Over 20 faculty and students in the department attended the annual South Carolina Environmental Conference (SCEC) from March 12-15, 2017, in Myrtle Beach, SC. The conference, with the theme “For Our Water,” allows for networking with other water researchers in the state by offering presentations, exhibits, awards, and social events. The SCEC is one of the largest water conferences in the Southeast, with over 1,600 people in attendance. The annual conference is made possible by a collaboration of the South Carolina Section of the American Waterworks (SCAWWA) and Water Environment Association of South Carolina (WEASC) that was started over 25 years ago.
There were presentations on topics ranging from wastewater treatment, resiliency, funding opportunities, and regulatory compliance. Our students led four of those presentations: Rasna Sharmin, Mahmut Ersan, Wilson Beita-Sandi, and Utku Erdem. One of our postdocs, Chris Olivares, led another. Several students also presented posters at the event. Wilson Beita-Sandi came in second place in the poster competition for his poster, “Ion Exchange Resins Effectively Reduce Disinfection Byproducts Precursors in a Single Treatment.” Victoria Guerrero came in third place for her poster entitled, “Dissolved CO2 – An Alternative for Cleaning Inorganic Scale from RO Membranes.” Cagri Utku Erdem also received fourth place for his poster “Compositional changes of Dissolved Organic Matter following Prescribed Fire on Forested Watersheds and their effect on Drinking Water Supply.” Mahmut Ersan, Wilson Beita-Sandi and Erin Partlan were recognized at the conference for receiving WEASC fellowships. Social events were integrated into the conference, such as a Sunday morning 5K that student Jeffrey Case won for the third year in a row, and networking events for young professionals.
Presentations:
Can Prescribed Burns Decrease Dissolved Organic Matter Exports and Disinfection By-product Formation Potential in Forested Watersheds? – Cagri Utku Erdem
Development of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Models for Simulating Foulant Reduction by Patterned RO and NF Membranes – Rasna Sharmin
Simultaneous Control of N-Nitrosodimethylamine and Trihalomethane Precursors with Anion and Cation Exchange Resins – Wilson Beita-Sandi
Water Quality and Disinfection By-product Precursor Changes After the 2015 Wragg Wildfire in Northern California – Christopher Olivares
Formation, Speciation and Toxicity of Disinfection By-Products during Chloramination of Bromide and Iodide Containing Waters – Mahmut Ersan
Student Posters:
Water Solutions and Bridge Design in El Serrano, Nicaragua – Sarah Hennessy
Towards the Discovery of an Innovative Membrane Surface Pattern with Increased Fouling – Zuo Zhou
Compositional changes of Dissolved Organic Matter following Prescribed Fire on Forested Watersheds and their effect on Drinking Water Supply – Cagri Utku Erdem
Impact of Water Quality Characteristics and Chloramination Conditions on N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) Formation in Drinking Water – Lucy Zhang
Ion Exchange Resins Effectively Reduce Disinfection Byproducts Precursors in a Single Treatment – Wilson Beita-Sandi
The Impact of Halides on the Formation and Toxicity of Disinfection By-Products during Chloramination – Mahmut Ersan
Dissolved CO2 – An Alternative for Cleaning Inorganic Scale from RO Membranes – Victoria Guerrero
