sustainability, and fine and applied arts, in addition to unparalleled support services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. RIT enrolls 17,000 full- and part-time students in more than 200 career-oriented and professional programs, and its cooperative-education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation.

For two decades, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation's leading comprehensive universities. RIT is featured in The Princeton Review's 2011 edition of The Best 373 Colleges as well as its Guide to 286 Green Colleges. The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2011 includes RIT among more than 300 of the country's most interesting colleges and universities.

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