Luis José Mora Diaz

Communications and Electronics Engineer

Development of a Water Quality Monitoring System Prototype

My name is Luis José Mora Díaz, I am 28 years old and I am originally from the province of Cartago, Costa Rica. Although most of my life I lived in Caracas, Venezuela, because my family is Venezuelan.

I am currently in my last semester of my Communications and Electronics Engineering degree at the Universidad Iberoamericana in the city of Puebla.

I learned about the scholarship an edition before the one I participated in, through publicity at the university and the recommendation of several professors, who provided me with information about it and encouraged me to apply.

During the summer when I discovered the scholarship, I found inspiration to develop a personal project that combined several areas that interested me, such as the environment, IoT technology, electronic circuit assembly and embedded systems, as well as wireless communication networks like LoRa. I had been wanting to do a big project for a long time, something that would not only leave something for me but also help others. I decided then to address the issue of water monitoring, in order to ensure the quality of the water we consume, given the growing concern about the shortage of drinking water in the world and personal anecdotes that I have experienced related to it.

Finally, I decided to create a system that monitors the water and sends in real time several variables such as temperature, pH and salinity. I wanted it to be scalable, easy to implement and, above all, economical.

I used the scholarship mainly to pay my university tuition. It also allowed me to attend the IEEE International Conference on Engineering in Boca del Rio, Veracruz where I presented a more developed version of the project with which I won the scholarship. I also took the opportunity to enroll in courses on platforms such as Coursera and Udemy, in order to deepen my knowledge. Finally, I acquired several electronic devices related to water monitoring and LoRa communication to continue exploring and developing.

Beyond the economic aspect, I feel that in my social and academic circles it helped me to make more visible the problem of the scarcity of drinking water, its impact on society and the solutions that exist. It also gave me encouragement to know that there are people interested in listening to these solutions, that is the most important thing I consider. I might add that it gave me personal confidence by showing me that I am capable of achieving my goals through hard work and dedication.

I think that something very nice that I got from winning the scholarship was the honor of being part of the FGS community, as well as the recognition and support I received for my project. In addition, this experience was decisive in my life, it opened new opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Since winning the scholarship, I continued developing my project and was selected to present it at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Engineering in Boca del Rio, Veracruz. It was also published and can be found in the IEEE Xplore library. I am very proud because various people have contacted me requesting the paper for their research. I enjoy knowing that my work can help others. Subsequently, I participated in the #HACKSTEM23 hackathon with my friends. Although we didn't win the contest, it was a nice memory. Additionally, this spring, I was selected to do an internship at MICLA Engineering & Design in Turin, Italy, where I am currently located. So far, it has been an enriching experience.

Currently, I am divided between my undergraduate project, which consists of a volumetric analysis of MRI scans applied to brain tumors using Deep Learning and professional practices.

Once I complete my final semester, I plan to gain experience in the industry and then pursue a postgraduate degree in the field of microelectronics, which has always been an area of interest to me.

It is common to have an interest in a social issue but not know how to act or what to do about it. I would suggest that, out of all the things you like, always research as much as you can, in-depth, because you will almost always find a connection to the issue at hand. This emphasis on research and constantly questioning why something happens is what leads us to find answers to many of today's problems. These answers then allow us to act and transform our theory into reality.