A Michigan State University College of Engineering team won first prize at the 2015 Air & Waste Management Association Environmental Competition International held recently in Raleigh, North Carolina.
ECi is a student team competition in which students solve a complex “true-to-life” environmental problem, addressing its social, economic, regulatory and technical issues.
This year’s task involved the evaluation of hydraulic fracturing in King County, North Carolina, in terms of environmental, economic and social cost benefits. Teams from MSU, California Polytechnic State University, Louisiana State University, Montana Tech and the University of Florida competed at 2015 ECi.
MSU’s winning team members are Jake Patin and Daniel Domino, both of whom graduated in May with degrees in environmental engineering; Thomas Bonney and Kate Capeneka, seniors in civil engineering; and Sanpreet Singh Gill, a graduate student in environmental engineering.
They advanced to the national competition after being judged the best final project in the college’s Environmental Engineering 489 Air Pollution: Science and Engineering class, taught by Susan Masten, professor of civil and environmental engineering. Students from the top two teams collaborated and formed Spartan Engineering, the team that represented MSU at ECi.
“My students were required to distill their work into a three-page proposal and present that in the form of a poster to a panel of judges from the East and West Michigan chapters of the A&WMA,” Masten said. “I am extremely proud of the team’s work, and I am sure that the experience is one that will benefit them professionally for many years to come.”