IN MEMORIAM
MAJ. GEN. HAROLD J. GREENE Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, a USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumnus with three degrees from the university, died in the line of duty in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August. He was the highest-ranking soldier lost in the line of duty since the Vietnam War. Greene, M.S. ’89 in materials science, M.S. ’90 in mechanical engineering, Ph.D. ’92, also in mechanical engineering, was in Afghanistan helping the local army develop better ways to acquire and provide resources for troops, according to USA Today. “General Greene served our country with honor and distinction. He served with unparalleled dedication and offered the highest sacrifice, his own life,” said Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of USC Viterbi. “We are honored and proud to count him as our own. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.” Florian Mansfeld, now a professor emeritus of materials science, served as Greene’s academic adviser at USC. He remembers a warm student, a bit older than his classmates, but friendly with everyone. “Everybody liked him. He had a great sense of humor,” Mansfeld said. “He worked very fast and was always willing to help the other students.” After leaving USC, Greene’s expertise in airframe materials translated to a job helping the Army investigate helicopter crashes. Having developed a strong bond, Greene hired Mansfeld as a consultant, and they worked together to improve the safety of helicopters by understanding what causes failures. From there, he rose through the ranks of the Army, ultimately earning promotion to two-star general in 2012. In his more than 30 years with the Army, Greene earned numerous commendations and awards, including the Distinguished Service Medal. Greene was deployed to Afghanistan for the first time in 2014.
ALBERTO BEHAR Alberto Behar, a USC Viterbi alumnus and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist who worked on the Mars Curiosity Rover expedition, died Jan. 9, when the single-engine plane he piloted crashed shortly after takeoff from Van Nuys Airport. Behar was 47. Behar earned his M.S. in computer science in 1994 and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1998. Professor Emeritus George Bekey mentored him during his time here. “I will always remember his intense dedication to field robotics, particularly space robotics,” said Professor Gaurav Sukhatme, chair of the computer science department. Behar and Sukhatme were both Ph.D. students in Bekey’s group in the 1990s. At JPL and at Arizona State University, Behar developed robotic instruments that investigated Antarctic lakes and volcanoes and helped determine that Mars’ surface once had water, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A Right To Clean Water Three USC Viterbi alumni travel to rural Rwanda to install a water purifying system for cleaner water and healthier communities. By Marc Ballon
When Jay Todd Max, B.S. ’13, M.S. ’14, visited rural Rwanda with a group of students in summer 2012 to build a preschool, he was struck by the lack of clean water and its deleterious impact on the local population. While Max and the other American studentvolunteers drank bottled water, local residents fetched water from a dirty lake that often sickened and incapacitated them. UNICEF estimates that worldwide some 768 million people lack access to clean drinking water. About 1.6 million people die every year from cholera and other diarrheal diseases caused by a lack of safe drinking water and basic sanitation, with 90 percent of those under the age of 5, the World Health Organization reports. Dismayed by what he saw in Rwanda, Max decided to do something about it. “I believe access to clean water is a basic human right,” said Max, now 24. Returning to USC, he partnered with fellow engineering students Viv Pitter, B.S. ’13, and Kirsten Rice, B.S. ’13, M.S. ’14, to come up with a solution. Working under the auspices of Massoud Pirbazari, USC Viterbi Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineer and the founder of Safe Water for All Nations (SWAN), the trio developed a low-cost water filtration system big enough to serve a village. That led to their forming in 2013 the Community Water Project, an organization dedicated to bringing clean water to rural areas in the developing world. With the help of Simon Burrow, a social entrepreneurship expert, the students wrote a business plan in that year’s Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition. Their model: build inexpensive bio-sand filtration systems in conjunction with local communities; charge a nominal but affordable fee to villagers for clean water; and use that money to protect, maintain and expand the system. With Burrow’s encouragement, the members of Community Water Project decided to test their ideas in the field. Through Indiegogo, they raised $20,000. They also secured a $5,000 grant from National Geographic, which is “proud to support [their] efforts to provide sustainable, safe water in rural communities,” said Dr. John Francis, vice president of research, conservation and exploration for the National Geographic Society. In October, team members went to Nyarubuye, Rwanda, to build a system that would provide clean water for more than 500 families. Construction finished two months later. With the help of 10 hired villagers, they built a large filter with concrete, rebar, sand and stone; installed a water
pump inside a newly constructed pump house; and built a clean-water storage tank. In a show of appreciation, 200 residents “clapped, cheered and shouted morakoze (thank you)” at a project meeting, said Rice, who herself became infected with worms from contaminated water during her stay in Rwanda. What’s next for the Community Water Project? The principals plan to incorporate as a nonprofit and identify a future project. Said Max: “We hope to harness biological filtration to provide clean water throughout the developing world wherever it’s needed.”
Jay Todd Max, B.S. ’13, M.S. ’14, believes “access to clean water is a basic human right.”
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