For the second year in a
row, the USU team has won the Water Environment Association of Utah
(WEAU) wastewater design competition. This year's team consists of
Environmental Engineering students Diana Pribble and Cami Snow, and
Civil Engineering student Riley Bradshaw. The team evaluated various
options to upgrade the Logan UT wastewater treatment lagoons to remove
phosphorus. The team presented their design in the state-level
competition at the WEAU conference in St. George UT in April, and was
chosen to represent Utah at the National competition at the WEFTEC
conference in Los Angeles in October. WEFTEC is "recognized as the world's largest water quality exhibition" (http://www.weftec.org/about_weftec/default.aspx).
Riley Bradshaw had this to say about the competition:
"As
far as my thoughts on this competition, I have really appreciated the
in-depth experience that the WEAU student design competition has given
me. I don't think any of us realized what we were getting ourselves into when we started into this over a
year ago. Considering we had only one member of our team then with any
experience in this field at all, there was a very steep learning curve.
We have gone from knowing almost nothing about wastewater treatment, to seriously considering careers in this field.
After
getting the basic concepts down and starting into the design, we
started to realize just how involved the process could be. I would say
that this has been the most comprehensive design that any of us have ever tackled, and I feel that it gave us a
valuable look at "real world" engineering. I feel like I have a good
idea of what working in this field would be like, once I've finished my
degree.
The
most valuable thing that I've gained from this competition, however,
may be the introduction to the wastewater treatment community that it
has given me. After attending a few WEAU conferences I have been impressed with how down to earth everyone is.
People have been so ready to provide feedback and help for us, and
there truly is a sense of community at these events. This has only
added to my interest in pursuing a career in wastewater treatment, and has even led to relationships with potential employers."
Cami Snow also agreed with what Riley Bradshaw said.
