Returned Volunteers & Graduates
of the Program
Gwynneth Smith - BS Geological Engineering, University of Arizona, MS planned in Civil Engineering, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Suriname
Gwynneth Smith was raised in Arizona, where she received her BS in Geological Engineering from the University of Arizona. After graduation she spent a year with a consulting company working in a variety of environments such as gold mines, dam embankments, and subdevelopments in Washington State and Nevada. She decided to see what else engineering had to offer the world and moved from soggy Seattle to snowy Michigan for the Peace Corps Masters International program.
After a year in Houghton there was no escape from the precipitation for this poor desert rat with a Peace Corps assignment in the steamy jungles of Suriname. In between the dance parties, fishing, and working on her neighbors’ farms, she served as a community health education volunteer. Her focus was on water and sanitation issues and HIV/AIDS education, in addition to an evaluation of water system sustainability in nearby communities for fulfillment of her MS degree requirements.
