In many developing nations across the world, drinking water and sewage system infrastructures are non-existent. This leads to unsafe sanitation issues causing public health concerns. To help fix this, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation challenged top scientists and engineers to build a better toilet that doesn’t require running water. 

Dr. Shannon Yee is an associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. His research is focused around thermodynamics and energy transfer. He is taking that knowledge and trying to develop a toilet that uses heat transfer to break down wastes instead of water.