UCF environmental engineering students recently participated in the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association’s 2022 Annual Conference that was held the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress between November 27th and 30th.

Three UCF graduate students and one post-doctoral scholar, all supervised by Dr. Steve Duranceau, presented papers in several professional sessions of the conference!

Doctoral candidate Paula Campesino presented “Effects of Hollow-Fiber Nanofiltration and Varying Water Quality on Finished Water Corrosivity: A Bench-Scale Evaluation”;

UCF graduate student Christopher Hagglund presents his research at Florida’s water conference

UCF graduate student Christopher Hagglund presents his research at Florida’s water conference

Doctoral candidate Tulsi Shukla presented “Reclaimed Water Treatability Assessment for an Aquifer Storage and Recovery Application”;

Doctoral student Christopher Hagglund (shown in photo) presented “Impacts of Blending Nanofiltration Concentrate into the Feed Water of a Reverse Osmosis Membrane Process Treating Brackish Groundwater.

Post-doctoral scholar Dr. Jessica Cormier presented “Application of Biologically Activated Carbon for Treatment of Sulfide-Laden Groundwater.”

UCF students Gabriele Brummer (left) and Gabriela Ford (right) were 2 of this year’s recipients.

Each year, the Likins Scholarship Committee awards a limited number of scholarships to eligible Florida students pursuing a degree relating to the drinking water industry. Two UCF students were recognized by being awarded the highly competitive Roy Likins Scholarship: Gabriele Brummer and Gabriela Ford. Gabriele is a master’s student studying the use of nanofiltration membranes to treat groundwater for potable water production and Gabriela is a senior undergraduate research student learning about drinking water quality and treatment. Both students work in Dr. Duranceau’s water quality engineering research laboratories.

Senior undergraduate research student Nino Stea presented her poster “Comparing Conventional Cascade Tray and Perforated Tray Aerators for Total Trihalomethane Post-Formation Control” in the “Fresh Ideas” Poster Session that encourages young professionals to participate in the technical program of the conference by presenting a poster. Ms. Stea presented her work that was performed for Polk County Utilities (Winter Haven, FL) at their Providence and Van Fleet water treatment plants.

Poster presenter Nino Stea discusses her poster with conference attendees

Winners of the FSAWWA Water Bowl

UCF environmental engineering students competed in the conference’s “Water Bowl”, a jeopardy-like competition for students from Florida universities. This year the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida competed in the tournament. UCF’s students Gabriele Brummer (left), Tulsi Shukla (center) and Valerie Artusa (right) won this year’s competition!