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The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) has a successful history of contributing to the scientific leadership of this country. CEE was founded in 1983 by the late Admiral H. G. Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy and of civilian uses of nuclear power and Joann DiGennaro, CEE's President. They recognized that the nurturing of careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology in young scholars is an essential investment in our national and global future. CEE is a private, (501)(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that provides cost-free programs to its student scholars through collaboration with educational institutions, private foundations, corporations and government agencies who share a commitment to educational excellence and leadership in science and technology. Central to all of CEE's programs is the understanding that talent in scientific and mathematical disciplines achieves its greatest fulfillment of promise when it is nurtured from an early age. All programs are designed to provide the ongoing nurturing that will assure that the nation and the world benefit from the future leadership that will come from fulfillment of the promise shown by the students accepted to participate.

Over 600 million Indians defecate in the open every day because they have no toilet. This practice cripples health, economic, and social outcomes. Open defecation (OD) causes the spread of infectious diseases that kill an estimated 300,000 children under five every year. The economic costs of OD total nearly $54 billion lost each year in India, with rural households bearing the highest per capita loss. Furthermore, women and girls who lack convenient access to toilets often miss school and work while they are menstruating. SHRI ends open defecation in India by constructing community toilet facilities that are free to use. They include eight toilets for women, eight for men, hand-washing stations, and a biogas digester (a large underground tank). Human excrement is stored in this tank where it decomposes to produce methane gas. SHRI uses this energy source to produce electricity, which powers a water filtration plant that uses a patented resin filter to remove arsenic, fluoride, iron, and bacterial contaminants. The resulting potable water is sold for $0.008 per liter, less than half the current market cost, helping SHRI to generate revenue to offset its monthly facility O&M costs. This ensures facility cleanliness, a key predictor of sustained toilet use. Thus SHRI fights alongside rural Indian communities to end open defecation as a key step in the struggle for health equity, and social and economic justice.