Team:USAFA/Human Practices
Human Practices
Values in Our Project Design
When designing our project, we had the environmental goal in mind to decrease water contamination, which is currently a big threat to environmental health. Following the successful completion of our project, human health could also be improved through the detection and degradation of PFAS in drinking water and other everyday exposure sites.
Meeting with Civil Engineers
Due to the environmental nature of our project, people and where they live are affected. We had the chance to ZOOM with Civil Engineers who make water treatment systems for towns and cities in the state of Washington. After hearing about what they had to say about PFAS contamination and how to treat it with water systems, we realized the massive cost associated with adding PFAS filtration to existing water systems or adding new water systems. In 2020, an Australian company has made a water filtration system capable of degrading PFAS at a 95% success rate. We read a paper published about this system that has yet to be used commercially. The cost, is once again, going to be very high.
Senior Master Sergeant Kehl, Firefighter
Being in the Air Force, we have the ability to talk to people who actually worked with PFAS fire fighting foams (A.K.A. Class B Foams) even though they are no longer in use. Senior Master Sergeant Andrew Kehl is a firefighter and was one of the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year in 2019. He got a chance to visit our school and our lab. We talked about PFAS and he admitted that he did not really know about the negative effects until he saw something in the news. He said, "We used to rub that stuff in our hair after putting out a practice fire." Now that he is more knowledgeable, he and his colleagues have kept close tabs on themselves for possible signs of health concerns realizing the real danger of PFAS.
Meeting with FBI Biosafety Expert
We met with FBI Special Agent David Autry to discuss Biosafety and the future of Biotechnology.
Attending Local Area PFAS Brief
We got the opportunity to attend the 2020 El Paso County PFAS briefing from the CDC. Information from that session can be found HERE
Outreach Videos!
As a team, we have made a COOL science video for a normal in-person science fair and outreach event in our local area. This event is for kids and young adults to get excited about STEM. Our video gives us the opportunity to talk about our project and also shows how to do a fun experiment about water filtration. This video can be view by clicking on the button below.
What We Always Keep In Mind
This project revolved around how we are dedicated to helping improve how we all treat our environment for OUR world. Not only do environmental protection projects need to be all about science, but they also need to educate the people. Without a knowledgeable public about the hazards and problems that are around them, every project and goal is harder to meet. Having social engagements with our local community will not only improve our project but also the community around us. Lastly, we have the moral obligation of informing others about the hazards of PFAS and any gains we make to make the environment safer, ways of detecting if the hazard is around you, or ways we can break it down to not be so hazardous.
*Our Response to Our Human Practices Reflections, Research and Engagement*
We let our human practices interactions shape our project. While finding an efficient and low-cost method of detection and degradation of PFAS would be great, we decided to place a higher value on people knowing about it first. Through our Cool Science video, promotional video, and other informational releases, we have made sure that more and more people find out what PFAS is and how it affects all of us. Through our interactions with engineers, firefighters, and our school with Q/A, our project recreated our project purpose. While we were originally trying to find a solution for just the Air Force or Department of Defense, we have come to the realization that not only does all of the U.S. need a PFAS solution but so does the whole world. With that kind of impact, our day to day lab work is so much more meaningful. Our common goal within our team is built by doing something that we now see as impactful to our whole world. That is how we closed the loop between what was designed and what was desired. As long as we informed the public and made improvements to our research we felt successful.
