Fluid Innovation

This School of Engineering Senior Design Conference team won the Humanitarian Award of 2020, helping a school in South Africa build a hydroponic garden via video chat.

Though a global pandemic made travelling to South Africa to build a hydroponic gardening system on-site impossible, one School of Engineering Senior Design Conference team still delivered. Winning the Engineering Humanitarian Award, teammates Andrew Feldmeth, Alex Estrada, Claire Pavelka, Andrew Jezak, Katya Fairchok, all ’20, and Carson Edgerton ’21, worked with a South African high school via video chat to build a system that filters greywater from the kitchen to grow produce without the need for soil. They also built a working prototype at campus’ Forge Garden, which produced lettuce that was donated to local food-insecure families.

post-image Helping a school in South Africa build a hydroponic garden via video chat ends with an engineering Humanitarian Award. / Image stock.
A Reflection

On Monday, April 21, 2025, after news of Pope Francis’s death arrived at Santa Clara University, Dennis C. Smolarski, S.J. stood in the Mission Church and gave a homily for Mass. His words reflected on the miracle of Easter, hope, and the example Francis gave others to follow.

Back to Basics

Bridging classrooms and living rooms, the BBILY Project helps parents help kids with math.

The Accent Artist

Turn those hard American As into proper British “ahs” with the help of dialect coach Kristin Hill ’25

Moral Dilemmas on Wheels

Anthropologist Melissa Cefkin steers us through the ethical predicaments of self-driving cars.