Clean Water Institute

We are SO EXCITED to announce that we have a winner for the 2026 CWI Scholarship! When applying for this scholarship, each applicant wrote a short response about their passion for clean water. Then, friends and families voted for their favorite response. Congrats to our winner, Natasha, and runner ups, Allan and Jairus! Thank you to everyone who applied and voted. We cannot wait to meet the class of 2030 and share CWI opportunities this fall!

Vote for the 2026 CWI Scholarship Recipient before it’s too late! Follow the link in our bio, and vote for your favorite responses. Voting closes this Monday, January 26th at midnight!

Check out the great work these two Senior Design engineering teams are up to! One team is focusing on improving a dormitory sourced by spring-fed water, while the other is proposing upgrades for household solar panel systems. Both projects are underway at the Belez Homestead!

Our team is hard at work in the DR! Stay tuned to see what they are up to.

2025 CWI Year-in-Review: A year filled with research, learning, and collaboration!

Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming trip to the DR, spring break trips to Honduras and Kenya, and summer research opportunities in Guatemala!

A team of students, along with DVG, explored Silver Creek in an underground hiking expedition! Check out their adventure!

Two of our summer researchers, Fiona and Karis, presented their research at Calvin’s STEM Poster Fair last Friday. They spent 10 weeks in Guatemala analyzing potable and river water quality. We were so excited to reconnect with Tara Cahill from Community Cloud Forest Conservation, who partners with and hosts our researchers, and with Sydney, a team member from last summer! Stay tuned to hear more about their research!

DVG just wrapped up CHEM172: Water, Water, Water! Special thanks to all the students who made the chemistry lab a sacred space by sharing their sermonettes. Look at their moving water sculptures! Wanna know the symbolism behind them? Ask anyone in the pictures!

Meet Fiona!

She joined CWI in 2022 with the on-campus pond research team. Now, she serves as the CWI student intern. Fiona is a senior, double-majoring in biochemistry and public health.

She spent the last two summers in Guatemala as a CWI Summer Researcher. There, she analyzed river and drinking water quality in rural villages.

In her free time, Fiona enjoys traveling, baking, and dancing! After graduation, she hopes to continue her studies in public health.

Thank you, Fiona!

Meet Dr. Dani!

Dr. Dani began serving as our vice president in 2024. She is also an assistant professor of Public Health and Kinesiology.

Her research utilizes community based participatory research (CBPR) methods to support residents concerned about environmental exposures near their homes.

After moving to GR, she learned PFAS water contamination was a major local concern. Now, she is working to build community-academic partnerships to continue her research! Dr. Dani also co-teaches PUBH385: Impact of Clean Water (go register!!) which deepened her focus on water and inspired her to join the CWI team!

We are so excited to welcome her!

Meet DVG!

DVG has served as the director of CWI since 2020. He and his wife have three children- Lucas, Asher, and Daria. Though he teaches chemistry, DVG often does a lot more math than most chemists are comfortable with!

In addition to his teaching, DVG holds 6 patents for sun responsive window technology. Outside the classroom, he loves to travel, eat, hike, bike, sauna, play bridge, and karaoke! You might even find him preaching sermons from time to time!

Thank you, DVG, for all that you do for CWI and the whole Calvin community!