YP Connections - Water Environment Federation

YP CONNECTIONSPAGE 12CONTINUED: A STORY OF SIX YEARS OF A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCEmy own perspectives of mystudy. More importantly, thefriendship among the peersand from the conferencealumni has still lasted untiltoday. ”Thunyalux Ratpukdi, Khon KaenUniversity, Khon Kaen, Thailand“The first year when this conferencewas organized inWinnipeg by University ofManitoba (U of M), I was justa participant presenting myresearch work in front of mylaboratory colleagues fromNDSU and newly introducedfriends from U of M. Questionsraised by the conferenceattendees made me and myadvisor to further criticallyanalyze our work. Later, Ipresented the same work inWEFTEC conference thatyear facing a much largernumber of attendees; most ofthem were professionals andprofessors. The conferenceoffered me three differentkinds of opportunities: 1) toimprove my presentationskills, 2) to develop my networkingskills while buildingthe network, and 3) to graduallybuild leadership skills. Ihave been involved in thisconference for the past sixyears with my roles rangingfrom a simple participant, toa manager of few tasks of theconference, to the leader ofthe organizing team for theconference, and finally to aprofessional that externallyadvices the conference committee.To sum up, this conferenceis a great platform forstudents like me, which providesthe necessary environmentfor transitioning from auniversity life to a professionallife.”Murthy Kasi, Moore Engineering,Inc., North Dakota, USAYPUPDATESCONTINUED: COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTrecreation opportunities tothe City of New Orleans. In2012, City Park sufferedsome damage from HurricaneIsaac but not on the scale ofdestruction caused by HurricaneKatrina.The volunteers will spend theday planting approximately5,000 plants in a wetlanddesigned to remove slit andpollutants from rainfall runoffbefore it reaches surface waterwhile providing a wildlifehabitat and recreational areafor park visitors. If you planon attending the service project,please register for thisevent when you register forWEFTEC so we can plan appropriately.There are spotsavailable to volunteer for theproject – please email DianneCrilley to RSVP.The service project sponsorsinclude: ElectroScan, WorldWater Works, Black &Veatch, CDM Smith, HDREngineering, Greeley andHansen, Hazen and Sawyer,AECOM, Brown and Caldwell,Carollo Engineers,CH2M HILL, New YorkEPA, Philadelphia MixingSolutions LTD, Wigen WaterTechnologies.This project would not bepossible without the manyservice project donors, including:AE2S, BrentwoodIndustries, ChesterEngineers, DuperonCorporation, EntexTechnologies, FKCScrewpress, Malcolm Pirnie,the Water Division ofArcadis, MWH, SchwingBioset Inc., Stantec, VaughanCompany, Inc., Veolia Water– North America, EnvironmentalTechnical Sales Inc.,and Engineering America.Additional local support forthis project was provided byCity Park New Orleans,Cobalt Construction,Louisiana Growers, theLouisiana Department ofWildlife and Fisheries, andthe LSU Ag Center.Questions:Contact Service ProjectChair, Haley Falconer athaley.falconer@hdrinc.comor WEF Staff Liaison DianneCrilley at dcrilley@wef.org.