Sophia Roy-Burman
Understanding Chlorine Taste Detection & Acceptability in Honduras
Water chlorination efforts across low- and middle-income countries face a common challenge: community members may be deterred by the taste of chlorine and subsequently reject chlorinated water sources. Traveling to Honduras, I will lead a study examining chlorine taste detection and acceptability thresholds across communities with diverse histories of chlorine exposure. Results in Honduras will be integrated with findings from India and Nigeria to understand how these thresholds vary across global contexts. These findings will inform how we design our water chlorinators to better align with community needs and support meaningful engagement with treated water – advancing a more deliberate, reciprocal, and sustainable global health.
Message To Sponsor
I am immensely grateful for your support! I am so excited to culminate my coursework and prior research in a leadership role, following this study through design, data collection, and analysis stages. This experience will be highly formative in shaping how I want to integrate research into my future. I am fascinated by the intersection of water, microbiology, engineering, and population health, and I am passionate about driving community-informed research. I look forward to better understanding community needs and critically examining our existing interventions for improved engagement. Thank you so very much for making this experience possible.
Major: Public Health
Mentor: Amy Pickering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Sponsor: Anselm MPS Fund