s students in WT’s Research Science class, two young alumni, Jacob Dubner ’17 and Jack Waters ’17, created the ORTube—a life-changing product designed to mitigate the negative effects of cholera.

Since graduation from WT, in a quest to test their invention and its real-world application, Dubner and Waters, now students at the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University, respectively, developed a partnership with Omni-Med, a non-profit organization that provides service and volunteering opportunities in Uganda. This past summer, they made their second trip to Uganda, distributing the ORTube and providing tutorials on its usage. They are now looking to expand production to help more people in developing areas.

Dubner and Waters were inspired by an AP Language and Composition reading assignment that described efforts to combat a cholera epidemic in India. It was in their Research Science class that they worked to develop a product that accurately, easily, and inexpensively prepares and administers an oral rehydration solution to cholera sufferers.

Science Department Chair Graig Marx, who worked with Dubner and Waters since their earliest iterations of the ORTube, notes, “These are the types of products that WT students are capable of developing. Not just something for a class that gets forgotten after graduation, but meaningful products that can continue to be further developed beyond the prototype phase.”

[More STEM stories, including details about the development of the ORTube, can be found at winchesterthurston.org/stem.]