U-M students partner with Brazilians to light up rural schools, design innovative incinerators

Story by Fernanda Pires | Photos and video by Eric Bronson
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BRAZIL—It is early morning when a group of University of Michigan students embark on the boats in northwestern Brazil. The sun’s intensity is still low, but its rays pierce the immense tree branches and reflect in the flooded forest’s waters, one of the largest in the world. The sky already shines blue.

“Shhh!” says native guide Tito Jonas Cavalcanti Martins, cutting the vessel engine.

All must remain quiet, not moving too much to avoid interfering with the locals’ routine.

Slideshow: Wildlife in the Pantanal and Amazon

Hundreds of terrestrial and aquatic animal species live in the Boca do Mamirauá Reserve, located in the upper reaches of the Amazon, at the confluence of the Solimões and Japurá rivers. It is the first destination of the U-M Pantanal Partnership students this year.

For the next month, these U-M engineering students will work closely with rural communities to help find solutions that improve their lives, like putting power in schools and designing innovative incinerators. These efforts will aim to support their autonomy, preserve their unique habitats and generate ecotourism to help their economy in the years ahead.

With a low voice and a machete to clear a path for the boats, Martins—born and raised in this rural region of the Amazon rainforest—talks about the reserve’s uniqueness and one local monkey who cannot be found anywhere else in the world: the uakari.

These large monkeys with white fur, short tails and shy demeanor attract tourists from around the globe. Their prominent characteristic: a bright red face that can be seen from afar amidst the green foliage.

“The uakari is one of the main reasons so many people visit us,” said Martins, one of the leaders of the Ribeirinhos riverside community where the U-M undergrads are visiting. “So many local animals have disappeared throughout the years. We are driven to protect this area against illegal hunting and reckless exploration, so my generation and the next ones can keep our rights respected and use the natural resources in a legal and sustainable way.”

U-M researcher Ethan Shirley, one of the founders of the Pantanal Partnership multidisciplinary club—which focuses on projects around sustainable technology, education and health—has been bringing U-M students to Brazil since 2010, when he was an undergraduate.

The ecologist has visited South American jungles since he was a kid and has become an ally of the communities to fight deforestation and boost tourism.

“Ecotourism here is designed to help preserve nature in this area,” Shirley said. “It is also a way of providing local people with resources, an alternative to different types of economic development that might actually harm nature.”

Shirley has lived and worked on-and-off in natural areas of Brazil since 2004 and founded the Pantanal Partnership with U-M alumna Julie Bateman in 2009. Since then, he has brought about 110 U-M scholars to Brazil.

On this year’s trip, the Mamirauá Reserve—the home of the uakari monkeys—is their initial stop. The distance and challenging logistics—3,400 miles traveled by flights, cars and boats—don’t discourage the students.

“We always look for communities with different conservation questions so the participants have multiple learning opportunities to work on sustainable technology, ecotourism and environmental research,” Shirley said.

Currently, most of the Pantanal Partnership students are engineers who have experience with the theoretical side, complex robots, and manufacturing methods for building prototypes in the United States. Their goal is to find experiential learning endeavors.

Most days at Boca do Mamirauá Village Elementary School, students are dismissed two hours earlier, close to 10:30 a.m. It is too warm and humid in the classrooms with wood plank walls.

Temperatures range from 77°F to 95°F, with high humidity, often exceeding 80%, which can make the heat even more oppressive. “We start sweating and it is difficult to focus or learn anything,” 9-year-old Ana Lasmar said. “The classroom gets too hot and our teacher let us go.”

Michael Lasmar de Souza, also 9, grumbles.

“We are just able to stay at school full hours when the weather is cooler, which is rare,” he said. “I want to be a doctor, so I know I have much studying to do. I don’t want to be behind.”

Access to energy has been a major hurdle for the riverside communities in the region, especially the most remote ones, like Boca do Mamirauá. That is why the U-M students decided to go back there.

The village has about 30 families and 120 people—all native Amazonians living a subsistence lifestyle for many generations in the region. It is built on stilts and is accessible only by boat. The villagers primarily engage in fishing and small-scale farming for their own use.

“Several families end up sending their children to the city to access better education and resources. I sent my kids, too. Ideally, it would be better for them to stay so we could stay together and keep our history and culture alive,” Martins said.

Preventing this sort of rural exodus is a major point of emphasis for Pantanal Partnership, which seeks to help give autonomy to people in rural areas to better protect the nature around them.

The Mamirauá Reserve’s electricity is provided by a diesel generator that only functions in the evenings, mostly from 6-9 p.m., to run fans, power TV and recharge the community’s devices.

This reality is about to change. Armed with drills and cables, the U-M students work with locals to hook up the school to solar panels for daytime use of light, fans and water coolers.

Amanda Liss, a master’s student in electrical and computer engineering, traveled with the previous Pantanal Partnership team last year to install panels at the community-based lodge next to the school. It was when they talked to the community members and learned about the students’ struggles.

“Last year’s experience was impactful and inspired me to pitch this school project and come back,” Liss said. “Solar energy benefits the Ribeirinhos and their children. It helps to provide a stable energy supply to the community. This work is very special because we can see the real impact and learn much about being an engineer and problem-solving in the field.”

The U-M students don’t work alone—several members of the community help with every step of the project.

Silas Martins, who co-manages the village lodge Casa do Caboclo with his mother, Ruth Martins, demonstrates this collaborative spirit. He actively participates in learning and assisting, understanding the panels’ positive impact on their community.

“I want the capacity and knowledge to do the work myself, so I pay close attention to everything they do and help as much as possible,” he said. “Solar energy is changing our lives. It connects us to the world and gives us the infrastructure to keep protecting our forest and expand ecotourism here.”

These are precisely Silas’ mom’s desires. Ruth, a local entrepreneur, wants to stay in the reserve, scale their business and keep her parents’ legacy alive. Her mom and dad founded the community 31 years ago.

“Before, my dream was to build a life in the city, which I did for a few years,” she said. “Now, I want to live and preserve the forest for me, for my grandchildren. I want them to know our history and everything my parents have done and fought for. These solar panels can give us the independence to educate our kids better and boost tourism so that we can generate income and local jobs.”

U-M’s Liss heard from several community members who shared Ruth’s sentiments. Many consider relocating to the city due to the growing concern over the lack of local resources.

“It would be a shame to leave the community they have built,” she said. “This is such a unique and beautiful way of life. It is important to us to provide the infrastructure to sustain this culture and make this lifestyle enjoyable despite the city’s allure.”

After a long day of traveling, covering 800 miles by air and enduring a lengthy car ride, Shirley and the U-M students arrived in the Pantanal, a vast floodplain in south-central Brazil. Their second leg of the journey brought them to Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso state, which serves as the gateway to this wildlife-rich region. As they leave the city, the landscape transitions from urban to rural, and their adventure begins on the Transpantaneira, a rustic dirt road known for its 120 wooden bridges, stretching 91 miles from Poconé to Porto Jofre near the Cuiabá River.

Following a year of planning, researching materials, drawing, testing and retesting, it is time to put the prototypes aside and start building the incinerator in Poconé. Limited access to municipal solid waste disposal is mainly due to the region’s difficult geography in the Pantanal wetlands, economic limitations—that restrict infrastructure development—and governance challenges.

These issues lead communities to burn their trash mainly in large open fire pits. With a high risk of wildfires and health problems from these fires, barrel incinerators restrict the spread of ash, offering a solution for communities.

With multiple trips to the local hardware stores and additional brainstorming sessions, the construction of the community incinerator is now in full swing.

Anxiety, then frustration next.

With little spare time, U-M students gather to investigate what went wrong and to try to find a solution.

Shirley is by their side.

“You are facing a very common problem here,” he said to the students. “Often, our teams will design something in the engineering labs at the University of Michigan. Once we get down here to Brazil, something will happen where our original design works differently than we expected. It is OK.

“You just have to do a U-turn or find different materials to substitute materials. Thinking on your feet is a part of the projects down here. It helps you, future engineers, build these skills and develop more creative solutions to problems.”

To address the issues, they build a side door on the incinerator, shorten the chimney, use the metal sheet to create a roof to catch particles, and surround the barrel with bricks to trap more heat.

By the end of the trip, the U-M students have an effective initial prototype.

“We had four successful trials where we reached 500C,” Durkee said. “In two of those trials, we burned trash, which we could burn within four minutes of putting it in.”

They plan to continue the project with updates next school year. After the setbacks in Brazil, they aim to improve filtration, airflow and heat retention by adjusting the barrel, adding bellows and using insulation.

“I’m excited to continue working on this project because if we do this right, it could have a meaningful impact on rural communities,” Zalek said. “We want to take this year to develop and test our system and return to Brazil with a resilient and user-friendly system.

“Experiences like these are integral to becoming a good engineer. Adapting on the fly and designing thoughtfully can prepare you for surprises when they inevitably come up. It is a very valuable experience. Projects like this also let you think about the people you are designing your project for. They are making me a more thoughtful engineer.”

Loaded with solar panels, cables and converters on their boats once more for another project. This time, the U-M engineering students are headed to Aterradinho Village, also in Mato Grosso state.

In addition to Boca do Mamirauá, the group planned to install a solar power system in a remote Indigenous school. Departing Porto Jofre, a town near Poconé, and in the heart of the Brazilian Pantanal, they cruise the Cuiabá River for almost three hours.

The building has four classrooms, five teachers who live there on weekdays and 50 students. Most of them arrive by a school boat that serves 25 families.

Eighth grader Igor Diniz goes to school on the family’s small boat with his younger sister and his mom, the school cook.

“I love coming to school and want to be a policeman,” the 14-year-old said. “I have to wake up around 5 a.m. to be here on time, but I don’t mind. I like my teachers, friends and, of course, learning, so I try never to miss school.”

It is inevitable during the wet seasons. Many families are left isolated for weeks due to rising annual waters and their children can’t attend school.

“The wet season is challenging, so we do our best to teach our students when they are here,” said teacher Eliane Vieira de Oliveira. “Besides the regular disciplines, like math, Portuguese, science and social studies, we also teach Macro Jê, a local indigenous language we want to preserve.”

A quick meeting with the U-M team and the teachers decide where to install the new solar panel system.

“We choose to support their new Starlink network for consistent internet,” U-M’s Baad said. “Wiring the panels and completing the installation takes about two hours. It was a fulfilling experience.”

The new system will provide the school with 24-hour electricity and reliable internet.

“Having access to reliable Internet is a game changer for these kids,” Oliveira said. “We will now request computers for our school so students can explore interactive lessons and have extra materials that help make learning easier and more fun. It will open up a world of knowledge they don’t have and hopefully help close education gaps and provide better chances for their future.”

For Shirley, these ground experiences and exchanging information and ideas with local people who have never had the benefit of a higher education can increase the creativity the U-M engineering students will bring into their fields.

“These are real projects with real consequences that have fundamentally altered the lives of both U-M students and our Brazilian friends,” he said. “For 15 years, our students have had a marked impact on these communities’ abilities to fight for and protect their environment and their future.”

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