By Jessica Wu ’14

A Dam Good Visit

On our first visit to POLI-USP, Professor Monica Porto led us on a tour of the hydrological labs in her department and showed us their latest projects.  We were soon led into a massive tarp covered structure with a metal roof; I thought I was being transported back in time. 

The humid air, the beating sun, the tarp, and the metal clad roof were all familiar to me; I have been here before.  This is my first adventure in South America, my first visit to Sao Paulo, Brazil, but this is my second year participating in the POLI-USP & SEAS collaborative J-term course.  

Last year’s course brought us to the Mississippi River delta, to Vicksburg, Louisiana for several hearty meals of catfish and visits to the United States Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC).  Ducking under the low hanging side panels at USP, I simultaneously experienced both déjà vu and nostalgia.  In front of us was a hydrological model of the dam that’s currently under construction at Jirau, which, at first glance, looked like a direct replica of the model of a segment of the Mississippi where a bridge traverses the river that resides at ERDC.

After some examination, it seems that the expansive models in both locations were constructed, first, by drawing a 100:1 topographic map.  Then, thin sheets of steel are vertically planted into the concrete foundation to form contour lines.  Lastly, each elevation is filled with concrete and leveled.  I stood with John – who is a fellow returning participant – to discuss whether the model had a fish ladder [pictured].  {Unofficial} Answer: negative.  Oh, the poor Brazilian catfish…

As we stood under the boiling tent, I remembered the event that the Brazilian students anticipated most last year: cold snow and lots of it; but last year was an abnormally calm winter in the northeast – a sign of global warming?  There was not a single dusting of snow for the first 3 weeks of the course.  Then, miraculously, snow began falling on the last night of the course, as we approached midnight and our last day together.  Everyone was excited and bundled up to go outside to experience their first taste of snowfall. 

I am certain my nostalgia will fade as we make new visits and continue on our journey as a unit.  My time in Brazil has already proven to be amazing due to the special site visits and, especially, the people.  We are en route to Paraty and I’m already looking forward to jumping into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, and adding more ‘memories to last a lifetime.

Jessica is an undergraduate at Harvard in the S.B. in Mechanical and Materials Engineering program.

Maurício Salles, Assistant Professor, Department of Electric Energy and Automation Engineering, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo provides an overview of wind power generation and explains recent innovations in the field.  

 

Professors Monica F. A. Porto, Full Professor and Chair, Department of Hydraulic and Sanitary Engineering, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo (left), José Rodolfo Scarati Martins, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo (center) and Chad Vecitis, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) (right), discuss the principles of hydropower generation.

By Junling Huang

This field trip, consisting of lectures and site visits in Brazil, offered us lots of valuable opportunities to explore the energy system in real world. The well prepared lectures provided the very essential background for understanding energy technologies. For instance, the second day’s lecture covered the many aspects of hydropower including its history, current technologies as well as its cost, and there was also a lively exchange of ideas between professor and students, as shown by the picture above. The followed-up site visits gave us a very explicit illustration on how scientific theory and engineering design could be put into practice, and the real projects never cease to amaze us. On the third day, we visited a hydropower plant located at on the south side of Sao Paulo. The 700 m height of the dam, the associated large scale artificial lake, and the entire system’s contribution to Sao Paulo’s economic growth impressed everyone, and convinced us the powerfulness and importance of engineering. 

Junling Huang is a Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental & Energy Sciences at Harvard

By John Azubuike '13

It was great to hear from Professor Mierzwa about his work. He is developing new water filtration technologies. While at the surface it seems to be a distant topic from energy, it didn’t take long for him to explain the tie-in. The product that he was developing and optimizing would make for a faster, more energy efficient, and less chemical dependent water treatment system. Projects like his strike me as especially important for developing countries, which often lack the funds and access to chemicals that modern water treatment techniques require. I couldn’t help but think of the applicability of such a project to my home country of Nigeria. As both a bioengineering student and a person born in a developing country, I view technologies that efficiently increase access to clean water as being key to reducing health risks and increasing productivity in the developing world. Hopefully Professor Mierzwa’s work will one day come to benefit both his country and my own. 

John Azubuike '13 is an Engineering Sciences concentrator at Harvard College

Basic Cycle Engineer Building (Ciclo Basico) also known as “Cirquinho” (Little Circle)

By Fernando Augosto Coelho ’14

Definitely, the tour of Poli-USP was a great day. After breakfast in the hotel, we went straight to University of Sao Paulo, where Harvard’s students could learn about Escola Politecnica and the Engineering curriculum. We made a tour through Poli’s buildings guided by the host students. After the tour we had a delicious lunch where we had the most typical Brazilian food, rice and beans. During the lunch it was possible to exchange experiences about how each University works, and the importance of this course for our academic and professional  life. The discussions helped us show how we can transfer this knowledge to other people. In the afternoon, we had the great  pleasure and opportunity to enjoy the lecture of Jose Goldemberg, who has already been the president of USP and is one of the most respected experts on Energy. In this lecture he presented a real overview of the world situation and projections for the future. He talked about the potential of the new renewable energy sources.

Fernando is a 4^th year undergraduate student in Environmental Engineering at Poli-USP

 

By Luciana Mascarenhas’13 and Fernando Beck’15

An awesome part of the trip has been cultural outings. As hosts, our job is to show the city around to Harvard students, make sure they understand our reality, and, of course, have fun.

We have been to different restaurants, where they get to know better our food and culture. We showed them USP’s main campus and Sao Paulo downtown, where we had the chance to go up Martinelli building (in the picture) and had a nice view from the city. Last night we went to Vila Madalena, and everybody had a good time learning how to dance, or at least trying.

Everybody’s very interested in knowing more about Brazil and the way we live, and we more than glad to explain to them! Some people are even learning some phrases in Portuguese!!

Fernando is a 2nd-year undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering, Poli-USP - Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo.

Luciana is a 5th-year undergraduate student in Environmental Engineering Poli-USP - Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo.