The ENVE student design team was awarded first place in the National Design Competition sponsored by the Water Environment Federation.
The ENVE student design team secured the top position in the National Design Competition, generously sponsored by the Water Environment Federation. Morgan Appell, President of the Society of Environmental Professionals, graciously shared insights about the organization, the dedicated team, and their victorious journey in the competition.
What is your major and what classification are you? (Junior, Senior, etc.)
I am a graduate student in my fifth year of the dual Master/Bachelors Environmental Engineering degree.
Tell me about ENVE and what kind of stuff you do in the organization.
The environmental engineering major is focused on water/wastewater treatment. We work on removing waste, pathogens, and other contaminants from water to protect human and environmental health. However, environmental engineering also spans hazardous waste, remediation, air pollution control, etc. The Society of Environmental Professionals works to provide an encompassing space for all majors to come together to work toward environmental sustainability. We do monthly meetings with consulting firms to allow students to see various career pathways. We also organize local park cleanups, Adopt-a-Highway, gardening events, and a hiking trip in the spring semester.
Tell me about the National Design Competition and how many participants are there?
The Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) hosts a student design competition involving a real-world wastewater treatment plant. Students are given the current plant schematics and design considerations and are asked to upgrade the plant. Typical plant upgrades are to increase capacity and modify unit processes based on problems or issues that the current plant operators address. Every fifth year ENVE student is split into groups to work on this project as part of our senior design class. However, only one group of five gets to compete in the state-wide competition.
What was the project for the competition?
The team developed a plant expansion for the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). This is the largest wastewater treatment plant in Austin. They designed an expansion from servicing twenty-five million gallons per day (MGD) to 100 MGD of influent wastewater. They were also tasked with changing from a conventional activated sludge to a biological nutrient removal system. This step in the treatment train removes Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous. These nutrients need to be removed to avoid eutrophication and other negative environmental health outcomes when the wastewater is released back into the environment.
What was your reaction when they said they won first place?
I was thrilled when I learned that our team had won first place. Those students put a lot of work into the project over the course of their final year at Texas Tech and continued to work on it after they graduated. I am glad that they got rewarded for their hard work.
Is this the first time Texas Tech won first place in this competition? If so, how does that make you and your team feel?
This is the first time that Texas Tech has won the national competition. However, Texas Tech has placed in the top three at the state level previously in 2019 and 2021. It is a huge honor to win this competition and sets a high bar for upcoming teams.
What kind of opportunities does this open for your organization?
It is great to be recognized and it encourages companies to reach out to present job opportunities to our student organization. It also helps set a good reputation for our environmental engineering program when students are looking for internships or full-time jobs.
What would you like to say to our sponsors?
I appreciate all the support that has been provided to this team. It helps showcase the talent and skills of all the students who participated in the design competition.
The tagline for Texas Tech is “From Here, It's Possible”. How does that tagline resonate with you now that you've won this award and where do you envision the organization going from here?
Winning this award really shows the strength of the program here at Texas Tech. It is encouraging to our students. I envision our organization growing in size and developing more connections between students just starting at tech and upperclassmen.
The team is shown in the picture from left to right: Mathew Rotman, Elizabeth Routon, Leah McDonald, Brennan Riley, and Kieran Atkin.