Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringFall 2012

Ashley BarkerLWEA-LSU Vice President

1Good Afternoon! I am Ashley Barker, Vice President of the Louisiana Water Environment Association-LSU Chapter. I am also a senior in environmental engineering. Louisiana Water Environment AssociationMember association of Water Environment Federation (WEF)

Dedicated to the protection, promotion and enhancement of the water environment

LWEA is a member association of the Water Environment Federation also know as WEF. Our main focus is to the protection, promotion, and enhancement of the water environment. LWEA-LSU is recognized by the Academy of Environmental Engineers and exists at LSU as the premier organization for environmental engineering students. We have approximately 60 active members and numerous Civil/Environmental professors involved in the organization2LWEA State Chapter Scholarship RecipientsJohn Brodt, Sophomore

Laura Patino, Junior

Ashley Barker, Senior

Our state chapter awards scholarships to outstanding students who support their universities while encouraging the goals and objectives of WEF. In Louisiana there are four scholarships awarded every year. For 2012, LSU has secured three of the four in the entire state. Our members awarded these scholarships were John Brodt, Laura Patino and Ashley Barker (myself). The awards totaled more than $ 4,000.

3LWEA Technical ConferencePresent undergraduate research

Attend research presentations

Volunteer with state chapter staff

The state chapter invites the student chapters to actively participate in their conference every year. In the past we have presented undergraduate research related to the water environment. We attend industrial as well as academic research presentations. Finally we volunteer with the state chapter in helping the conference run smoothly. They have a strong presence within the LSU chapter and we feel it is our duty to help them when they call on us.

4WEFTEC 2012Water Environment Federation Technical Conference: New Orleans, LATechnical Sessions

Career Fair

Young Professional Events

Community Service Event

This year LWEA-LSU was able to financially support 17 students who attended the WEFTEC conference. It was held in New Orleans. Members attended technical sessions related to waste water design and met exhibitors who explained their technologies and how they influence our industry. We were encouraged to use these exhibitors as background research for our senior design projects. The Career Fair hosted over 30 companies looking to hire students for full time positions around the US. Most of our attending members secured interviews with large consulting firms at the career fair and some continued-on to call back interviews. The conference hosted numerous young professional events that invited students to network with CEOs and hiring managers of top tiered companies. To me, LSU students always have a unique charm and these employers took notice. We often stole the spotlight (of course in a good way). By the end of the weekend, LSUs presence was well known and often requested at special invitation only events. The conference also hosted a community service event called Bogging in the Big Easy.

5Bogging in the Big Easy

A few of our members woke up early on a rainy Saturday morning and headed down to NOLA to plant wetlands in City Park. This particular area of City Park is still closed to park visitors following Hurricane Katrina. There were over 80 volunteers and LSU was the only Louisiana university that took part in this event. It was a great opportunity for students to meet future employers before the career fair as well as share sporting rivalries and academic experiences with other students from universities around the US.6Environmental Engineering ProgramOnly program on central Gulf Coast

Fastest growing discipline in engineering (by %)

Diverse, engaged student group

LWEA-LSU and the EVEG program highly support one another. As the premier EVEG organization, we support our professors requests that help guide and expose our members. LSUs environmental engineering program is the only program on the central Gulf Coast and is the fastest growing discipline in engineering by percent. LSUs EVEG program consists of diverse and highly engaged and awarded students.7

Published: March 14, 2012WERC 2012Las Cruces, NM

Every year the EVEG Program sends its senior design students to compete in the WERC competition at New Mexico State University. LSU first attended the design contest in 1998. Since then, LSU teams have competed at 14 design contests and won 10 awards. This article was published about one of the LSU teams last year about a month before competition and can be found on the WERC website. LSU sent a total of three teams for the 2012 competition in topics involving from hydroponics, green roof design, and wind and solar power. 8

2012 WERC Winners: Freeport-McMoranCopper and Gold Sustainability Award(Hydroponic Food Production System)

One of the teams placed second in their task and was awarded the Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Sustainability Award for their project on Hydroponic Food Production System.9WERC 2013Las Cruces, New Mexico2013 LSU Team Subject Topics:

Hydrocarbon removal from RO membranesNitrate removal in rural/agricultural water supplyHormone removal from CAFO effluent

This year, LSU EVEG senior design is preparing to send three more teams to compete. The topics chosen by these groups are reducing hydrocarbon fouling on reverse osmosis membranes, nitrate removal in rural area water supply, and estrogen and estrogen-mimicking hormone reduction from concentrated animal feeding operations effluent. The teams are expected to submit an audited Technical Paper, Poster Presentation, Benchscale Model, and an Oral PowerPoint Presentation. We are working hard and looking forward to representing LSU in the Spring.

10Lake CleanupLSU LakesUpcoming: November 18, 2012

Harbors environmental awareness, camaraderie, and draws attention outside of LSU community

Every semester LWEA-LSU hosts a lake cleanup. We gather our members, friends, roommates, and professors around the LSU lakes one weekend and clean them. We have a competition of which teams pick up the best stuff. We have had traffic signs, crab traps, light poles, bicycles, and boats pulled out of the lakes. Volunteers clean by hand around the lake as well as by canoe inside the lake. We award our volunteers with a bbq and frisbee game afterwards. This year the event is being sponsored by a Metaire environmental consulting firm, ERM and LSU UREC Sustainability Committee. So if you pass by the lakes on Nov 18, stop by and give us a hand! We would love to have you!

11

LWEA-LSU & Environmental Engineering Program

Industry AwarenessProfessional DevelopmentWorld-wide ExposureCommunity OutreachCompetitive Edge

As a graduating senior, I have seen LSU change and transform into a more dynamic university. I absolutely love the slogan love purple, live gold. LWEA-LSU and the environmental engineering program are succeeding at harboring and supporting the love purple live gold campaign through making students aware of industry standards and expectations, professional development opportunities, world wide exposure through guest lecturers and conference attendance, community outreach like the lake clean up and bogging in the big easy, giving not only the study body a competitive edge but also giving the university a competitive edge in technical exhibitions and recruitment. In the EVEG program, we are loving purple and living gold. Please follow our progress and accomplishments over the next few months. Thank you for your time!12