Young Professionals

Young Professionals (YP) represent an energetic group of AWWA members who are 35 years of age and under. The goal of the YP Committee is to provide an avenue for young professionals to network with industry professionals and get involved with AWWA. YP activities include:

· Brown bag seminars

· Technical tours

· Social events

· Community service activities

Please refer to events for upcoming YP events. See below for details related to recent events

If you would like to get involved or would like more information, please contact the YP chair of our chapter.

Coleman B. Philley, EIT
YP Chair
Brown & Gay Engineers, Inc.
cphilley@browngay.com

2010 SETAWWA YP Night at the Race Park

The first YP Event of 2010 started at the gates of Sam Houston Race Park. On Thursday, June, 24, 2010, SE TAWWA hosted a Night at the Race Park for Young Professionals to enjoy free dinner, drinks, and live Quarter-Horse Racing. Door Prizes were a little easier to claim than the winning horse of each race. Everyone in attendance went home with a gift card and a SE TAWWA “Koozie”. Although the wet track postponed a few races and made winner predictions more difficult, the weather did not keep members and guests from coming out and enjoying the evening. We had a great turn out for our first event of the year. It was also very encouraging to see a few new faces. Huge thanks goes to everyone who was able to attend and make our first event such a great success, and we hope to see more new faces in the future. Dates are still being finalized for future events so please watch for upcoming E-Blasts.

If anyone has questions or suggestions for upcoming YP Events to please contact Coleman B. Philley at cphilley@browngay.com.

2010 SETAWWA Student Paper Contest

March 2010

In summer 2009 The Southeast Chapter of Texas AWWA considered strategies to increase membership and make the organization more valuable to existing members. One of those strategies was to expose the organization to emerging professionals. A student paper technical contest with prizes was selected as a way to accomplish this task. The subjects of the technical research papers included focus areas that are in alignment with AWWA interests including raw/drinking water quality, water/wastewater treatment, and non-potable water use/reuse. The call for papers was opened from early October 2009 through mid-November 2009. First place included a $600 paid expenses to a local or national conference for water professionals, and Second/Third places were $200 book allowance each. A total of three papers were submitted and the papers were presented by the students at the SE Chapter’s March 8, 2010 half-day seminar. The papers were judged during each presentation, and the winner placements were announced during the event. A description of each paper with the author is described further below:

1st Place Winner
"VARIABILITY OF E.COLI CONCENTRATIONS IN AN URBAN WATERSHED IN TEXAS"

Anuradha M. Desai (1)
(1) Research Associate, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Houston

Photo left to right: Judge Ed Emmett, Anuradha Desai, David Dow and Showri Nandagiri.

This paper focused on E.coli variability in urban freshwater systems due to a knowledge gap in available literature. A large database of E.coli data was gathered between 2001 and 2008 in the Houston Metropolitan area and statistically analyzed. Results of the study demonstrated the complexity of micro scale time series phenomenon and its dependence on flow, turbidity, total suspended solids, temperature, location/land use of monitoring points.

2nd Place Winner
"EFFECTS OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON ELCTROCHEMICAL DISINFECTION PERFROMANCE IN A FLOW CELL REACTOR"
Ruolin Zhang (1)
(1) Graduate Environmental Engineering Student, Lamar University

Photo left to right: Judge Ed Emmett, David Dow, Ruolin Zhang and Showri Nandagiri.

This paper focused on electrochemical disinfection of wastewater as an emerging technology and one of the most promising alternatives to chlorination. The objectives of the study included configuring an electrochemical disinfection reactor which is capable of high kill efficiency with low chloride concentration requirement and low operating costs. The disinfection efficiency in term of the percentage of bacteria kill was evaluated under a variety of experimental conditions to elucidate the predominant influencing factor.

3rd Place Winner
"FLOW AND E.COLI MODELING FOR SIMS BAYOU USING HSPF/HEC-HMS"
Norma E. Moreno (1)
(1) Master Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Houston

Photo left to right: Judge Ed Emmett, Norma Moreno, Showri Nandagiri and David Dow

This paper focused on two mathematical models to predict E.coli contamination in Sims Bayou for a variety of development scenarios. The two mathematical models, FORTRAN-HSPF and HEC-HMS were set up, calibrated, and validated for flow and E.coli modeling in Sims Bayou from 1999-2004. The performance of the models were satisfactory for hydrologic calibration but less satisfactory for E.coli , possibly because the sources of contamination were not always well characterized.

Tim Jahn, P.E.

Chapter Membership Chair

2010 Young Engineer of the Year for the SE Chapter of the TAWWA

February 2010

Archana Sharma, the Communications Chair for the Southeast Chapter of Texas American Water Works Association (TAWWA), was recognized at the annual Houston

Engineer's Week, “Young Engineers Award Recognition Dinner” on February 15th as the 2010 Young Engineer of the Year for the Southeast Chapter of TAWWA. This event was held during Engineers Week 2010 at the Intercontinental Hotel and the keynote speaker was Edwin Friedrichs, the 2009 Engineer of the Year recipient. The annual event recognizes outstanding young engineers from local chapters of engineering professional societies.

Photo left to right: David Dow, Archana Sharma, and her husband, Nikhil Sharma.

During her two years as chair, she co-led preparations for launching our chapter’s website, website content editor, eBlast newsletter manager, event attendance coordinator, co-led 2009 student technical research paper contest for universities in the Southeast Chapter area as well as served on the Young Professional Session Host Committee for Texas Water 2009. Archana was also featured in the Houston Business Journal and the Business Section of the Houston Chronicle, as part of the Engineer's Week recognition of the award recipients. Our chapter recognizes Archana with this award for these successful endeavors as well as her teamwork and technical capabilities. She will continue to serve the Southeast Chapter’s Communications Chair for 2010. Ms. Sharma is an Environmental Engineer with CDM, Inc. in Houston, Texas.

David Dow, P.E.

Chapter President