GREEN RESEARCH

Environmental initiatives sparkle

Members of the Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (SEES) are developing an arsenic-removal method for rural, isolated communities. They took top prize at a research contest conducted by the Pennsylvania section of the American Water Works Association.

Andy Baker ’06 (left) of SEES and Art Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Other students are developing technology to remove perchlorate from water with a resin and destroy it with bacteria. Chemical engineering majors Jessica Jenkins ’07, Briana Hecht ’08, and Korin Kohen ’08 are working as EXCEL Scholars with Art Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering; Laurie Caslake, assistant professor of biology; Steve Mylon, assistant professor of chemistry; and Javad Tavakoli, associate professor of chemical engineering.

Founded just last year, SEES prevailed in a tough field in the AWWA test. Among the six competing projects (selected from 33 submissions), four were done by graduate students. In another extraordinary showing against grad students, SEES finished second in the annual International Environmental Engineering Design Contest sponsored by WERC, a consortium for environmental education and technology development based at New Mexico State University.

Contributors to the effort included Andy Baker ’06, Mark Battaglia ’06, Jenna Cellini ’06, Amanda Eggleston ’06, Katie Herchenroder ’06, Melissa Korpela ’06, Erik Person ’06, Katrin Przyuski ’05, Ebony Sterling ’05, and Lee Vanzler ’07.

“To place second with a team of undergraduates is exceptional. It provides proof that our program is as good as, if not better than, those at universities with Ph.D. and master’s programs,” says Kney, who advises the students along with Samuel A. Morton III, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and chemical engineering graduate Paul Dimick ’05. SEES has made presentations on its technology in other national and regional forums.

This summer SEES received grants totaling $53,000 from WERC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further develop its technology, and Baker and Battaglia split time between labs at Lafayette and New Mexico State expanding on work done last year.

Jessica Jenkins ’07 and other students are working on technology to remove perchlorate from water with a faculty team that includes Javad Tavakoli, associate professor of chemical engineering.

Other faculty have provided input, including Sharon Jones, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, who reviewed the team’s economics and policy plan, and Alastair Noble, assistant professor of art, who helped students build a scale model of the system. Jeff Troxell, assistant director of public safety, reviewed their safety and health plan.

Linked to certain cancers, perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical. Most of the perchlorate manufactured in the United States is used as the primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant, according to the EPA.

Jenkins’ research team is asking how much perchlorate the ion-exchange resin can hold and what concentrations of it the microbial bacteria can destroy. “It’s so exciting that as a 20-year-old, I am developing something that industry can use,” she says.

The students have attended a conference and presented their work to environmental biologists at Swarthmore College. Next year, they will attend a conference in Monterrey, Calif., and participate in a research competition.

“The students benefit because they learn about techniques and research and about themselves and what they want to do,” Mylon says.

Kohen says, “This project teaches you how to work with a team, and I really feel that I learn a lot just by working with the different members.” ¦