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Miami team takes third in environmental challenge

07/21/2008

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Miami graduate students Alicia Glover, Ann-Drea Hensley and Na Qin.

A team of Miami University graduate students took third place and $3,000 at the Air and Waste Management Association's inaugural Environmental Challenge International contest. Winners were announced at the group's annual conference, June 24-27, in Portland, Ore. Team members are Ann-Drea Hensley and Alicia Glover, master's degree students in the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Na Qin, master's degree student in paper science and engineering. They were supervised by Sharmila Pradhan from Miami's environmental health and safety office.

Teams were challenged to prepare and present a solution to a complex "true-to-life" environmental problem: generate 1,000 megawatts of electric power to meet the energy needs of the Pacific Northwest while also addressing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental concerns.

Teams submitted a proposal and poster and made a final presentation at the conference. After arriving in Portland, teams were given an added, unexpected problem to incorporate into their proposals, to simulate a real life scenario - addressing the presence of an endangered bird species at the site.

Western Washington University took first place and second place went to Michigan State University. Other participating institutions included the University of Cincinnati, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of South Florida, British Columbia Institute of Technology and the University of Montana