Mechanical engineering graduate student Brent Freestone is sowing seeds of hope abroad as part of Stony Brook University’s CentriSeed Innovations, a student-run nonprofit organization he co-founded in summer 2015.

CentriSeed focuses on community improvement projects.

CentriSeed recently entered into formal and informal partnerships with iCreate, a faculty-run organization dedicated to fostering innovation, with the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and with the Global Innovation study abroad program, which Brent attended in Kenya.

As part of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Global Innovation Field School Brent and nine other students, a teaching assistant and instructor Rodrigo Peña-Lang traveled to the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya to assist the Dassanech tribe. There, they helped remove fluoride from the water supply, began the process of redesigning healthcare facilities, remodeled a dormitory into a school building, helped develop an education system for the nomadic population and organized trash collection events.

“This is my favorite way to help, and the purest way,” said Brent. “We offered support for things they needed help to accomplish by demonstrating a genuine desire to achieve what’s best for them.”

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/student-spotlight/grad-student-brent-freestone-tackles-engineering-challenges-on-campus-and-abroad/