|
| WERC 2005
The 2005 design group consisted of Brian
Haney, Felicia Moore, Aaron Wagner and Brenda Eby. They competed
valiantly but did not bring home any trophies or prize money.
|
| WERC 2004
 Six ChE seniors
traveled to Las Cruces, NM to
compete
in
the 14th International Waste -Management Education Research Consortium. The UI sent two teams, who brought back
two first-place trophies in their tasks and the traveling trophy from
CH2M-Hill. The seniors chose their tasks from five tasks
submitted by companies sponsoring the event. Each team was
required to submit a 25 page report, an oral presentation and a working
bench-scale model.
The teams brought back $7500 in prize money and competed
against 20 universities including Clarkson, Texas Tech, Louisiana
State, Michigan Tech, Oregon State and Ohio State.
Task 1 Reducing the Costs
of Silica-based CMP team members Scott Kahre, James Moberly, and Sam Moore focused on
reducing
the waste treatment cost of the chemical- mechanical polish (CMP) process in the
manufacture of silicon wafers.
Task 3 Perchlorate Treatment for
Domestic Water Systems team members Michelle Biladeu,
Ariel Malmquist, and Leah
Phelps developed and demonstrated a cost-effective
treatment technology to remove perchlorate from drinking water in small water
delivery and domestic water systems.
Dave Drown, Woody Admassu and Ron Crawford served as advisors
to
the group, as well as provided financial support.
Dr. Andrzej Paszczynksi of the Environmental Research Institute also
provided valuable mentor and financial support.
|
| WERC 2003
 The
2003 WERC team tied for 2nd at the competition. Three teams
competed at the 13th International Contest. The Copper team (Hill,
Paul, Thrasher, Weinberg) tied for 2nd place in Task 3 and received $750
in prize monies. The Forest Bio-Refinery team (Callow, Malmquist,
Nemec and Stone) also tied for 2nd in Task 11 and earned $500 in prize
monies. The ChE teams concluded their stay in Las Cruces by
visiting White Sands.
|
| Werc 2002
The 2002 WERC team and their solutions
for contaminated pipes and soils won first place in one division and the
Judges' Choice Award for Technical Innovation at the 12th Annual WERC
design competition. Ryan Carlson and Josh Johnson won first place
for their presentation of a way to remove glass from a metal surface.
They were acknowledged as the first team in the constant's 12 years to
achieve a perfect score in the bench-scale demonstration and won $2,500.
Jay Hoover, Mica Hutchison and Jeff
Mohr won the Judges' Choice Award for Technical Innovation for their
solution to clean up petroleum-contaminated soil in a safe and
cost-effective manner. They received a $750 prize.
|
| Werc 2000
The 2000 WERC team returned from New
Mexico with two trophies and $2200 in prize money. Seniors James
King, Margo Marcantonio, Jeremy Madsen, James Cultra, Geri Gunter, Kevin
Jones and junior Janine Galvin spent several days on the New Mexico
State University campus competing with other universities and colleges.
James King and Geri Gunter tied for
second place with their Task IV problem: Jewelry Manufacturing Waste
Disposal. The objective was to develop and demonstrate an
economical method for disposing or recycling of waste material resulting
from jewelry manufacturing.
The group of Kevin Jones and Janine
Galvin earned a second place finish with their Task VII problem.
They had to develop, design, and demonstrate a reusable crucible that
would reduce the generation of TRU waste while also reducing total
worker radiation. Kevin and Janine earned $1500 in prize money.
|
| WERC 1999
Eight UI students earned $5,500 in prize
money at the 9th International WERC Competition in Las Cruces, New
Mexico during April 12-15, 1999. Susie Hall and Michael Van de Vanter,
competed in Task 2. They earned first place for their proposal to
solve the problem: Suppression and Immobilization of Radioactive
Airborne Particulates. They were recognized for the most
innovative concept, best written report, best oral presentation, best
poster and best bench scale demonstration. They earned first place
and $5,000.
Devin Cole, Marya Gross, and Tamara
Shokes competed in Task 5. They captured the outstanding oral
presentation award for their task entitled, Pipeline Waste Removal."
They earned a trophy and $500.
The team of Danielle Mangan, James
King, and Anne Dustin competed in Task 6. They tied for first
place with Purdue University for best oral presentation for their task,
In-Situ Soil Decontamination and placed fourth overall.
|
| WERC 1998
 The
UI WERC team once again brought home trophies and prize monies as they
competed in the 8th International WERC Competition. They finished
second place overall and earned more than $5,570 in cash. Some of
the environmental challenges the team faced included mine tailings
recovery, concrete-slab treatment, remediation of contaminated sludge
and development of an in-tank, real-time sensor. The UI team won
best overall oral presentation and first place and outstanding oral
presentation for the three environmental problems they addressed.
Team members included Aaron Taff, Stephany Burge, Eric Nuxoll, Mathew
Duckwitz, Marya George, Seth Vore, Nikki Keely, Jaimee MacDonald, Kevin
Terhaar and Kevin Hammack.
|
| WERC 1997
The UI WERC team won four awards, earned
second place and won $8,000 in prize monies during the 7th International
WERC Contest. The students solved problems such as cleaning up
waste tanks containing radioactive and hazardous materials, groundwater
contaminated with strontium and cesium, and plutonium-contaminated
filters. Dr. Admassu, co-team adviser comments, "The University of
Idaho teams are consistently competing against schools two to three
times our size, in which the UI team is among the "most feared" group in
the annual event..."
The UI team received national exposure
on May 24 during CNN's "Technology Week." The spot ran for seven
minutes with Idaho receiving most of the coverage. The UI team
consisted of eight chemical engineers: Eeric Strand, Abbie Parker,
Chris Taylor, Eric Nuxoll, Aaron Newton, Suzanne Dolberg, Lynette
Mischkott, and Aaron Mosher. The ninth member was mechanical
engineering student, William Stowe.
|
| WERC 1996
UI WERC team won first place in the 6th
International WERC Contest. ChE members Abbie Parker, Aaron
Newton, Jennifer Meehan and Chris Doten competed against 25
universities. Their projects centered around the topics:
Remediation of Leaking Undergrand Storage Tanks (Task 1) and Removal and
Treatment of Radioactive Vegetation (Task 3). The ChE team won
seven individual trophies and the over-all Rust Geotech traveling
trophy. They also won $15,000 in prize monies. Their winning
included for Task 3: Outstanding Performance, Best Bench Scale,
and First Place Overall. Task 1 presentation was selected for Best
Presentation, and Second Place Overall. As a team they also won
Outstanding Technical Merit, Outstanding Overall Quality and the
Traveling Trophy.
|
| WERC 1995
WERC
team members Heather Johnson, Jennifer Meehan and Howard Simon traveled
to New Mexico State University to compete in the 5th International Waste
Management and Research Consortium Competition. The objectives
were to retrieve solid radioactive waste from buried tanks and to
remediate heavy metal, radio-active contaminated pond sludge The UI
team took Best Poster presentation for the retrieval of solid
radioactive wastes, 3rd Place Overall for the Remediation of pond sludge
and earned $3,500 in prize money. Highlights of the competition
included some very unique ideas. A non-explosive “cracking agent” was
used to break up the solids in the tanks to suitable pieces for removal.
To stabilize the heavy metals and radioactive nuclides in the pond
sludge, apatites were used. Fish bones serve as an excellent source of
apatite. Even though the UI team finished third overall, because of the
uniqueness of the group's approach to the problem, the group was awarded
$16,000 to perform further studies during the summer of 1996.
|
| WERC 1994
The 1994 team brought home the
trophy for Most Creative Design in the 4th International Environmental
Design Contest sponsored by the Waste-Management Education and Research
Consortium at New Mexico State University. Team members included
Jennifer Litvinchuk Meehan and Kurt Thorne. The contest called for
teams to design and demonstrate a process for cleaning five acres of
soil contaminated with pesticides, heavy metals, organic compounds and
halogenated compounds. The teams also had to prepare reclamation
processes to seal 100 square miles for water harvesting. Most of the
competitors used acids as an agent to clean up the soil, but the UI
entry used water. The water was then run through a compost column to
remove heavy metals and then through a bio-reactor to remove pesticides
and solvents.
Team
members say guidance from Admassu and Dr. Ron Crawford of the UI Center
for Hazardous Waste Remediation Research contributed to the creativity
of their entry. They also acknowledged help from Dr. Dirk Gombert of
the Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Company. The team was sponsored by a
$10,000 grant from INEL and WINCO. |
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