Joanne Ngiem '15 at Aquapolo

Coming to Brazil was so important to me, not just because it would be my first time in Latin America, but because of the people I knew I would meet and love. This was my second year participating in this course. I took part of this course last year when it was held at Harvard and what surprised me the most was how quickly I had created close relationships. The Americans and Brazilians still communicate through WhatsApp to this day: sharing in our PTSD of eating Panera Bread for four days straight. So what I was most excited about was creating these same relationships with even more people: people I never would have met if not for this course. The Brazilians proved to be the most hospitable and kind and funny hosts I could hope for and when I come back to Brazil, which I will, I will definitely drink Caipirinhas with them all day and night (although you will be tempted by the fruity ones, stick with the classic lime, trust).

Joanne with André

Aside from the incredible people I got to know. This program is a unique experience because of the site visits: we were able to go to a water re-use treatment plant, see how wind turbines are made from start to finish (I touched the inside of one of the blades), and explore a drying reservoir. I also really loved how we completed a project on an extremely relevant topics for Sao Paulo such as water management and urban mobility. It was incredible how applicable this course was. We heard from actual entrepreneurs and were given advice that was really helpful to those of us who were interested in starting our own companies and wanting to make a real difference. The teaching staff who put together this course really worked hard to make a two-week program as meaningful as possible and it shows. I will never forget how amazing this trip was to me.

Danilo Amaral Cançado 3rd year and Rafael Ferraz do Amaral 2nd year

This course has been an amazing opportunity to learn and discuss about the sustainability in cities trough several approaches, such as water management, urban mobility, green buildings, energy distribution and extreme events. In addition, we got to know, in the site visits, efforts been made to solve the problems we face nowadays. With this background, we were able to develop our projects and came up with solutions.

Besides this technical part, we got in touch with people who share the same concerns and we could create a network with them.  Also, the cultural exchange between students from different place and both universities contributed more to our perspective of the city’s problems.

We believe that the knowledge we gain will definitely help us throughout our careers and for that we are very grateful.

Adrian Jones '16 and André Holzhacker Alves 6th year

Even though we’ve only spent a little over a week together in this collaborative course, having the ability to connect with experts, professors, and fellow students has already helped shape our path moving forward. The discussions we’ve had with all the people we’ve come in contact with has helped us generate new ideas and view the problems in both of our countries from different perspectives.

Among all the site visits, we found visiting several green buildings as well as the Cantareira reservoir to be especially interesting. Having an intimate view of the water crisis, yet seeing companies like Santander and those that occupied the Tower Bridge office utilize rain water collection systems opened our eyes to a logical contributor to the fight against the water shortage. 

Although, the importance of technical solutions was made even more clear to us through the trip, we found unfortunately that often political obstacles could prevent many solutions from ever seeing light. As engineers, we understand that we’ll have to learn how to deal with this reality.  

As we leave the course, we’ve gained several ideas that we hope to implement to progress cities toward sustainable futures. Being able to end the second to last day by interacting and learning from Brazilian entrepreneurs at the Lemann foundation, helped provide more form to our ideas.

We imagine the great friendship that has bound us all together in this short time will continue to enrich our lives and will likely lead to greater collaboration in the future.  For that, we are extremely grateful for all the trip’s organizers, lecturers, guides and everyone else who made this program possible.

Abraços

Luis Strengari 5th year

It’s been 7 days since the collaborative course started and this opportunity is extremely unique and important to me. All the site visits and lectures are putting together many different concepts, ideas and rich debates – with lots of questions!

One of my favorite site visits was at the CGE/CET - Emergency Management Center, which is responsible for the forecast and weather monitoring of the São Paulo city. It was great to see that my city is really trying to manage flood and save people’s lives. The lecture and site visit regarding green infrastructure were also remarkable to me because I did not know that we already have this type of solution in SP for flood mitigation.

Another interesting thing about the course is how it brings the opinions and perspectives from people involved in different areas, with diverse expertise. Engineers, architects, politicians, and businesses might have completely opposite positioning in subjects such as urban planning and mobility, and that is why I think the debates are so important.

Luis with Nick, Mayra and Eloi

I feel extremely honored to have met the brilliant (crazy) Harvard students and faculty members. I hope this is just the beginning of a strong and solid alliance between the schools and students. I am having a great time, thanks for everything!

Bruno Oliveira Musso 6th year

This collaborative course has been a wonderful experience. With most of the activities centered around field visits, it is the best opportunity to see how engineering is really applied day –by –day.  The visits to the wind-power components plants, AQUAPOLO  treatment plant and  Cantareira reservoir were the most instructive. This visit to the reservoir was indeed really  sad, we could see how extreme the actual water crises is in Sao Paulo. Also, I am now more  sure about the importance of having young students ready to resolve this kind of problem in the near future. But for me the most important contribution of this course is the bond we are creating between Sao Paulo and Boston, a strong friendship that I believe will stand for all our lives. I would like to thank to the course organization, to the professors from Harvard and Poli and to all my friends of Brazil and USA that made this last 10 days unforgettable. PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVI!

Joseph Lanzillo '16

After a busy week of site visits, lectures, all-you-can-eat buffets and birthday parties for Avi, Sunday was our first free day. On the morning after a late night out and a long week, it was tempting to sleep in and relax, but that would be a waste of our precious time in São Paulo! A group of us ventured to downtown São Paulo to explore the famous area. Being Sunday morning, the business district was pretty sleepy, but it was easier than navigating through the shoppers, residents and workers who swarm the streets every other day. We strolled down to Marcado, where we cooled off with coconut water and samples of fresh Brazilian fruits- a perfect snack on a hot day. In the afternoon, Jason hosted the entire group at his house for a Brazilian barbeque. We had all been looking forward to a more slow-paced day, and spending the afternoon relaxing outside with friends was exactly what we needed. It was easily a high-light of the week. Despite our fatigue and being full of food afterwards, we took a trip to Bixiga for a street festival. After a few hours of dancing, we were exhausted enough to return and finally get to bed before 1 am! It was a great day of touring and relaxing for us all, thanks to Jason.

Kristen Faulkner '16

Ricardo Moreira Lisboa 4th year

We just visited the water treatment plant that purifies sewage water for industrial use. One thing that stood out from the visit is how much political lobbying affects engineering projects in Brazil. Politicians often have a different agenda from industry, and the government has the power to put its priorities first. Despite the imperfect political scene, it is nice to see water being reused and sustainable projects underway. Brazil is certainly making progress in becoming a sustainable country.

One thing I am very pleased with is how well the Brazil students and Harvard students get along. Every night we hang out and play games, laugh, drink, and discuss intellectual issues that affect all of us. The people on this trip are intelligent, friendly, and highly curious, which leads to a wonderful group dynamic. Word on the street is that we are the most inquisitive group in a few years. We are learning so much, and we are so pleased that we chose to participate in this trip. Wooh!