Heather N. Bischel

Masters students Olivia Wright and Daniela Peguero were recognized at last week’s CEE Awards ceremony for having been awarded the Tchobanoglous Fellowship in the 2017-2018 academic year. Olivia also received the Salisbury Fellowship for Fall 2018.

Wenting Li was awarded a Superfund Traineeship for the Summer 2018 quarter.

Hannah Safford received news of winning the 2018 American Water Works Association CA-Nevada section scholarship for graduate students.

The Stream Team was recognized with an honorable mention for their Follow the Flow video competition submission to the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.

Former undergraduate student researcher Yutong Zhang decided to attend Stanford University for his graduate studies, and undergraduate researcher Yilong Liu will be getting his Masters at UC Davis.

Congratulations to all!!

Check out our latest publication: Quantifying human-environment interactions using videography in the context of infectious disease transmission, which comes complete with (you guessed it) a video!

Publication available at: http://www.geospatialhealth.net/index.php/gh/article/view/631

Our very own Daniela Peguero received news today that she was selected for a Fulbright award to South Africa! Dani has been hard at work on her Masters thesis since I joined the faculty at UC Davis in April 2017. She has been evaluating the microbial treatment efficacy of a fecal sludge treatment reactor (the viscous heater) developed by collaborators at the University of Missouri Kansas City and potential commercial applications of the reactor as a process component in the growth of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL). BSFL can be grown on sludge, yielding protein-rich tissues that can be processed into animal feed. Business opportunities such as this can help finance sanitation systems throughout the world. As part of her thesis work, Dani spent 5 months with the Pollution Research Group at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa conducting pilot-scale trials, where she also received the “OMG award” for her enthusiasm and frequent use of abbreviations.

“The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. [Dani] will be joining the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, alongside many distinguished figures around the world. Fulbright alumni have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs, and university presidents, as well as leading journalists, artists, scientists, and teachers. They include 59 Nobel Laureates, 82 Pulitzer Prize winners, 71 MacArthur Fellows, 16 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, and thousands of leaders across the private, public and non-profit sectors.”

Dani will be finishing her MS Thesis over the next two quarters before heading to South Africa to complete her Fulbright tenure. We’re proud of her accomplishments to date and look forward to continuing to work together. OMG!

Spring quarter is on the way!  But of course, Spring break was no less exciting for the group – both personally and professionally. A little update for each us:

My daughter, Maialys was born on March 27! She held out through the Winter quarter as ECI 289A students learned techniques in quantiative microbial risk assessment and worked on chemical and microbial health risks. Check out my grad student group members empathizing with my bowling-ball sized belly.

Hannah took second place in her Spring Break marathon. In a research group that looks to increase health outcomes in the recovery of resources from waste, her trashcan-shaped marathon trophy was quite appropriate! Hannah had an exciting start of the Spring quarter when she was asked to interview for Al Jazzera (check out her segment starting at about 29:10) — for which she was poised and thoughtful.

Dani headed back to South Africa for a whirlwind Spring Break. While visiting some of the fantastic country, she also popped into the University of KwaZulu Natal’s Pollution Research Group to organize shipment of samples collected from her research on Black Soldier Fly Larvae. Thanks Dani for taking the time to do this. Dani also received news that her peer-reviewed paper for the WEDC conference, to be held in Kenya in July, was accepted following revisions.

Jessica plowed ahead in home improvements AND her MS thesis, which was submitted to committee members for comments. Jessica will be submitting her thesis this quarter!

Wenting launched the Spring quarter with a lightening presentation (5 minutes!) and poster on poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in fire fighting foarm for the Environmental Health Sciences Core Center Annual Retreat. Maialys visited her poster and was highly approving (her mom agrees).

Rumors that Olivia‘s band performed in Yosemite were confirmed by Wenting, who traveled there to check out the performance over the break. Olivia also received the good news that our project with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation was selected for funding to evaluate pesticide removal potential in agricultural drainage bioreactors. This will be the topic of her MS thesis.

Our undergraduate researchers Tristan and Erica bid farewell to the group as they finish up their last quarter at UC Davis this Spring. Yilong graduated in Winter quarter and continues to wrap up his contribution on exposure assessments in container-based sanitation, while also expanding his artistic talents (with a photography trip to Chicago!).

Congrats to the entire group for an eventuful Spring Break!

Group members Hannah Safford (PhD) and Erica Koopman Glass (UG Senior, President of UC Davis American Water Works Association Student Chapter) organized a student tour at the Taylor Brother Farm in Yuba City with BioFiltro on Friday December 1, 2017.  BioFiltro systems use earthworms and micro-organisms to treat wastewater, building large worm treatment basins to treat flow from farms, vineyards, industry, etc. to remove organic material prior to discharge.

According to Biofiltro, the BIDA® System is capable of processing millions of gallons per day and can use up to 95% less energy than traditional wastewater treatment methods to deliver water that is ready for reuse, crop irrigation, or apt for tertiary disinfection. A total of 20 undergraduate, MS and PhD students attended the tour.

The tour was a great success and was also highlighted on the CEE department website (see below).

CEE Students Organize Field Trip to Innovative Wastewater Treatment Installation