By Addie Beurck

Strong Coasts Fellows, Daniel Delgado (top left), Michelle Henderson (top right), Estenia Ortiz Carabantes (bottom left), and Addie Buerck (bottom right), holding their 1st place AEESP/EESF video competition certificates.

Annually, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) and the Environmental Engineering Science Foundation (EESF) host a competition that seeks to highlight environmental engineering and science, increase the awareness about the fields, and encourage young people to learn more about stewardship of water, land, air, mineral, and energy resources.

Each year AEESP/EESF changes up the format of the competition switching between a video and social media competition. In 2020 they decided on a student video competition with the theme of “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turns 50”. Addie Buerck, Daniel Delgado, Estenia Ortiz Carabantes, and Michelle Henderson developed a team to try and rise to the challenge. Over the course of a few months the team had a blast creating a version of the theme song for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to honor the EPA (if only a blooper reel was created during this time). The team hoped viewers could see the fun they had making the video while learning about the amazing things the EPA has done. It seems the team succeeded in their goal as they were awarded first place. The group will be honored via a virtual online Celebration of AEESP’s Members and Awards Presentation, due to the current pandemic, on Monday, October 5th from 7-9 pm ET (4-6 pm PT). Check out the final video, https://youtu.be/zdDF69qJmkY, and the rest of the events happening as part of the virtual WEFTEC conference, https://www.weftec.org/attend/attend-weftec/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInabJhfbj6wIVDUmGCh3qKAmbEAAYASAAEgLe4PD_BwE.

This honor makes it the second consecutive year of USF being honored with first place in the AEESP/EESF competition. In 2019, a team consisting of Addie Buerck, Adah Shair, Ashley Osler, and Linden Cheek participated in the AEESP/EESF’s social media competition. The theme that year was to ‘use social media to educate students and the public about the role of Environmental Engineers and Scientists in meeting the “grand challenges” facing our nation and the world’. The team decided to expose the audience to the ways in which environmental engineers engage with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and grand challenges, especially by highlighting the work of environmental engineers in the developing world. The group had a passion for work in the developing world as all had plans to enter the peace corps or do work/research internationally. Check out the post for the competition and learn more about the work being done by team members and others in the department here: https://www.facebook.com/USF.EEforID/?view_public_for=2006895629389143. The team was honored with first place in the competition at the AEESP/AAEES Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) Scientists’ Luncheon on Monday, September 23, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Adaline Buerck was the only student able to attend the luncheon as all other team members were abroad in Uganda (Adah Shair), Panama (Ashley Osler), and Vanuatu (Linden Cheek) for research.

USF is honored to have received first place for the last two years and looks forward to seeing what the new theme is for this year.

About the Author Addie is a PhD student in USF’s environmental engineering department. She is currently looking at lead mitigation in pitcher pumps in coastal Madagascar. This research is taking an interdisciplinary approach, looking at the engineering aspects around the pump and also the social aspects. To achieve this she is also working on a Social Marketing Certificate from USF and working closely with scholars in Social Marketing. She received her master’s in civil engineering from Saint Louis University in 2018.  Her master’s research looked at arsenic (III & V) removal through iron-oxide coated ceramic filters. Her undergraduate degree was also from Saint Louis University (2016) in civil engineering with a minor in business administration.

STRONG COASTS is supported by a National Science Foundation Collaborative Research Traineeship (NRT) award (#1735320) led by the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) to develop a community-engaged training and research program in systems thinking to better manage complex and interconnected food, energy, and water systems in coastal locations. The views expressed here do not reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.