Annual Report Year 2010 - Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Kara Dodson, left, conducted undergraduate research for Marc Edwards after her freshman year. She is pictured explaining the cause of pin holes in copper pipes to Jackie Robertson, who interned for the office of the vice president for research at Virginia Tech. Environment (from page 23) methods for integrating iron and manganese control. Work conducted in conjunction with John Tobiason of the University of Massachusetts led to two manganese-related journal publications. Knocke presented his research at the AWWA Inorganic Contaminants Workshop and at the AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition. He also accepted a new position at Virginia Tech in June, associate vice president for research programs in the Office of the Vice President for Research. This position gives him administrative leadership duties within the broader research mission of Virginia Tech. Knocke structured this position to allow him to continue to teach and advise students within the EWR program and CEE department. John Little had an active year. He chairs the new International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on Lake and Reservoir Management. It held the first IWA Symposium on Lake and Reservoir Management at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan in June See Environment, page 25 24 | VIA REPORT | 2010
Environment (from page 24) 2009. The symposium was very well-received by the roughly 65 participants, including 35 international experts and six world-class keynote speakers. He co-chaired a workshop on Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs) in the Residential Environment, held at the EPA office in North Carolina in August 2009, with financial support from EPA and the American Chemistry Council. A follow up workshop is scheduled for January 2011. Little was elected an editorial board member of Indoor Air, the premier international journal in the indoor air field, and was invited as keynote speaker at the First International Workshop on SVOCs in the Indoor Environment, held at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China in June 2010. Linsey Marr’s research in air quality engineering focused on improved quantification of emissions, characterization of airborne nanoparticles, and prediction of the fate and transport of air pollutants. Her research group currently consists of two post-doctoral associates, four Ph.D. students, and one M.S. student. A publication on the effects of air pollution and marathon performance garnered attention from U.S. News and World Report, Men’s Health, Self, the Discovery Channel, and other media outlets. As part of her sabbatical, she spent one month at the University of California at Davis. She gave a seminar at Cornell, presented research results at the American Association for Aerosol Research’s annual conference, and was invited to participate in a workshop on indoor air chemistry. In May and June, Marr and several students traveled to Tijuana, Mexico with the Flux Lab for the Atmospheric Measurement of Emissions to collaborate with other researchers on a field study of pollutant emissions and their impacts in the California-Mexico border region. John Novak and his students continued their research activity in wastewater treatment, anaerobic digestion, and solid waste management. They were co-authors of nine papers presented at the annual Water Environment Federation meeting in Orlando, Fla. He served as the advisor for 10 graduate students this past year. Novak presented a keynote address at the International Waste Association Sludge Conference in Harbin, China and presented three other papers at this conference. Similarly, Novak served as keynoter for the Australian Water Association Sludge Conference in Sydney, Australia. He and two of his students presented papers at the Residuals and Biosolids Management Conference in Savannah, Ga. The faculty travelled around the state, country, and globe on their missions to promote a healthy and sustainable environment for humans and their animal and plant coinhabitants on the planet. Research continued with projects supported by Siemens Corporation, DC Water & Sewer Authority, Bucknell University, the Water Environment Research Foundation, and Waste Management, Inc. Four papers were published in research journals and 12 papers were included in conference proceedings. Novak continued his service as an associate editor for the journal Water Environment Research. Amy Pruden had a productive year, teaching CEE 3104, publishing six research articles, and being awarded two new research grants. The first, awarded by the Water Research Foundation, will allow her to work alongside Edwards in identifying premise plumbing conditions that favor the growth of opportunistic pathogens, such as Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaire’s disease. On the second grant, Pruden will work with Novak and Vikesland in examining emerging contaminants in wastewater treatment plant effluents and identifying optimal membrane treatment strategies that promote sustainable water and save energy. Progress in her antibiotic resistance work will allow the identification of molecular signatures of antibiotic resistance genes that can trace their origin from wastewater or agriculture. Pruden was honored in the spring as a Virginia Tech College of Engineering Faculty Fellow. She also welcomed into the world a new baby daughter, Tanya Elena Bagchi, born August 26, 2009. Emeritus faculty Cliff Randall spent time promoting Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR). He collaborated on completing a revision of the EPA’s BNR manual, and made key presentations at three BNR workshops sponsored by EPA and participated in a webinar for the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. Randall was honored when selected to present the 2009 Water Environment Federation/ Association of Environmental Engineers and Scientists Lecture at the WEF Annual Conference. He was also the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Joan Hodges Queneau Palladium Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies & Audubon Society, awarded at a National Academy of Science’s banquet. Randall was also reappointed to the Science Advisory Committee of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Peter Vikesland and his research group had a highly successful year. He spent the fall of 2009 as a visiting scientist at the Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement des Géosciences de l’Environnement in Aix-en-Provence, France. While there he worked with his French colleagues on research projects to characterize the potential environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials. Returning to campus in the spring of 2010,Vikesland used some of the knowledge gained during his sabbatical year to develop a new environmental nanotechnology graduate course. He taught that course and his “Fundamentals of Public Health Engineering” course during the spring semester. During the past year, two of Vikesland’s current and former students won national awards: Xiaojun Chang, Ph.D. candidate received an ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry Graduate Student Award and Krista Rule Wigginton (Ph.D. 2008) earned the 2010 Second Place Doctoral Dissertation Award from AWWA. Mark Widdowson assumed new administrative duties as assistant department head. His primary responsibilities include serving as the CEE graduate program director and oversight of international activities. He continues to be active in teaching and research. On the research front, Widdowson presented papers at the International Conference on Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds held in Monterey, Calif., and the Partners in Environmental Technology Technical Symposium and Workshop held in Washington, D.C. He is concluding work on the two projects funded by the Department of Defense Environmental Security Technology Certification Program on developing new tools for improving site remediation and addressing sustainability at contaminated facilities. Widdowson is collaborating with Pruden on a study of TNT remediation at a site in Virginia. In summer 2011, he will lead a study abroad program at the Virginia Tech Center in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The six-week course will allow CEE students to study water resources management in an international setting. 2010 | VIA REPORT | 25
Page 1 and 2: the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department
Page 3 and 4: DEPARTMENT HEAD’S MESSAGE One vit
Page 5 and 6: RESEARCH NEWS Why a huge shift is o
Page 7 and 8: Concerns (from page 4) RESEARCH NEW
Page 9 and 10: FACULTY NEWS New Faculty MATTHEW EA
Page 11 and 12: FACULTY NEWS New Faculty: Professor
Page 13 and 14: FACULTY NEWS Retirement Cox retires
Page 15 and 16: STUDENT NEWS Undergraduate Scholars
Page 17 and 18: STUDENT NEWS Ph.D. Degrees Awarded
Page 19 and 20: PROGRAM AREAS Civil and Environment
Page 21 and 22: Construction (from page 18) Virgini
Page 23 and 24: PROGRAM AREAS Environmental and Wat
Page 25: Environment (from page 22) of servi
Page 29 and 30: Geotechnical (from page 26) Dove is
Page 31 and 32: PROGRAM AREAS Structural Engineerin
Page 33 and 34: Structural (from page 29) bridges i
Page 35 and 36: PROGRAM AREAS Transportation Infras
Page 37 and 38: Transportation (from page 34) model
Page 39 and 40: VIA SCHOLARS Master’s Students Sh
Page 41 and 42: Master’s Students Luke T. Cronin
Page 43 and 44: Master’s Students Maria W. Lang H
Page 45 and 46: Master’s Students VIA SCHOLARS Ch
Page 47 and 48: Doctoral Students Kacie C. D’Ales
Page 49 and 50: Doctoral Students Lashun K. King Ho
Page 51 and 52: Doctoral Students Caroline K. Nguye
Page 53 and 54: Doctoral Students Melissa Stewart H
Page 55 and 56: VIA ALUMNI: Where Are They Now Juan
Page 57 and 58: VIA ALUMNI: Where Are They Now Brad
Page 59 and 60: VIA ALUMNI: Where Are They Now Nick
Page 61 and 62: VIA ALUMNI Donors to the CEE Depart
Page 63 and 64: Via Donors Samuel D. Richardson ...
Page 65 and 66: Credits Department Head............
Page 68: The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department

Annual Report Year 2010 - Civil and Environmental Engineering

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