Dr. Francis de los Reyes III – Principal Investigator
Dr. de los Reyes is a Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, Associate Faculty of Microbiology, and Training Faculty of Biotechnology at North Carolina State University. In 2013, he was named a University Faculty Scholar. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on wastewater treatment plant design, environmental biotechnology and microbiology, fundamentals of environmental engineering, and water and sanitation for developing countries. His research focuses on biological processes and combines modeling, bioreactor experiments, and molecular microbial ecology tools in addressing fundamental and practical issues in environmental biotechnology and environmental engineering. Another research focus is sanitation in developing countries. He has conducted workshops for wastewater treatment plant operators and professionals in the US and the Philippines. He has also worked in water and sanitation issues in developing countries, and has collaborations in the Philippines, India, China, and Montenegro. He is a TED Fellow, a Balik-Scientist awardee of the Philippine Government, and Outstanding Alumnus of the University of the Philippines. He has been named an Outstanding Young Alumnus of Iowa State University. He has received the US National Science Foundation CAREER Award.
Tate Rogers – Research Associate
Tate Rogers is a Research Associate at North Carolina State University. He completed his Master’s in environmental engineering at NC State in March of 2013 focused on the development of the Excrevator under a phase I GCE grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has also been involved in sanitation-related research and technology development projects with RTI International and NASA Ames. Over the last 3 years, he has focused on developing more cost-effective approaches to collecting, transporting, and treating human waste both in space and in developing countries.
Walt Beckwith – Research Assistant
Walt brings 40 years of real world experience to the design team after retiring from geotechnical, water resources, and environmental engineering assignments. Much of this time was spent designing and constructing specialized testing equipment and solving field problems. Walt is supporting the Excrevator project with design, parts fabrication, and testing of Phase I and Phase II prototypes in the US, South Africa, and India.
Tracey Sisco – Master’s Student
Tracey is a master’s student in civil engineering at North Carolina State University. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2012 at The University of Mississippi, where she performed research on solar water disinfection that culminated in a thesis. She has completed two internships with the non-profit Engineering Ministries International who provides engineering and architecture services for the developing world, most recently spending 6 months in their Costa Rica office. Tracey joined the Excrevator team in 2014 to research and test different cutter heads that could be attached to the end of the auger to cut and grind debris found in latrines, allowing for better flow of materials while emptying.