A physics student pushes several sticks deep into the mud so that they protrude sturdily from the stream bank, while a chemistry student uses rope to tie rocks to the bottom of a buoyant, waterproof plastic box. The length of the rope will allow the box to float at just the right depth within the water column. Together, the students then deploy the box into the center of the stream and tie it to the sticks to anchor it in place.

This deployment is part of a collaboration between William & Mary faculty and students from across departments, the Institute for Integrative Conservation (IIC), Malagasy communities, the Moore Center for Science and Conservation International Madagascar. The interdisciplinary project seeks to design an inexpensive water sensor that supports community-led water restoration initiatives in Madagascar.

“The goal of the IIC’s Conservation Research Program is to find ways that students and faculty from across various schools and departments at W&M can support external conservation partners with applied conservation work,” said Erica Garroutte, director of research at the IIC. “The DIY water sensor project is a great example of that.”

For three years, successive pairs of W&M students have worked with the project partners to design and test the sensor. Chemistry professor Nathan Kidwell and Makerspace Director Jonathan Frey act as student advisors.

“What’s particularly valuable is the interdisciplinary nature of both the research and mentorship that students receive,” said Kidwell. “The students benefit from the collaboration between national and international partners and also receive mentorship at that level.”

Importance of a low-cost water sensor

Widespread deforestation in Madagascar has had marked effects on both the ecology of the island and the lives of its people. For example, without tree roots to anchor the soil, sediment washes into rivers and streams. This sedimentation negatively affects both aquatic ecology and growing conditions for rice, an economically important crop for the people of Madagascar.

A collaboration among W&M’s IIC, Moore Center for Science, Conservation International Madagascar (CI), and the community of Anosivola, Madagascaraims to create an affordable water monitoring tool that supports global community-led restoration and conservation efforts. The student project aligns with CI’s Priceless Planet Coalition (PPC) initiative, which seeks to restore twelve million trees in five years across Madagascar, thereby improving water quality for agriculture and biodiversity around Lake Alaotra. 

The development of a low-cost water sensor that measures cloudiness of water, also known as turbidity, will enable local communities to evaluate the effectiveness of reforestation efforts by comparing data between restored and unrestored sites.

Commercial turbidity sensors are available for purchase, but they cost thousands of dollars.

“A distributed, low-cost, water sensor platform can have a significant impact because it provides access to the data needed to understand the situation at hand,” said Frey. “This effort is part of the global wave of citizen science that we are seeing enabled by access to low-cost technological components and open-source knowledge resources.”

Inexpensive water sensors could also be useful for a variety of projects all over the world. For example, the James City County Stormwater Program Advisory Committee has expressed interest in how the sensors could be used to measure the effectiveness of strategies to minimize sediment runoff in construction sites.

Design development over time

A key participant in the design and testing of the sensor is hydrologist Michaël Hervien Fenomanarivo, who was a master’s student in Madagascar when the project began and now works full-time for Conservation International. Throughout the entire project, he has tackled multiple challenges side-by-side with W&M students and faculty.

“This project inspired me to get more involved in the conservation of our environment, as it taught me a lot,” he said. “The sensor was designed to support local communities, first in Madagascar, in its efforts to restore interdependent forest and freshwater systems, and then worldwide.”

Fiona Gordon ’25 and Sophia Holincheck ’24, M.S. ’25 were the first two students to work on the sensor, creating the initial prototype in the W&M Maker Space.

“It was exactly up my alley,” said Gordon, “As a physics engineering major, I didn’t realize that I could be involved with conservation research. That was something that I really loved about this project: getting to do field work and having the opportunity to participate in the real-life application of things that I learn.”

Gordon and Holincheck traveled to Madagascar and, working with Fenomanarivo and local communities, built and tested the first iteration of the sensor. All of the parts were locally sourced, and the cost of the original design was about $100.

“The most obvious benefit of this project is that it makes monitoring water quality cheaper, which is very important,” said Holincheck, a graduate student with Kidwell in the chemistry department. “More than that, it gets community members and other stakeholders who are really affected by climate challenges engaged in the monitoring and conservation of their environment.”

Holincheck explained that one of her favorite memories from the project took place in Madagascar when the team was staying at a schoolhouse in Anosivola. They wanted to fill their portable soldering iron with butane, but didn’t have the necessary attachment.

“We tried using an attachment from an aerosol can, an empty ink cartridge from a pen, and random other pieces we could find lying around,” she said. “Eventually, the security guard at the school came over to us, cut off the end of a feather and gave it to us. It really stood out to me because it showed me how everyone has something to contribute, and solutions can come from anywhere if you’re open to trying them.”

In 2024, Leo Eichers ’25, who studies chemistry and geology, and Jacob Timko ’24, a biology and biochemistry student, worked with Fenomanarivo to further modify the sensor.

By finding lower cost items locally available in Madagascar to replace some of the most expensive components, they were able to decrease the cost from approximately $100 to about $50.

Although they did not travel to Madagascar, Eichers and Timko consulted Fenomanarivo as to the availability of potential parts in Madagascar and deployed their prototypes at sites near Williamsburg that mimic monitoring sites in Madagascar.

“I think that this project serves as a great reminder that folks in other disciplines, such as biology or chemistry, should think about how their work can affect conservation,” said Timko. “Working on this joint project between the chemistry department and the IIC really helped to make that clear to me.”

The students remarked that one of the best parts of the experience was working with people from a different culture and comparing life experiences.

“I remember we were walking around campus, and Michael, who was visiting from Madagascar, pointed out the squirrels,” said Eichers. “He was so fascinated by the squirrels. I know that Sophia and Fiona were really excited to see lemurs in Madagascar, but that’s an everyday occurrence for him. Getting to see and share our different experiences was one of my favorite parts of the research.”

In 2025, Mandy Joyce ’26, an integrative conservation major and environmental science minor, and Cy Strain-Seymour ’26, who is double-majoring in computer science and linguistics, will continue to refine the sensor.

“Our goal is to find ways that we can convene folks from across W&M to support partners on applied projects,” said Garroutte. “We’ve learned a lot along the way, and we want to continue to do that. W&M is participating in really cool research that advances conservation outcomes for communities. Students get that experience working on interdisciplinary teams on projects that have a real impact.”

The William & Mary Institute for Integrative Conservation (IIC) was created with a mission to empower an inclusive community of thought leaders to create and deliver timely, innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing conservation challenges. The IIC bridges the path between conservation education and conservation careers and supports conservation approaches that balance human well-being with biodiversity conservation.