More than two million people annually die from water-borne illnesses, while billions more suffer from its effects, according to the World Health Organization. Eighty percent – or 1.6 million – of these deaths are children under the age of 5. Engineering Assistant Professor Vinka Oyanedel-Craver knows those statistics all too well.

Craver is designing an inexpensive, easily manufactured and simple-to-use filtration system that could deliver clean water to people in remote areas.

The concept is simple: Use naturally occurring clay to create ceramic filters. The clay, infused with silver nano-particles, cleans the water.

She has taken the concept to reality in San Mateo Ixtatan, Guatemala. In this small city, a factory manufactures the filters, which resemble large pots. The factory provides not just the devices for producing clean water but also desperately needed jobs.

Craver visits the factory regularly to study the effectiveness of the filters from science and cultural perspectives.

“I’m very interested to know how you can improve the human factor and get people to a level where they can use the technology,” Craver says.

Sometimes culture stands in the way. For example, aid workers attempted to bring solar ovens – successful in Africa – to impoverished Honduras. In Latin America the ovens met resistance because they were installed in the ground. Hondurans, accustomed to cooking with indoor ovens, found the concept strange.

To avoid the same dilemma, Craver partners with engineers, doctors, psychologists and biochemists.

“I really love to collaborate with professionals in other fields for better perspectives,” Craver says.

Three years ago she teamed up with geosciences Professor Tom Boving to tackle water quality problems around the world. The duo teach senior honors courses about crafting sustainable solutions to problems in developing nations. The courses have developed a device to plant wheat seeds in Africa, a better recipe for biograss and new ways to harness hydropower.

“There is a real need for the solutions that Vinka and I are working on,” Boving says.

Craver has a knack for wanting to help people. Growing up in her native Chile, she aspired to be a doctor. She soon realized that treating patients in the hospital was not for her – she would rather prevent them from ever arriving at the hospital.

The seed had been planted by the time she sat, by chance, next to her high school philosophy teacher on a bus. The teacher suggested she study engineering.

“I never even knew what an engineer does,” Craver says.

The job fit her well. Her natural born curiosity leaves her always wanting to find the answer – whether on the clock or off. On a recent vacation to England, Craver headed not to Big Ben or Buckingham Palace but to the tavern that John Snow identified in 1864 as the source of a cholera outbreak.

On other trips she has visited the local grocer, the hole-in-the-wall diner and attractions off the beaten path. It’s all part of a mission to learn more about how people tick. And apply that knowledge to helping people – hopefully millions of them.