Institute for Environmental Risk Management

Institute for Urban Environmental
Risk Management

STUDENT, SCHOLAR & MULTIMEDIA EXCHANGE IN ENVIRONMENTAL/WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES

Primary Investigator: Charles S. Melching

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education, FIPSE program

Duration: September 2001-September 2003

Funding Level: $8,640 (plus student mobility grants)

This project involved educational exchange of faculty and students among the U.S. universities (Purdue University, U.S. lead, Marquette University, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, and University of Minnesota) and European universities (Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), European lead, the Technical University of Denmark at Lyngby, Denmark; the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece; the Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain; University College, London, U.K.; the University of Lancaster, U.K.; and a private research laboratory, ONDEO Services, formerly Lyonnaise des Eaux, near Paris, France. The web site for this project is http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/EWRES/

The following are the specific activities of Marquette University in this project:

Faculty Exchange:

Professor C. S. Melching visited the VUB October 18-21, 2001. During this visit he gave a seminar on October 19 titled: “Applications of Monte Carlo Modeling in Water Quality Management.” He also participated in the Ph.D. examination of Dr. Gemma Manache (thesis: “Sensitivity of a Continuous Water-Quality Simulation Model to Uncertain Model-Input Parameters”) on October 19. Finally, he met with Profs. Hilaire De Smedt and Willy Bauwens to discuss educational exchange and current research efforts.

Student Exchange:

In May 2002, Ms. Colleen Hickey joined Prof. Delleur (Purdue) and Dr. Ellis (Minnesota) and student from other universities on a two week technical tour of engineering facilities in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Staff at the VUB in Brussels, Belgium organized the technical visits in Belgium and in the Netherlands and ONDEO staff in Paris, organized the technical visits in France. The visits included the ship elevators in central Belgium, the port of Antwerp, the storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, the sewers of Brussels and of Paris, the water supply research laboratories and facilities of ONDEO Services, and the French National Hydraulic and Environmental Laboratory in the vicinity of Paris. Cultural events during week ends included visits of the medieval city of Bruges in Belgium and the Castle of Versailles in France.

In July 2002, Mr. Emre Alp, visited the VUB, gave a seminar titled “The application of benefit transfer in a Wisconsin Watershed,” and met with faculty and students.

Professor C.S. Melching of Marquette University organized the participation of European students to the "U.S.-Chinese Joint Workshop on Sediment Transport and Environmental Studies" held July 21-27, 2002 in Milwaukee, WI. The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The workshop, which focused on environmental remediation and restoration, included a three-day field study of the contaminated sediment remediation on the Sheboygan River / Harbor, WI, the Illinois River Ecosystem Restoration Project, and a visit to the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory at the University of Illinois. After the workshop Prof. Melching arranged tours (1) led by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District of flood mitigation projects and the Jones Island Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), and (2) led by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago of the Stickney WWTP (the world’s largest), the Hodgkins Pump Station of the Chicagoland Underflow Plan, and the Harlem Avenue Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration station. The students also visited many cultural sites in Milwaukee and Chicago during weekends. The workshop was attended by 6 students from Belgium through the VUB.

< Institute for Urban Environmental Risk Management