1) 2012-2013 Herbert Scholarship Award Winners
In 1980, AWRA established the Endowment Memorial Fund to be used for the enhancement of education in water resources. The fund has since been renamed the Richard A. Herbert Memorial Educational Fund to honor Richard A. Herbert, a champion for water resources education who died in 1994.
Kimberly Ogren, Oregon State University
Graduate Student Recipient - $2000 Award
Kim is a graduate student at Oregon State University (OSU). She is finished her Masters degree and will start her PhD in the fall. She has served as a graduate research assistant on a Bureau of Reclamation study seeking to increase the ability of the agency to prevent and manage water conflicts. This research, which she used for her Master’s thesis, seeks to understand how to promote better water management and decision making in order to avoid costly conflicts. She recently joined the Willamette Water 2100, a National Science Foundation project that seeks to develop an interdisciplinary model to prepare for future water scarcity. She is also a student contributor to the Universities Consortium on Columbia Basin Governance, which currently provides the only opportunity for international dialogue on the evolution of the Columbia River Treaty, post 2024. In March she presented hydro‐gaming as a potential solution for water management challenges at the 6th World Water Forum in Marseilles, France, as part of the Emerging Academics Program and Water Youth Movement. She is the president of Hydrophiles, the OSU student chapter of AWRA (winner of the most recent Best Student Chapter award), and serves as a mentoring program coordinator, leading a group of mentors to help first year water policy students adjust to graduate school. She is also the chair of the 2012 Water Research Symposium at OSU. In her own words, “In the broadest sense my primary career goal is to contribute to the development of good water policy and management that is informed by good science, takes the long term view, and engages various interests through collaboration.”
Katherine Elizabeth Boone, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Undergraduate Recipient - $2000 Award
Kate is a student at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) where she is pursuing a double major in Water Science, with an option in hydrology, and Environmental Restoration Science, with an option in soil science. She was awarded a two‐year research grant to conduct research on water chemistry of the unsaturated zone and the impact of land use change on water resources in her region, and recently had the opportunity to present her research at the UNL Undergraduate Research Fair. She is a member of the UNL Soil and Water Resources Club, and has participated in planning the installation of a rain garden on campus and in outreach events to educate the community on the value of rain gardens. She will graduate from UNL in December of 2012 and plans to attend law school to pursue a career in water law. She enjoys volunteering with the National Federation of the Blind as a science educator at Camp Tuhsmeheta’s science camp for blind children. In her own words, “I wanted to pursue a career in something I was passionate about, something I could make a difference in, and something that preferably involved natural resources.”
Two additional $1,000 scholarships were awarded to graduate students Luke Pangle (OSU) and Amy Hetherington (Cornell):
Congratulations!
2) Student Presenter Awards - Summer Specialty Conferences
AWRA convened two Summer Specialty Conferences in 2012 and each one held a Student Presenter Competition. We wish to congratulate the winners of each.
A total of thirty-two students participated during both conferences in both oral and poster sessions. Conference attendees were given the opportunity to judge the students during their scheduled sessions. The following criteria were used for all competitors:
- Efficient use of allotted presentation time or poster space.
- Quality of responses to audience questions in oral or at poster sessions.
- Effective integration of audio-visual materials.
- Perceived preparedness.
- Logic and understandability of material (problem, methods, results, conclusions).
- Adequate description of context for material – conveyed purpose of paper, identified relevant literatures, etc.
- Overall style and presence; effective communicator – enthusiasm or persuasiveness
- Suitability for AWRA/professional audience.
- Significance and originality of the material presented.
Everyone did a terrific job, making the decisions difficult. Additionally, for the Contaminants Conference money was donated by the AWRA Colorado State Section and the Consortium for Research and Education on Emerging Contaminants (CREEC) allowing for six awards rather than the usual two. Thanks are due to both these organizations for their support of the conference.
Riparian Ecosystems IV: Advancing Science, Economics, and Policy
Student Presenter Winners
Julia Hyman Lazar, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Woody debris: Denitrification Hotspots and N2O Production in Fluvial Systems (co-authors: Art Gold, Kelly Addy, Paul Mayer, Ken Forshay, Peter Groffman) Oral
Julia grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut and graduated from Dickinson College in the spring of 2006 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a minor in Geology. While an undergraduate she spent a semester studying ecology at the University of East Anglia in England and a semester studying conservation biology in Namibia with the Save the Rhino Trust. Before starting her PhD at the University of Rhode Island as an NSF IGERT fellow, Julia worked for two years as the Environmental Scientist for the Long Island Soundkeeper, a small CT nonprofit organization devoted to protecting Long Island Sound. Her work experience also includes conducting surveys for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, working in the lab at a sewage treatment facility in Fairfield, CT, writing a policy guidance document for Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council regarding stormwater runoff in the Greenwich Bay watershed, and interning at the EPA in Narragansett, RI, researching carbon sequestration rates in northeast coastal wetlands. Julia’s URI advisor is Dr. Arthur Gold and she is focusing on denitrification hotspots in fluvial systems.
Matthew Panunto, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD
Effects of Valley Segment Sequencing on Floodplain Hydroperiods (co-authors: Pierre-André Jacinthe, Philippe Vidon, Matthew Baker, Katelin Fisher, Xiaoqiang Liu) Poster
Matthew Panunto is a spring 2012 graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Geography and Environmental Systems under the guidance of Dr. Matthew Baker. His work focused on developing geospatial methods to characterize the morphology of river valleys from digital elevation models, and using the hydraulic model HEC-RAS to investigate flood dynamics for the White River drainage basin in south-central Indiana. Matthew’s other interests include identifying effects of riparian ecosystems and land use on water quality.
Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Water Resources II
Student Presenter Winners
Bowen Du, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Bioaccumulation of Pharmaceuticals and Other Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Different Trophic Levels Residing in the North Bosque River, an Effluent-Dominated Stream, Texas, USA (co-authors: J. P. Berninger, K. A. Connors, T. M. Conry, C. K. Chambliss, B. W. Brooks)
Bowen Du is a PhD student in The Institute of Ecological, Earth, Environmental Sciences and the Department of Environmental Science at Baylor University. His research focuses on developing approaches for understanding exposure of various contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) in an effort to reduce uncertainty during environmental risk assessment and management. Bowen holds a BS in Environmental Science from Northeast Forestry University (China) and a MS degree in Environmental Science from Baylor University.
Emma Wilson, Boise State University, Boise, ID
Using Microcosms to Infer Fungicide Impact on Black Fly Associated Gut Fungi (co-authors: K. L. Smalling, T. J. Reilly, E. W. Gray, J. W. Gause, M. M. White) Poster
Field Studies of the Effects of Fungicides on Non-target Gut Fungi and Pesticide Accumulation in Their Black Fly Hosts (co-authors: K. L. Smalling, T. J. Reilly, L. Steele, P. Kandel, A. B. Chamberlin, M. M. White) Oral
Emma R. Wilson is a graduate research assistant and MS candidate at Boise State University in the Department of Biological Sciences. Emma is investigating how fungicides affect non-target fungi in the group trichomycetes, or gut fungi, which are symbiotic with many aquatic macroinvertebrates. Emma is conducting one of the first field-based assessments of non-target impacts on fungi by comparing streams with different surrounding land uses in Idaho. She has also developed laboratory microcosm experiments to test the effects of field-relevant fungicide concentrations on gut fungi, both in vitro and in vivo. Emma holds a BS in Environmental Biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She has always been interested in water quality, natural sciences and the environment and looks forward to developing a career in this exciting field.
Kristin Connors, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Opportunities and Challenges Integrating Comparative Pharmacology Approaches during Ecological Risk Assessments for Contaminants of Emerging Concern (co-authors: J. P. Berninger, B. W. Brooks) Oral
Kristin A. Connors is a fourth-year PhD student in the Institute of Biomedical Studies and Department of Environmental Science at Baylor University. Her interdisciplinary research efforts with Dr. Bryan W. Brooks focus on developing chemically and biologically based “read-across” approaches to support environmental assessments of contaminants of emerging concern. Ms. Connors holds BS and MS degrees from the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Andrew Madsen, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Tracking EDC-Resistant Bacteria in Wastewater Impacted Surface Waters (co-author: O. Conroy-Ben)
Andrew Madsen is a graduate student at the University of Utah. He is currently pursuing an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering under the direction of Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben. He earned his BS in chemistry with a biological emphasis from the University of Utah in 2011. His current research focuses on endocrine disrupting chemicals and their interactions with drug efflux pumps. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife, Tracy, and his daughter, Hadley.
Cheryl Bertelkamp, Delft University, Delft, The Netherlands
Sorption and Biodegradation of Organic Micropoullutants during Riverbank Filtration (co-authors: J. Reungoat, S. Botton, E. Ghadiri, J.P. van der Hoek, A.R.D. Verliefde, E. Cornelissen, N. Singhal) Oral
Cheryl Bertelkamp was born in 1986 in Naarden, the Netherlands. She obtained her BSc degree in Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology in 2008 after which she started her MSc Water Management at the same university. She did a three-month internship in Australia at Deakin University in collaboration with Coliban Water. She investigated possible causes of high ammonia levels in the wastewater treatment plant effluent, resulting in problems for the subsequent additional treatment processes used to recycle treated wastewater further to a class A water, and received an award from the faculty for this internship. For her MSc thesis, she was involved in a project on organic micropollutant removal with the advanced oxidation process (UV/H2O2) at drinking water company Dunea Duin en Water, the Netherlands. She investigated different pre-treatment techniques for the UV/H2O2 process regarding their energy savings in the subsequent UV/H2O2 process as well as the effect on the water quality (e.g. scavengers). In 2010 she graduated cum laude and started her PhD research under the supervision of Professor van der Hoek (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) and Professor Verliefde (Ghent University, Belgium). In this project “Emerging Substances: Towards an Absolute Barrier (ESTAB)”, she investigates a new treatment concept, consisting of river bank filtration, followed by membrane filtration and granular activated carbon, which can possibly provide a complete barrier for all organic micropollutants.
Emily Woodward, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Vadose Zone Transport of Estrogen Hormones at Penn State’s Living Filter (co-authors: D. Andrews, J. Watson)
Emily just completed her Masters in the Crop and Soil Science Department at The Pennsylvania State University, and she is staying to start her PhD this fall in the Ecosystem Science and Management Department. When Emily not in the lab, she tends to spend most of her free time pursuing outdoor activities: hiking, rock climbing, camping, sports, etc. Emily’s passion for outdoor activity has influenced her career thus far, motivating her to tailor her research towards environmental concerns. During her Masters she focused on recent emerging environmental contaminants, endocrine disrupting compounds. Emily quantified estrogen hormone accumulation in soils that had been irrigated with wastewater effluent over the past 25+ years at a site located in State College, PA. For her PhD, she will continue this work by comparing these findings to other wastewater irrigation sites across the country and attempting to establish natural background levels for estrogen hormones in the environment. Emily’s future goal is to work for the United States government as an analytical researcher, helping to optimize our country’s use of water resources.
Congratulations to all the winners and the donors who made the awards possible!
Amazing people! I am fortunate to know Kim and Luke (no, I had no vote).
Note: this material was taken from AWRA sources here and here.
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats
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