Change of Leadership - Water Environment Association of Texas

March 2009 Texas WET | 15Student and Young Professional Activities at Texas WaterThank you all for supporting the Young Professional initiativesat the Texas Water Conference in Galveston! Wehad a great YP Technical Session with a very diverse audienceattending the personal development presentations.For the career fair, we had a great turnout of studentslooking for internships and also full time positions in ourwater industry.For the WEAT Student Design and UniversityForum Competitions, congratulationsto all teams and individual presenters!These students dedicated significanttime in addition to their normal activitiesin order to prepare papers, presentations,engineering calculations and more.For the WEAT Student Design Competition,four (4) university teams prepared1st Place Winnersdesign alternatives for Nutrient Removalat the Trinity River Authority (TRA) CentralRegional Wastewater System (CRWS)Treatment Plant. Student Teams assumedthat TRA currently has the systemimprovements to handle existing permitrequirements for CBOD/TSS/NH3/DOof 7/15/(2/4)/6. Additionally, Student2nd Place WinnersTeams assumed that the permitted capacitywill remain 162 MGD. The NutrientRemoval solution developed by theStudent Teams was capable of handlingthe addition of nitrogen and phosphoruslimits to the projected 2015 permitrequirements of 5/5/0.5/10/1/6 CBOD/TSS/TP/TN/NH3/DO. The teams’ TexasWater presentations and technical notebookswere impressive! The following3rd Place Winnerslist details the placement for the WEATStudent Design Competition:l 1st Place - Southern MethodistUniversity Team (Angellia Chandler,Drew Aleto) Total prize = $4,300which includes a travel allowance forthe team to compete at the WEFTECStudent Design Competition inOrlando, Florida.l 2nd Place – Lamar University (QianzhenXie, Sehul Patel, Roulin Zhang)Total prize = $650l 3rd Place – Texas Tech University(Kristin Peterson, Nubia Estrada,Felipe Estrada, Glenda Smith, KristenFaith, Steven Broadaway)Total prize = $4004th Place WinnersUniversity Forum WinnersBy Trooper Smith and Alissa Lockett, YP Co-chairsl 4th Place – Texas A&M University (Adam Slusser, PaulWitkowski, Taylor Morrison, Chris Haeckler)Total prize = $250For the University Forum, several students prepared presentationsabout their research work at their local universities.Guided by the leadership of Dr. BillRixey, the University Forum program atTexas Water was narrowed down to theTop 6 abstract submittals. The individualpresentations were magnificent! The followinglist details the placement for theUniversity Forum Competition:l 1st Place – Leon Downing / RobertNerenberg (University of Notre Dame)– Membrane Aerated Biofilms: Whois There, What are They Doing, andWhy are They Beneficial– Total prize = $1,000 and a trip toAWWA ACEl 2nd Place – Scott Hekman / DesmondLawler (University of Texas at Austin)– Improved Concentrate Recoveryfor Reverse Osmosis Treatment ofBrackish Groundwater– Total prize = $600l 3rd Place – Sunghyuk Park / BillBatchelor (Texas A&M University)– Perchlorate Reduction Using a TitaniumMembrane Hybrid System– Total prize = $400For the finale, the Young ProfessionalReception was a hit!! Total attendancewas over 250 Young and Older Professionals.With the appetizers, beer andhumor from Raj Bhattarai, everythingwas perfect.Again, thank you to all sponsors, volunteersand attendees for your supportof the Young Professional initiatives atthe Texas Water Conference! Keep themomentum, be a mentor, be a leader andencourage new YPs to get involved.If you have any questions about theYoung Professional Committee, ourinitiatives and goals, or if you want to bemore involved, please contact us: TrooperSmith (tws@freese.com) or Alissa Lockett(LockettAR@CDM.com), WEAT YoungProfessional Co-chairs.