Last year marked the first year of the Nepal Summer: Sustainability and Energy Systems summer study abroad program. Like all study abroad programs, the program was intentionally designed to combine coursework with cultural immersion, appealing especially to engineering students but open to students from all disciplines and grade levels. Led by Professor Peter Burns, the five-week program in Kathmandu provided an overview of the challenges of sustainable energy in a global context and an in-depth understanding of its role and impact in Nepal.
toured a terrace farm equipped with a decommissioned
hydroelectric power plant.
In addition to giving students the opportunity to live alongside Nepalese families and experience their daily life—from the challenges that come with rural living to the beauty of the mountains and terrain—the program enabled them to make a difference in the very communities they engaged with. Thanks to a forged connection with the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS), the Notre Dame students got to work with local Ph.D. students on joint research projects focused on community impact. For mechanical engineering major Daniel Barragan ’28, the work didn’t stop when he left Nepal.
Together with KIAS, Burns and Barragan are continuing research to determine if the air quality in Kathmandu and surrounding areas is hazardous, specifically to children, owing to heavy metals from industrial activities. While scientists at KIAS were able to gather air particulate samples from several locations in Nepal, they do not have instrumentation to do the necessary analyses. So they shipped the samples to Notre Dame, where Burns and Barragan are working with colleagues on campus to study the samples.
“Our role at ND will be chemical analyses of selected particulate samples for heavy metals,” Burns says. “If we do detect significant heavy metals in the particulate matter, we will work with our Nepalese collaborators at KIAS to try to determine the source.” From there, they will work with government officials to either develop new regulations or improve current regulations to better address the problem. “We hope that our work will be the first step towards reducing the risks.”
Reflecting on his role in the project, Barragan shares, “The research has been very exciting and it has influenced my undergraduate experience as I am now pursuing a minor in energy studies to pursue a cleaner future. I loved how this program and researching ties into my morals and my passion to help others in need. I believe that our findings will help not only the communities of Nepal, but also make possible permanent changes to reform regulation laws.
With the success of the 2025 program, Prof. Burns will once again be teaching the course in Nepal this summer. Interested students can apply at studyabroad.nd.edu. The application deadline for summer programs is February 15.
Originally published by at studyabroad.nd.edu on January 23, 2026.