Northeastern University Takes 1st in NEWEA’s Student Design Competition

NEWEA’s 1st Student Design Competition took place at Northeastern University

The first NEWEA Student Design Competition (SDC) organized by Student Activity Committee was recently held on April 27 at Northeastern University. This competition intended to promote “real world” design experience for students interested in pursuing an education and/or career in water engineering and sciences. The competition tasked teams of student members within NEWEA to design a project that they have worked on together as a team. Student teams submitted written reports and presented their finding in front of judges during the SDC reception and presentation.

The competing teams in the environmental category were:

Northeastern University (NU-ENV) – “ Restoring the cycle: Northeastern University On-site Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse”

University of Rhode Island (URI-ENV) – ” Sustainable Water Systems for Climate Change: A Case Study in Rural Dominican Republic”

Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT-ENV) – “Solar Powered Desalination & Purification Pod”

The judges evaluated the technical aspects, the appearance and structure of the written submittal, and the content organization and effectiveness of the presentation.

The judges’ scores were added and the winning team was the NU-ENV. The project they presented involved the design, construction, operation, and testing of a tidal wetland pilot system. To show full-scale feasibility, a conceptual tidal flow wetland treatment system was also designed to treat flows from three Northeastern dormitories. This design involves pre-screening, primary clarification, flow equalization, tidal wetlands, and UV disinfection, with the effluent treated to Massachusetts Class A water reuse standards for toilet flushing and surface irrigation.

The winning team will receive a $1000 prize and travel allowance up to $2000 to travel to WEFTEC16 in New Orleans, September 2016, where they will be presenting their projects at the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Student Design Competition.

Judges of the competition included: Jonathan Kunay, CDM Smith; Justin L. Skelly, Tighe Bond; Maureen Neville, CDM Smith; Alexandra Doody, CDM Smith; Vanessa Borkowski, Stantec.com; Udayarka Karra, Wright-Pierce; Sahar Hasan Kunay, Green Mountain Pipeline Services; Yuqi Wang, Alpha Analytical; and, Jasper Hobbs, NEIWPCC.

Meet the winning team: Northeastern University

	Greg Coyle led the team’s efforts to research and construct the pilot system, and specifically focused on the design of the automated pumping system. He also worked closely with graduate level researchers to develop a feeding, sampling and analysis plan.
	Alston Potts led the full-scale design efforts for the team, developing a plan for implementing a tidal wetland reclamation system on Northeastern’s campus. He also co-designed the pilot system and was an integral part in operating, troubleshooting, and testing the pilot system. Additionally, Alston prepared and organized the report documents and was responsible for group logistics.
	Andrew Gillen built the educational website, northeastern.edu/waternotwaste, along with Meghan Bruckman. This included designing the site aesthetic and creating content for different pages related to reusing wastewater. The website design and content took into account feedback from STEM professionals and the different elements were designed with educational benefits in mind. He also created instructional graphics for the website and the project presentation materials. Andrew provided assistance with pilot system construction.
	Meghan Bruckman worked collaboratively as part of the education team to create a website with content that would dispel the stigma against reusing wastewater. The website primarily addressed the audience of students and educators at the secondary level, as well as the general public. In order to create such a deliverable, the education team met with professionals at the Education for STEM at Northeastern University as well as Northeastern faculty to capitalize on their experience and expertise.