Biological Activity on Granular Activated Carbon in the Presence of Ozonated Naturally Occurring Humic Substances

Biological activity on granular activated carbon may significantly enhance the water purification process. Shifting the pathway for contaminant removal from adsorption to biodegradation results in steady state reduction across the GAC bed, and increases filter run time through regeneration of sorptive capacity for non- or slowly-biodegradable compounds. Trace contaminants present at low concentrations and/or only seasonally may not meet minimum growth and energy requirements of a biofilm population. The presence of a bulk substrate source such as humic substances could stimulate the growth of a biofilm which will, in turn, degrade trace pollutants as secondary metabolites. A fixed-bed column reactor with a high recycle ratio was used to examine biodegradation and adsorption of ozonated humic substances (HS). The percent biodegraded at steady state increased with pre-ozonation, and with an increase in EBCT (slower flowrate) and feed TOC concentration. At an ozone dose of 1 mg 03/mg TOC, EBCT = 3.9 min, and feed TOC = 7 mg/L, approximately 43% of the HS were biodegraded. Steady state biological activity, as evidenced by CO2 production, was achieved within 1 day; steady state TOC removal occurred after about 160 hours. Phenol, when added at 50 μg/L to the HS system, was degraded within 60 hours. When phenol was added to an established biofilm, it was immediately biodegraded. A method is presented for recovering viable cells from a GAC biofilm. Kinetic studies with samples recovered from an HS grown biofilm indicate that the biokinetics of phenol utilization by these microorganisms are comparable to utilization kinetics by suspended cultures. The enumeration of viable cells from samples recovered at different stages of biofilm growth indicates that the density of viable cells continues to increase in the GAC bed, despite the achievement of steady state biological activity. The density of viable cells in the GAC reactor bed, as enumerated by plate counts, was on the order of 10^6 to 10^7 cells/gm.Master of Science in Environmental Engineerin

Growing the Entrepreneurial Mindset in First Year Engineering Students Using Sociotechnical Design Challenges

Engineering graduates must acquire both technical knowledge and a diverse range of professional skills to effectively address the current global challenges. Equally important is a profound understanding of how technological solutions are influenced by the human and natural environments in which they are implemented. An open-ended, team-based design challenge integrates entrepreneurial-minded (EM) skill development into an interdisciplinary first-year engineering course that approaches engineering from a sociotechnical perspective. A mixed-methods study using a post-course reflective questionnaire explored students’ self-perceived development of EM skills. Quantitative results from a series of 5-point Likerttype questions indicate that students felt they developed EM skills in all three areas of the 3-C framework, with average mean scores above 4.0 in all three categories. Scores were significantly higher in the Connections and Create Value subscales (mean 4.31 ± 0.62 and 4.23 ± 0.76, respectively) compared to the Curiosity subscale (mean 4.04 ± 0.84). Student comments on open response questions support the overall value of the project and the broader sociotechnical learning outcomes that were achieved. Overall, this study suggests the effectiveness of incorporating open-ended, sociotechnical engineering design challenges to develop skills that will better prepare students for collaborative work on complex, interdisciplinary problems they may encounter in their professional careers

Beyond Conservation: Reimagining the Purpose of Energy Education

While efforts to frame energy literacy as a matter of resource conservation are needed and certainly easy to be found on the “front line” of energy education materials, this cannot be the full extent of content or action related to education for an energy literate citizenry. Thus, we began with the premise that we must go beyond the typical conservation-focused energy education efforts. It all started with a little back-of-the-napkin calculation

Energy literacy of secondary students in New York State (USA): A measure of knowledge, affect, and behavior

Energy literacy, which encompasses broad content knowledge as well as affective and behavioral characteristics, will empower people to make appropriate energy-related choices and embrace changes in the way we harness and consume energy. Energy literacy was measured with a written questionnaire completed by 3708 secondary students in New York State, USA. Results indicate that students are concerned about energy problems (affective subscale mean 73% of the maximum attainable score), yet relatively low cognitive (42% correct) and behavioral (65% of the maximum) scores suggest that students may lack the knowledge and skills they need to effectively contribute toward solutions. High school (HS) students scored significantly better than middle school (MS) students on the cognitive subscale; gains were greatest on topics included in NY State educational standards, and less on topics related to "practical" energy knowledge such as ways to save energy. Despite knowledge gains, there was a significant drop in energy conservation behavior between the MS and HS students. Intercorrelations between groups of questions indicate energy-related behaviors are more strongly related to affect than to knowledge. These findings underscore the need for education that improves energy literacy by impacting student attitudes, values and behaviors, as well as broad content knowledge.Energy education Energy literacy Assessment

Climate Literacy—Imperative Competencies for Tomorrow’s Engineers

Engineers must take a leading role in addressing the challenges of mitigating climate change and adapting to the inevitable changes that our world is facing. To improve climate literacy, technical education must include problem formulation and solutions that consider complex interactions between engineered, Earth, and societal systems, including trade-offs among benefits, costs, and risks. Improving engineering students’ climate literacy must also inspire students’ motivation to work toward climate solutions. This paper highlights the content and pedagogical approach used in a class for engineering students that helped contribute to significant gains in engineering students’ climate literacy and critical thinking competencies. A total of 89 students fully participated in a pre/post climate literacy questionnaire over four years of study. As a whole, students demonstrated significant gains in climate-related content knowledge, affect, and behavior. Substantial differences were observed between students in different engineering disciplines and male vs. female students. Assessment of critical thinking showed that students did an excellent job formulating problem statements and solutions in a manner that incorporated a multidimensional systems perspective. These skills are critical for students to address climate change effectively in their eventual professions