Participants

Professor John Duffy - John teaches in the Mechanical Engineering Department and coordinates the interdisciplinary graduate program in solar engineering at U Mass Lowell.  He  coordinates the design and installation of the solar systems and has led trips to Peru every January and summer since August of 1998. 

Father Paul Soper - Father Paul started the Peru Project and was the Catholic Chaplain at UMass Lowell from 1995 until 2001.  He has been to Peru six times.  He works with the organizational and fundraising aspects of the project.

Dennis Villanueva - Dennis is from Honduras and was instrumental in getting the project going with his language and engineering skills.  He went on three trips.  He now is an energy engineer for Partners' Health Care (MGH) in Boston.

Sirikul Prasitpianchai - Sirikul was also a pioneer in the project and went down three times while a graduate student.  She now works on photovoltaic systems in Thailand.

Alan Rux - Alan is a senior staff engineer and instructor in the Electrical Engineering Department.  Even though he has not traveled to Peru himself, he has been key to setting up the radio network in the clinics there.   

Thomas Mayrand - Tom was on the first team of senior mechanical engineering students to volunteer to use their capstone design project as part of the Peru Project.  He built a second water pasteurization system also during the second of his three trips.  His skills as a licensed plumber as well as an engineer have helped also with the first microhydro project in Malvas. 

Thomas Jarvis - Tom worked with Tom Mayrand  on the solar water pasteurization collector and went down in the summer of 1999.

Steven DaSilva - Steve was a graduate student in the mechanical engineering department when he went to Peru in the summer of 2000.  He went again in January '04.

Michael Reinhardt - Mike was a doctoral student in the mechanical engineering department when he traveled with us in January of 2000.  He is now with the State of Massachusetts.  

Daniel Shapiro - Daniel was a graduate student in the solar engineering program and went down twice:  January of 2000 and August of 2000.

Meredith Lewko - Meredith was a graduate student in the mechanical engineering program when she helped us with her Spanish during the trip in January 2000.  She returned the summers of '02 and '03. 

Guy Sliker - Guy finished the solar engineering MS program in about 1995 and went with us in January 2000.  He is responsible for solar research at the New York Power Authority and lives in New York City.

Janice Dauphinais - Janice is an auto mechanic and worked at Solectria, an electric car/truck manufacturer.  She was part of the trips in January 2000, August 2000, January 2001, July 2003, and June 2004.

Sean Duffy - Sean was a graduate student in fire protection engineering at Worcester Poly. Inst. when he volunteered in January 2000.  He is the older son of John Duffy

Ryan Duffy - Ryan was a volunteer on the trip in August 1998 as a first year student at Dartmouth College.  He returned for ten weeks in the fall of 2000 to volunteer in the medical clinics in the Huarmey River valley.  He was supported with a Tucker Foundation fellowship.   He is the younger son of John Duffy.

Kirsten Cabanas-Holmen - Kirsten went in July 1999 as a graduate student in the solar engineering program.  

Allison Arkin - Allison went in July 1998 as a graduate student in the solar engineering program. 

Anne Johnson - Anne went in January 1999 as a senior in electrical engineering.

Luis Alegria - Having grown up in Columbia, Luis helped us out in January 1999 with his EE and language skills while he was a graduate student in the solar engineering program. 

Brian Purchia - Brian volunteered in January 1999 while a first year student at Dennison College in Ohio.

Bobby Griffis - Bobby was a senior in mechanical engineering when he traveled in August 2000 to install the microhydro system he designed.

Ken Locke - Ken was a senior who also used his microhydro capstone design project to help in August 2000.  

Kristen Kerouac - Kristen was a meteorology major living in the Catholic Center when she traveled in January 2001.

Steve Scaffidi - Steve was a computer science major when he helped out in January 2001.

Jon Martin - Jon was an undergraduate history major when he helped with computer and radio systems in January 2001.

Steve Desroches - Steve was working on placing students in international schools when he volunteered for the August 2000 trip.  He then studied at the school of journalism at Columbia U.

James Geggis - James was a criminal justice major living in the Catholic Center when he volunteered to be the quartermaster for the January 2001 trip.  

Adarsh Das - Adarsh was a graduate student in the solar engineering program when he went down in January 2001.

Diane Ryckebusch - Diane was an education graduate student when she volunteered in the summer of 2000.

Jeff Rickerl - Jeff was an electrician working in Wyoming when he volunteered his Spanish and technical skills in the summer of 2000.

Anna Holbrook - Anna was a senior in environmental studies at U North Carolina Asheville when she volunteered her experience in living in Mexico, for the summer 2001 trip.

Kendra Tupper - Kendra was a senior in mechanical engineering at Dartmouth when she volunteered two months of work on the summer 2001 trip.  She was supported in part by the Dickey Foundation.

Abby Krich - Abby was a junior in environmental engineering at Cornell when she volunteered for two months on the project in the summer of 2001, using her language skills from three months in Costa Rica.

Jeff Pare, Mike Agnese, and Brian Huot - All three mechanical engineering seniors worked on the design of a microhydro system for Cochapeti and a water diversion gate for the Malvas hydro system for their capstone design course and went to help install them in the summer of 2001.  Jeff also volunteered for the January 2001 trip.

Mark Ross - Mark helped design and manufacture two more efficient vaccine refrigerators for his capstone design project and went down to install them in the summer of 2001.  

Peter Aurora and Juan Pablo Trelles - Peter and Juan Pablo graduated from the National Engineering University in Lima in mechanical engineering in December 2000.  They traveled with us to the villages in January and July 2001.  In September 2001 they started in the solar engineering graduate program in Lowell, beginning a new phase in our cooperative efforts.  They are now pursuing doctoral programs at U. Minnesota and U. Michigan, respectively.

Linda Barrington - A junior in the mechanical engineering program and a nurse with a BS in natural science and an MBA. She participated in the January 2002 trip.

Karla Montano - A junior in mechanical engineering, when she joined us January 2002, originally from Venezuela.

Clayton Creamer, Mike Dupre, and Eric Grady - Now graduates of the mechanical engineering program, who had as their capstone design project the microhydro system for San Miguel. They joined us for the January 2002 trip.

Shaun Montminy, Matt MacDonald, and Jim Hart - Now graduates of the mechanical engineering program, who had as their capstone design project the solar water purification system for Quian. They went along to work on their project during the Summer 2002 trip

Stephen  Kurkoski - A licensed electrician and solar installer. He participated in the trips in July '02 July '03, and June '04.

Salinee Tavaranan - A graduate student in the solar engineering program, from Thailand. She has participated during the Summer '02 trip and the January '03 trip, did development work on solar lanterns for her thesis.

Elena Franzen - A graduate student studying solar engineering, from Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship, when she ventured with us in January 2003.  She flew from Germany to join us in January 2005. 

Paula Gil - A senior in nursing, who traveled with us in January 2003, born in Columbia.

Heidi Arboleda - A senior getting a second degree in nursing, January 2003.

Nelly Vladimirsky - A graduate student in the solar engineering program, born in Russia. She participated in the January '03 trip.

Jesus Solis - A graduate of UNI, lives in Lima. He participated in Summer 2002, January 2003, July 2003, January '04, June '04.  Became a graduate student in the solar engineering program at UML in September '04, then went to the mountains in January '05.

Eduardo Pizarro - A graduate of UNI, lives in Lima. He joined the crew for the January 2003 trip.

Renee Michaud - A senior nursing student,when she participated in the July '03 trip.

Colleen Sousa - A experienced nurse and graduate student, nursing program, when she participated in the July 2003.

Liz Purchia - A sophomore at Hamilton College, NY, when she participated in the July '03 trip.

Lara Thompson - A graduate of the mechanical engineering program, whose capstone design project was the Huayash water system. She participated in the July '03 trip.

Stavroula Bletsis - A graduate of the mechanical engineering program at UML, whose capstone design project was the Huayash water system. She participated in the July '03 trip.

Lisa Gamache - a mechanical engineering senior when she traveled to Peru in January '04, then worked on a prosthetic leg for her capstone project.

Darcy Hornberger - also a mechanical engineering senior in January '04, then worked on a prosthetic leg for her capstone project.

Lesley Hirl - a senior in nursing in January '04.

Megan Baldwin - an epidemiology graduate student, Work Environment Department in January '04.

Hector Valdes - a graduate of the mechanical engineering program and now Project Manager with the Office of Economic Development at UML in January '04.

Marc Evans - a senior in the mechanical engineering program in June '04, whose capstone project was a solar autoclave, which he helped install in Huamba.

Christopher Lin - a graduate student in the solar engineering program in June '04, helped with the solar lantern development and water supply and water purification systems.

Jennifer Mangano - a senior in the mechanical engineering program in June '04, helped design more efficient oxygen masks for her capstone along with Linda Barrington, who traveled with us in January '02.

Manuel Heredia - graduate student in the solar engineering program in January '05, graduate of UNI, the National Engineering University of Peru.

Tanya Martinez - from MA, in the solar engineering program in January '05.

Randi Purchia - a grad student in the Kennedy School at Harvard in January '05, who helped start a solar lantern microenterprise and whose two children, Liz and Brian, went with us on previous trips as volunteers.

Karina Riojas - a chemical engineering graduate from Lima in January '05, interested in helping to start the solar lantern business.

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