James grew up in Northern California in the small town of Sebastopol. Living in a rural area he spent a lot of time around animals, including chickens, horses, cattle, pigs, and many others. While home is a wonderful place, it wasn’t long before he realized he wanted to see a lot more of what was out there. After graduating high school he decided to attend the University of California Irvine in southern California.
The time spent at UC Irvine was very formative for James. Studying Environmental Engineering, James became more aware of the pressing environmental issues facing the world, and learned the some of the skills necessary to help solve them. He spent time working in a research lab working on improving the heat extraction capabilities of enhanced geothermal systems. He also worked on developing a mobile water treatment system for hydraulic fracturing systems, to help clean the water to a standard fit for reuse or release. James also spent time traveling, backpacking across Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile during his freshman year, as well as spending a month in China his junior year. The travel, paired with an education in environmental engineering, led James to apply to enter the Peace Corps. Originally, James was set to leave for Vanuatu in January 2015 as a water resources volunteer, and attend a university afterwards with the Cloverdell Fellows program. This changed when a professor of his encouraged him to apply to USF for the Master’s International Program, because of the strength of the program and the ability to leave with another year’s knowledge.
James is currently serving in Panama. See his blog for updates: https://jameslibby.blogspot.com/
The time spent at UC Irvine was very formative for James. Studying Environmental Engineering, James became more aware of the pressing environmental issues facing the world, and learned the some of the skills necessary to help solve them. He spent time working in a research lab working on improving the heat extraction capabilities of enhanced geothermal systems. He also worked on developing a mobile water treatment system for hydraulic fracturing systems, to help clean the water to a standard fit for reuse or release. James also spent time traveling, backpacking across Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile during his freshman year, as well as spending a month in China his junior year. The travel, paired with an education in environmental engineering, led James to apply to enter the Peace Corps. Originally, James was set to leave for Vanuatu in January 2015 as a water resources volunteer, and attend a university afterwards with the Cloverdell Fellows program. This changed when a professor of his encouraged him to apply to USF for the Master’s International Program, because of the strength of the program and the ability to leave with another year’s knowledge.
James is currently serving in Panama. See his blog for updates: https://jameslibby.blogspot.com/