Graduate Students

Student designing greener buildings and a better future

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 22:03:07 +0000

Student designing greener buildings and a better future Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/05/2024 - 16:03

Jeff Zehnder

By analyzing formulas and construction blueprints, Jules Fischer-White is helping Americans build better green homes as a modeling engineer at Emu Passive Inc.

“It’s a super cool company. If an individual is going to build a house and wants it to be more energy efficient, we model it and give advice on how to improve their design,” Fischer-White said.

It is much more than simply suggesting better windows or adding insulation.

“We get plans from the architect, and I model the total floor area as well as internal net volumes of all the rooms, which gives us information for sizing the ventilation system,” he said. “We also look at the building envelope, which includes the windows, doors, and other boundary conditions. We geo-locate the project as well and include nearby trees and other shade sources so we can calculate how much sunlight will be entering each window in summer and winter.”

He began the part-time position midway through his senior year, as a chance to use what he has learned in the classroom to make the world a better place.

Fischer-White wrapped up his undergrad in May, but decided to pursue his master’s through the BAM program.

“I joined CU �鶹ӰԺ in the spring of 2020, right before COVID. It took a while to get into the flow and meet people and be part of campus life and I want to enjoy my college years. In some ways it feels like I’ve only been here three years,” he said.

Drawn to science and math at a young age, Fischer-White had a unique path to CU �鶹ӰԺ.

Although he is a Colorado native, his family moved to Thailand while he was still a toddler. He grew up there – and speaks fluent Thai – but their home was in a town without many opportunities for someone with a budding interest in STEM fields.

“We lived in an area that’s rated as one of the best retirement communities in the country, but there weren’t that many things to do for younger people, especially stuff in science and math,” Fischer-White said.

He returned to the United States for his junior and senior years of high school at a boarding school in Vermont.

“I’d never really had access to a chemistry lab or physics lab before. There were so many resources I had never seen. That was really exciting to me,” he said.

He decided he wanted to be an engineer, and the interdisciplinary nature of environmental engineering was particularly appealing.

Continuing to live in the United States for college made sense. While Thai universities offer engineering programs, Fischer-White said they are not accredited internationally, which would have limited his employment opportunities.

Although it had been 15 years since his family lived in Colorado, the state was still their home base, at least on paper, making CU �鶹ӰԺ an easy choice.

Earning a master’s also offers Fischer-White the opportunity to learn more about another passion area: water and sanitation.

“I want to dive more into it,” Fischer-White said. “I love building science, but I also would love to work with Doctors Without Borders as a sanitary engineer. Every time they set up a hospital, they need engineers to deal with waste. It’s an area where I feel like I’ll always be able to sleep well delivering clean water to people.”

The environmental engineering graduate program offers multiple courses in water management, reuse, and sanitation. Fischer-White hopes to spend the 2024-25 academic year completing his MS before entering the workforce full-time.

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Grad student turning trash into cash

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:27:16 +0000

Grad student turning trash into cash Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/09/2024 - 13:27

Jeff Zehnder

Brooke Marten (left) and Prof. Sherri Cook following Marten's successful thesis defense July 1.

Brooke Marten (MEnvEngr’21, PhD’24) is engineering a better environment through high tech solid waste analysis.

Marten just completed her PhD in environmental engineering at the �鶹ӰԺ, focused on what happens to trash after it is carted off to the landfill – and ways to turn it into a valuable product.

“My focus is on resource recovery of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste – food waste and yard trimmings,” Marten said. “You can recover valuable material that can be marketed and sold.”

Her research and PhD thesis used life cycle analysis to evaluate different solid waste strategies including composting, anaerobic digestion and especially pyrolysis, a method of breaking down organic material in the absence of oxygen at high temperatures – typically above 500 °C.

“Implementation of the more common organic waste management strategies, like anaerobic digestion and composting, has been slow, so we wanted to look particularly at the use of a novel strategy, pyrolysis, which showed real potential,” Marten said.

An emphasis of Marten’s work is how turning waste into a useful product can also reduce environmental impact. Pyrolysis results in a solid called biochar that can be used as a landfill cover material. It avoids the need to use soil or woodchips and reduces landfill emissions.

Pyrolysis can also treat landfill leachate, formed when rainwater filters through buried waste, and recovers syngas, which can be combusted for energy production.

“I have a draw to recover resources from something people view as trash, flipping the narrative. This shouldn’t be a burden; it is an opportunity to recover something,” she said.

Conducting life cycle analysis models the full implications of these environmental actions, providing a more complete picture.

“Carbon footprints are on everyone’s radar, and the analysis looks at that, but it’s actually quite a bit more complex – for example, we also look at each strategies’ potential to cause algal blooms, form smog, and contribute to ocean acidification. If our plan helps in one area but hurts in another, we want to avoid that,” she said.

The analysis also focuses on dollars and cents.

This shouldn’t be a burden; it is an opportunity to recover something." - Brooke Marten

“We can’t recommend something that’s great for greenhouse gas reduction but is totally unaffordable,” she said.

The desire for such a complete analysis grew during Marten’s undergraduate years as a civil engineering student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. There, she observed a campus Styrofoam and foam packing material recycling program and wanted to know if was as beneficial as hoped.

“They recycled Styrofoam, but to do it they were driving these trucks all around picking it up. I wanted to know if that made sense or if it should just be landfilled,” she said.

She learned about life cycle analysis, but did not have the knowledge necessary to conduct one as an undergrad. It eventually led her to CU �鶹ӰԺ and Professor Sherri Cook, who is an expert in the methodology and would become her PhD advisor.

“It’s a very marketable skillset and I knew I had to go to grad school to do it,” Marten said.

Completing such analysis is resource-intensive. Marten developed computerized process models, adding variable after variable – waste mass, material composition, energy potential, and more, to present the most complete picture possible, as the ideal answer for one municipality may not work as well for another.

“Waste is so heterogeneous, and the solutions are not one size fits all. Some parts of the country really push collection of yard waste. Others emphasize foot scraps. That composition could change the answers,” Marten said.

Her PhD thesis, “Towards Sustainable Resource Recovery: Developing and Evaluating Novel Strategies for the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste,” is now complete and Marten successfully defended on July 1.

The next chapter of her life is with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she has been hired as a sustainability engineer, a job rich in research and life cycle assessments.

“They work on a lot of novel concepts at national labs, and I love research,” she said. “I’m really excited about it.”

Brooke Marten is engineering a better environment through high tech solid waste analysis. Marten just completed her PhD in environmental engineering, focused on what happens to trash after it is carted off to the landfill – and ways to turn it into a valuable product.

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Environmental engineering on an icebreaker ship at the North Pole

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:28:18 +0000

Environmental engineering on an icebreaker ship at the North Pole Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/31/2023 - 09:28

Jeff Zehnder

Header Image: Shelby Buckley on an ice floe near the North Pole.
Above: Researchers and the crew in front of the Kronprins Haakon.

Shelby Buckley has made the research trip of a lifetime – studying the impacts of climate change up close and personal on a five-week trip to the Arctic aboard the Kronprins Haakon icebreaking ship.

It offered a unique chance to personally collect ice core and seawater samples and experience the excitement and fears of life on top of the world.

Polar Bears

“I flew into Svalbard, Norway. It’s an Arctic island with no trees and you can’t leave the city limits without a rifle because there are so many polar bears,” Buckley said.

On the ship, they took similar precautions. Any time a team was on an ice flow, observers with rifles and binoculars kept watch, and with good reason. Over the course of the trip, Buckley saw 20 polar bears.

“I was shocked by the number. The first one I saw I think I screamed like a little girl. By the 14th one, it’s okay, another one,” Buckley said.

Buckley is studying organic matter and pollutants and as a PhD student in environmental engineering at the �鶹ӰԺ, working under the leadership of Professor Fernando Rosario-Ortiz.

Diminishing Ice Coverage

“Seeing how little ice there was at the North Pole was very sad,” Buckley said. “When we got there we struggled to find an ice floe big enough to walk on. The climate projections in general are frightening and seeing it with your own eyes, it’s real.”

The trip was sponsored by the Norwegian Polar Institute and came about through a longstanding research collaboration Buckley has with Juliana D’Andrilli, a professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

Buckley’s work includes analysis of organic matter in the Arctic. When organic matter is hit by sunlight it reacts to form carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. As the ice sheets continue to melt, the sunlight will penetrate further into ocean releasing these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

In addition, Buckley is studying the presence of persistent organic pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides and flame-retardant chemicals. While the arctic has very few people, these pollutants are carried to the region on air and water currents from more populous areas thousands of miles away.

She was able to conduct some analysis on the ship, but much of the work required collecting samples to bring back home to a more controlled environment.

“When the ship is breaking ice, the boat lifts up over the ice and then comes down over and over. It’s hard to do chemistry,” she said.

24 Hours of Sun

Life on board was a continuous adventure with nearly every experience shared with her shipmates. And with the sun above the horizon all day and night, there was plenty of time to get to know the 28 researchers and 15 crewmembers aboard.

The Kronprins Haakon above the Arctic Circle.

“It’s 10 p.m. and still sunny and we’re wondering if we should we keep hanging out or go to bed,” Buckley said. “Every night we would play board games. I learned to knit. A researcher gave me needles and yarn and we would sit and talk and have coffee and tea.”

Although there was an abundance of high-tech scientific instruments, there was no internet access and while email was available, it was a single account shared by the entire crew.

“You’re with these people for five weeks 24 hours a day. I formed really strong relationships and friendships I hope last forever,” Buckley said. “It’s a little like summer camp in that way.”

Now back in the lab, Buckley is conducting organic matter photochemistry on the samples.

“I run optical measurements like absorbance and fluorescence to characterize the samples,” she said. “I use a solar simulator to hit the Arctic organic matter samples with artificial sunlight. You can measure the formation of reactive intermediates, which are generated by reactions between organic matter, the environment and light.”

The goal is to learn more about how sunlight interacts with the Arctic organic matter in the environment and how that affects climate change.

More Arctic Plans

Despite the risk of polar bear encounters, Buckley is eager to return to the tundra, and is planning an expedition to Alaska and Mt. Denali for this spring to analyze persistent organic pollutants in the high alpine.

“My Mom is excited but is concerned about my safety,” Buckley said. “She has asked why I can’t pick a field that doesn’t risk my life.”

After completing a trek to the North Pole, Buckley is also hopeful to make a similar trip to the opposite end of the Earth.

“It was never on my bucket list to visit the South Pole, but now that I’ve visited the North Pole, I want to go,” she said. “I am passionate about research and leading project, and I want to make a positive difference in the fields of environmental and climate science.”

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PhD candidate using satellites and machine learning to combat drought in Africa

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 16:18:34 +0000

PhD candidate using satellites and machine learning to combat drought in Africa Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/28/2022 - 10:18

Katie Fankhauser, a PhD candidate in environmental engineering, is the lead author of a paper in Science of The Total Environment that identifies impacts of high groundwater use in response to drought in the Horn of Africa through satellite data, remote-sensors and machine learning analysis tools.

We asked her about the research, her time at CU �鶹ӰԺ and where the work goes from here.

Question: How did you get to CU �鶹ӰԺ? What drew you to the university?
Answer: I previously worked in large-scale water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and sustainable energy programs in East Africa with Associate Professor Thomas. My research towards a PhD in Environmental Engineering – and this project in particular – presented an opportunity to re-engage in this region of Africa with an approach toward improved water insecurity and livelihood resilience founded on data and evidence-based decision making.

Q: How would you describe this project and research?
A: Drought is one of the most persistent, expansive, and damaging of natural disasters. It is also increasing in prevalence and severity. And when coupled with weak policies and management, it can lead to regional water and food insecurity, disease, and conflict for billions of people globally.

Groundwater is an important resource of water for people, livestock, and agriculture during drought in the Horn of Africa. In this work, areas of high groundwater demand in drought-prone Kenya were identified, and the conditions forecasted prior to the dry season. For this project we used hydrologic and land surface conditions – derived from satellites and mechanistic models – combined with advanced statistics and machine learning to better describe a population’s reliance on groundwater during drought.

The maps we developed are very accurate and are now available for stakeholders including the Kenya National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). These maps represent the first operational spatially-explicit sub-seasonal to seasonal estimates of groundwater use and demand in the literature.

Q: What are some of the applications of this work?
A: One of the primary reasons we want to research this dynamic is that knowledge of historical and forecasted groundwater use will improve decision-making and resource allocation for a range of early warning and early action applications.

The arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya have faced regular drought since at least 2016 with below average rainfall placing 18 million people at risk. The use of groundwater is an effective drought mitigation strategy and operational boreholes may reduce exposure and vulnerability to drought for affected populations. Yet, during the 2016-2017 drought, 55% of the pumps needed to access groundwater were non-functional in Kenya. The ability to direct limited resources to repair, maintain, or site the most critically needed boreholes based on projected use will enable responsible stewardship of water resources and community resilience to drought. Furthermore, observing and predicting trends in groundwater use could be an important indicator of a developing drought itself.

It is all part of the Drought Resilience Impact Platform (DRIP) – an integrated systems-based approach to reducing drought impacts and improving water quality and soil health that is being researched and explored on campus right now.

Q: Where will the research go from here?
A: At the beginning of July, near the start of the dry season in Kenya, we introduced the groundwater data products and service to stakeholders at several meetings and workshops. They have begun to integrate the information into their workflows and planning such as drought risk bulletins. Their feedback will inform iterative design of the models and data visualization.

With the dataset, we also plan to improve trend and anomaly detection of groundwater use and demand.

Q: What was is it like working with Associate Professor Evan Thomas and others in the Mortenson Center?
A: The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering is a diverse and welcoming group of people that have supported my research and personal growth while challenging me to think more critically about the impact of my work and the responsibility I have to promote anti-racism, decolonization of aid, localization and equity. This community has made my time at CU �鶹ӰԺ meaningful and continues to motivate me to be a better researcher, professional and friend.

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Three grad students earn AWWA Scholarships

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 19:38:01 +0000

Three grad students earn AWWA Scholarships Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/28/2022 - 13:38

Miles Salzer

From left to right: Sangsuk Lee, Emma Wells, Ayush Shahi

Three EVEN graduate students were recently awarded scholarships through the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Scholarship program for their hard work and perseverance.

Sangsuk Lee (Advisor: Anthony Straub) received the HDR One Water Institute Scholarship. Sangsuk expects to complete his Ph.D. in May 2023 and plans to join a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, he will research desalination and hopes to decrease the associated costs.

Emma Wells (Advisors: Karl Linden and Amy Javernick-Will) was granted the Dr. Philip C. Singer Scholarship and plans to complete her Ph.D. by May 2025. Emma’s research aims to help low-income communities that struggle with safe water. She hopes her “findings from [her] research can be used as a roadmap to assessing the reliability of water quality in rural and marginalized communities.”

Ayush Shahi (Advisor: Julie Korak) received the Thomas R. Camp Scholarship from CDM Smith. Ayush’s research focuses on reducing hazardous waste containing arsenic through an innovative regeneration process. “Through research and partnership with water utilities, [Ayush plans] to design treatment processes that benefit the communities we are serving.” In the future, Ayush plans to continue research and possibly teaching.

Three EVEN graduate students were recently awarded scholarships through the AWWA Scholarship program for their hard work and perseverance...

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PhD student Kimberly Pugel Honored as 2021 New Face of Civil Engineering by ASCE

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 16:47:32 +0000

PhD student Kimberly Pugel Honored as 2021 New Face of Civil Engineering by ASCE Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/22/2021 - 09:47

ASCE has honored Kimberly Pugel as a 2021 New Face of Civil Engineering. Pugel’s work combines environmental engineering, planning, policymaking, and a heavy dose of communication skills, particularly as it relates to facilitating communication between stakeholders and decision-makers.

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Exploring assumptions in financing for urban water utilities in low-income countries

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 14:10:45 +0000

Exploring assumptions in financing for urban water utilities in low-income countries Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/12/2021 - 07:10

Anna Libey, a PhD student in environmental engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ, is the lead author on a new paper that compares utilities around the world and advocates for more subsidization in utility operations to provide clean water.

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CEAE and EVEN 2020 Live-Streamed Graduation Ceremony Video

Anonymous — Tue, 19 May 2020 15:09:25 +0000

CEAE and EVEN 2020 Live-Streamed Graduation Ceremony Video Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/19/2020 - 09:09

Congratulations on your Graduation!

The Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department and the Environmental Engineering Program hosted a live-streamed graduation ceremony on May 15, 2020.

More than 350 graduating students, faculty, staff, family and friends attended the ceremony to celebrate your accomplishments.Thank you to all. Special thanks to our featured guest speaker Jonathan Jones, Chief Executive Officer at Wright Water Engineers and to our student speaker Peter Heller, who won the Outstanding Undergraduate Award from the College of Engineering and Applied Science and from the Civil, Environmental and Architectural Department.

Please find below the Program, the graduation updated slides and the video of the Ceremony.

Go Buffs!

2020 CEAE and EVEN Graduation Ceremony Slides Graduation Program

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hktsu-WEW5w]

The Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department and the Environmental Engineering Program hosted a live-streamed graduation ceremony on May 15, 2020. More than 350 graduating students, faculty, staff, family and friends attended the ceremony to celebrate your accomplishments.

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Summer fellowship will help student wrap up her sustainable concrete research

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 19:27:52 +0000

Summer fellowship will help student wrap up her sustainable concrete research Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/29/2020 - 13:27

PhD student Mikaela DeRousseau has received a 2020 Summer Fellowship from the CU �鶹ӰԺ Graduate School. DeRousseau is in her fourth year at CU �鶹ӰԺ with a focus on civil systems, and expects to graduate in August. Her advisors are Joseph Kasprzyk and Wil Srubar

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PhD candidate receives awards for environmental engineering research

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 13:38:46 +0000

PhD candidate receives awards for environmental engineering research Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2020 - 07:38

PhD candidate Matthew Bentley was recently recognized as the top student presenter at the Emerging Contaminants Summit 2020.

In addition, Bentley was awarded an honorable mention for the Figueroa Family Fellowship, which recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to the achievement of a diverse student body.

“It is an honor to receive these awards recognizing my contribution to a diverse engineering student body, my service in low-and middle-income countries, and my research focused on low-cost solutions to global chemical contamination of water sources,” Bentley said. “It has been a joy to involve students from diverse backgrounds in my research, which is having a direct impact improving public health in Southeast Asia, and I hope that more individuals from underrepresented populations will consider a career in engineering to make our world a better place.”

Bentley is a fifth-year PhD student in environmental engineering working with Professor R. Scott Summers, with an intended graduation date of August 2020. He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Union University in 2015 and his master’s in engineering for developing communities from CU �鶹ӰԺ in 2018. He also earned a graduate certificate in engineering for developing communities.

Bentley’s dissertation is titled “Enhancing biochar sorption of organic micropollutants: Understanding the impacts of low-cost improvement methods in various water treatment scenarios.”

“My research at CU focuses on low-cost methods for improving biochar to remove chemical contaminants from water,” he said. “I have developed a novel ‘ash pretreatment’ method relevant for resource-limited communities due to their low-cost, decentralized nature, and use of locally available materials.”

PhD candidate Matthew Bentley was recently recognized as the top student presenter at the Emerging Contaminants Summit 2020. In addition, Bentley was awarded an honorable mention for the Figueroa Family Fellowship, which recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to the achievement of a diverse student body.

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