WERC Environmental Design Contest 2011

Engineering students Luke Mackewich, Eric Andersen and Tim Carter work on their project for the 2011 WERC Environmental Design Contest at New Mexico State University.

Sunday, April 3 - Three students from the College of Engineering - civil engineering undergraduate student Eric Andersen and civil and environmental engineering graduate students Tim Carter and Luke Mackewich - are representing Wayne State University in the 2011 Waste-Management Education and Research Consortium (WERC) Environmental Design Contest this week in New Mexico.

The international competition brings together industry, government and academia to solve real-world environmental problems. The competition is being held April 4-7 at New Mexico State University (more information can be found here).

This year's team - which also includes civil and environmental engineering graduate students James Piasecki and Ashley Prescott and chemistry undergraduate student Milad Karim - designed, built and tested an ultraviolet water disinfection system for use in remote communities or disaster areas where access to clean, safe drinking water is a problem. With a total of 10 schools entered in the same task, the WSU team faces some stiff competition.

The system designed by the students utilizes solar power and a nitrogen-doped titanium oxide photocatalyst that not only maximizes energy efficiency but also provides improved disinfection. The photocatalyst was constructed in the Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory (ECRL), which is managed by the team's faculty advisor Shawn McElmurry, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "We learned a lot from competing last year and I think we have a good chance of doing very well," said McElmurry.

Last year was the first time WSU participated in the competition that attracts schools from all over the country. This year's effort has been greatly enhanced by significant financial assistance from WSU alumni Randy Rogers, Vyto Kaunelis and Patrick Smithbauer and local engineering firms, such as Golder Associates, Inc. and Tucker, Young, Jackson & Tull, Inc along with support from the College of Engineering and Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

Members of the team representing Wayne State in New Mexico will be updating us daily on the competition.

Sunday, April 3
We arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico Sunday afternoon and began setting up a bench-scale demonstration of our water treatment system. Following dinner and the Welcome Ceremony, we spent the remainder of the night editing and practicing for the oral presentation Monday afternoon. - Tim Carter

Monday, April 4
We spent the morning preparing our bench-scale water treatment system to test for proof of concept using the provided contaminated water samples. Setup took longer than anticipated, but we still finished in a couple of hours. We then treated the contaminated sample and turned it in to the officials for testing.

We were by far the first ones to complete this portion of the contest, and our treated samples looked great. The director even commented that she could not believe how quiet our process is, which is a good sign.

After lunch, we spent the next couple of hours practicing for our oral presentation at 3:30. The presentation took place in a theater style room with 10-15 judges who were "all business." The presentation went very well, and we were able to answer all of the questions posed by the judges.

We are off to a great start, and the most difficult part of the competition is now complete. After the presentation, we celebrated by driving out to White Sands National Monument to hike the dunes and catch the sunset. Tomorrow we will be presenting our poster and demonstrating our bench-scale demonstration for the judges. - Tim Carter

Members of the Wayne State WERC team promote the university while visiting White Sands National Monument Monday night.

Tuesday, April 5
We started the day off right by waking up at 5:45 AM to run / hike up to the peak of a nearby mountain. We then rushed back to setup and practice for our bench-scale demonstration and poster presentation. After lunch, we presented our poster and demonstrated our treatment process to three separate teams of judges. It seems these presentations went very well and the judges appeared to be impressed. This completes the competitive portion of the design contest. We now must wait until tomorrow evening to find out who won. - Tim Carter

Wednesday, April 6
Today marked the end of the 2011 contest. The day started relatively easily by preparing the treatment system for shipment back to Detroit. After checking out of the demonstration area, everyone enjoyed some well deserved time off. The time was well spent lounging by the pool and even doing a little homework! After dropping all the items off for shipment, we attended the closing ceremonies.

Unfortunately, despite high hopes, we didn't place in the top two. We now have to wait a few weeks to get the detailed judging results as well as the analytical results that will tell us how well our system performed. Regardless, the WSU team has done an amazing job and has represented the university well! I am extremely proud of the performance Tim, Eric and Luke have given here in New Mexico, as well as the job that all the students that have participated in this years competition have done over the last 6 months. - Dr. Shawn McElmurry