CEE Capstone team wins Regional Student Design Competition
A group of students in the CEE department working on their Environmental capstone, Catherine Moskos, Erika Towne and Lindsey Carver, won the NEWEA Student Design Competition (SDC) with their project “Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment plant: Design and Modeling”. The event was organized by NEWEA Student Activity Committee and the team will be heading to Chicago in October to compete at the National competition! Congratulation to the students and to their capstone advisor Prof Onnis-Hayden and their industry mentor Anthony Giovannone from CDM-Smith!
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, held on April 27 at Northeastern University. The competing teams were from Northeastern University, University of Rhode Island, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The winning Northeastern team project involved the design and modeling of the Lions Gate Secondary Wastewater Treatment Plant (LGSWWTP) in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The technologies chosen and designed for treatment were Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) and SHARON, respectively; the selection was accomplished through extensive modeling efforts. Additional sustainability goals were achieved through recovery of three resources at the site: stormwater, energy, and biosolids. These are recovered through design of a flow regulator tank and a wetland, production of biogas and biosolids in the anaerobic digesters, and the placement of solar panels on the roof. Multiple features have been incorporated into the design of the LGSWWTP in order to promote community involvement, such as an arrival plaza, a pond, a greenhouse, public benches, public paths, and educational opportunities. A rendering of the proposed design is shown below:
The competition was judged by an impartial panel consisting of members of academia, public agencies and private consulting practices, including Woodard and Curran, Hazen and Sawyer, Kleinfelder, Stantec, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Town of Framingham. The judges evaluated the technical aspects, the appearance and structure of the written submittal, and the content organization and effectiveness of the presentation.
The winning team will receive a $600 prize and travel allowance up to $2500 to travel to WEFTEC 17 in Chicago, – October 2017, where they will be presenting their projects at the National Water Environment Federation (WEF) Student Design Competition.