Professor Phillip Thompson a Fulbright Scholar

Phillip Thompson, PhD, has dedicated his career to building alternative water treatment systems for developing countries. This fall, Dr. Thompson will continue that work with faculty and students at Chiang Mai University in Thailand as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar.

“I feel honored to have been selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar,” Dr. Thompson says.
“After 20 years of working on humanitarian engineering projects with my colleagues from Chiang Mai University, I am really excited to build these new research collaborations.”

Dr. Thompson, a professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, began teaching at Seattle University in 1997 after earning his PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Iowa. Since then, he has completed more than 20 international projects with SU’s chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World and received the McGoldrick Fellowship, the university’s highest faculty honor. Additionally, he served as the founding director of the Institute for Environmental Justice and Sustainability (formerly the Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability).

Dr. Thompson’s connection to Thailand goes back to 2006 when he helped an Engineers Without Borders team construct a dormitory in the village of Huai Nam Khun, Thailand. The following year, he met Dr. Patiroop Polhan, a professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Chiang Mai University (CMU) and established a working partnership on four drinking water treatment projects for Huai Nam Khun.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Thompson will work in Thailand from September to December on two community service projects with Dr. Polhan’s CMU team members who were recently funded by the Thai government to develop methods for improving disaster preparedness. The first project focuses on researching water treatment processes in response to natural disasters.

“Natural disasters can cause shortages of safe drinking water due to the damage and flooding of water treatment infrastructure,” wrote Dr. Thompson in his Fulbright project description. “We will evaluate potential treatment technologies within the context of a range of disaster scenarios for small, medium and large communities throughout Thailand.”

Next year the team will provide a final report to the Thai government with an outline of priorities for disaster response. The research considers variables such as cost, energy requirements and supply chain availability and evaluates potential for pre-positioning water treatment materials at varying locations.

The second project shifts the focus from water to food. With Dr. Polchan, Dr. Thompson will help local farmers develop reliable, liquid fertilizer commonly known as “compost tea.”

Compost tea is created by composting waste, such as livestock manure and plant debris, and then extracting it with water. Dr. Thompson’s research marries compost tea with a method called hydroponic farming, which involves growing plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil.

“While compost tea has been used to improve crop yields for soil-based farming, the literature for using compost tea as a standalone nutrient source for hydroponic farms is scant but growing,” Dr. Thompson explained in the project description. “I will work with Dr. Polchan, his students and local farmers to identify the most abundant agricultural waste products in the Chiang Mai area and build a bench-scale vermicomposting system.”

The goal is to use this research to create a reproducible, commercially available liquid fertilizer for hydroponic or traditional farming.

With these projects, Dr. Thompson builds on his impressive career of research in developing countries with results that aim to improve the lives of many.