June 19, 2018

The team's Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor pilot plant was moved today from Fort Riley, KS to the animal lagoons operated by the College of Agriculture of Kansas State University. Thank you to the Department of Defense ESTCP program for funding this successful pilot plant project!

June 18, 2018

Team member Arvind Damadora Kannan has been selected to present his research at WEFTEC 2018 in New Orleans, LA. The conference will be held between September 29th and October 3rd.  The title of Arvind's presentation is "Chelating agent-assisted inhibition and dissolution of struvite for subsequent recovery: experimental and modeling analysis". Congratulations, Arvind!

May 24, 2018

Congratulations to Chad Olney, who will be working for the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) Kansas City District Extension Office in St. Louis, MO. With the Corp, he will be helping oversee the construction of the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) West Headquarters. This is a large $1 Billion complex that will replace the old outdated site. The new location is in north Saint Louis City. His employment with the USACE is an extension of my receiving of the Department of Defense's SMART Scholarship for service, last year. 

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Every year, Kansas State University awards $36 million in scholarships. As the nation's first land grant university, the institution is all about access to higher education, with a goal of improving the quality of life for all Kansas through education, research and outreach. 

May 24, 2018

Congratulations to Bernadette Drouhard, BS Chem E, who will be working as a Process Engineer in Atlanta, GA with Black & Veatch's Water Technology Group.  In this role, she will have the opportunity to work directly with clients to find the best engineering solution available to them.  Members of B&V's Water Technology Group also conduct research and often publish their findings. Look for Bernadette as an upcoming conference! Bernadette says, "I am very excited to work where research and new technologies are largely integrated into the daily work. I know this will keep me connected with the university atmosphere and will likely lead me to pursue a Masters in Environmental Engineering very soon."

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Bernadette will be missed in the research group, along with all of our recent graduates. In addition to her engineering contributions, she also contributed greatly to the Kansas State University chapter of Engineers without Borders!  All the best, Bernadette!

May 23, 2018

Research team member Karla Torres-Nava has accepted a position with the Building Group of Kiewit Corporation.  She interned with Kiewit during the summer  of 2017, working on the construction of the Nebraska Medical Center and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center which is right next to it. It was a very large construction project ($300 million+) , and Karla says, "I was very exited to be part of it." In her new position, she is looking forward to being involved in both construction management and design, potentially for another hospital project in Hawaii. Congratulations, Karla!

Kansas State University has a remarkable placement rate its graduates.   The 2016-2017 Career Center statistics indicate that 95% of graduates are employed or pursuing further graduation.  

May 11, 2018

Congratulations to Bernadette Drouhard, BS Chem E; Chad Olney, BSCE; Ramin Rostampour, BSCE; and Karla Torres-Nava, BSCE! As part of the largest class of engineers ever to graduate from Kansas State University, you helped us to meet the goal of the University Engineering Initiative Act, which was created to increase the number of engineering graduates by 60% above 2012 levels. The act challenged the university to do this in 10 years, but that goal has already been met and exceeded.  

May 11, 2018

Robert Weil PE, a civil engineering graduate student in Dr. Parameswaran’s Advanced Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery Laboratory, recently received two sustainability grants from Kansas State University. The first grant, from the Green Action Fund, is being used to take initial steps towards recovery of resources from Kansas State University’s wastewater flow. The potential resources include water for landscape irrigation, biogas in the form of renewable natural gas, and nitrogen/phosphorus nutrients.  The idea for the grant grew out of a team project in Dr. Parameswaran’s CE 565 Water/Wastewater Treatment class, and the members of that team - Matthew Peterson, Trevor Splichal and Sam Brown - participated in the grant project, along with Amber Kelly, a junior in the agricultural communications and journalism program.  The second grant is from the Center for Engagement and Community Development, and it will be used to engage students, stakeholders, and policy makers regarding the potential to recover resources from agro-industry wastes in Kansas.  Agro-industry wastewater flows have a high level of digestible organic matter, which can place a large load on the municipal wastewater plants receiving those flows.  Anaerobic digestion technology presents an opportunity to generate biogas while significantly reducing organic loads.  Robert will present the results of his research at the 10th Annual KWEA/KsAWWA Joint Conference in Topeka, Kansas on August 28, 2018.

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May 09, 2018

Congratulations to Bernadette Drouhard, chemical engineering, for winning first place in the engineering undergraduate poster competition for her presentation entitled "Nutrient Recovery from Anaerobically Treated Municipal Wastewater".  Her work involves recovering nitrogen and phosphorus using an ion-exchange column containing clinoptilolite.  This technology not only keeps these pollutants out of the environment, it makes the nutrients available for agricultural use. This is an example of the kind of resource recovery made possible with advanced wastewater treatment.

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Kudos also to team member Kristin Jones for participating in the competition  with her poster regarding sustainable external carbon sources for denitrification.