On October 5th, 2016, a post was written by former ROUTES Scholar David Berroa, “Call me Curious: Exploring Electrochemistry and Water Remediation,” appeared on Northeastern University’s College of Engineering blog. The post begins with Berroa discussing his favorite personal trait—a boundless curiosity about the world around him. This curiosity, says Berroa, was a part of what led him to become the first participant in ROUTES, a co-op program in which he worked under the mentorship of Dr. Akram Alshawabkeh. “When I sat down to talk with Dr. Alshawabkeh for the first time, his smile and excitement for his work were contagious,” says Berroa, “…it didn’t take much time before I became really curious about the opportunity to help out in any way that I could.”
During Berroa’s time as a ROUTES scholar, he worked with the PROTECT Center on the “Green Remediation by Solar Energy Conversion into Electrolysis in Groundwater” project. In explaining his experience joining the PROTECT team, Berroa specifically emphasized how much he valued the instruction of one of his co-op mentors, Dr. Ljiljana Rajic. It was “her persistence and guidance” that prepared him to present his newfound knowledge at conferences all around the Boston area and even in Puerto Rico.
Berroa closes the piece by highlighting the positive impact participating in the ROUTES co-op program has had on his life, stating that becoming a ROUTES scholar has given him a voice “to bring awareness to environmental health issues and their influence in the inner cities.”
If you’d like to read David Berroa’s full piece, click here.
If you’d like to learn more about the PROTECT Center, click here.