Issue date: 6/11/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo Twelve students from Texas A&M presented soil erosion research at the EPA's National Sustainability Design Expo in Washington, D.C. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo Summer Performance Series- Five musicians will perform in "Music Among Friends," part of the Texas Music Festival Jazz Project, 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Presidential Conference Center, Texas A&M University. [Click to enlarge]

A group of 12 students from a variety of engineering and science majors worked together this spring to study the erosion problem on the west campus of Texas A&M. The students modeled strategies, including permeable pavement and rainwater harvesting, for decreasing runoff and its environmental impact.

The work done by the team was selected for entry in the Environmental Protection Agency's P3, a national sustainability competition, and was later presented in the EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington, D.C.

Both student competitions promote sustainable innovations aimed at solving current problems faced by society.

"P3 Stands for people, prosperity and the planet," said Andrea Ryan, Class of 2009 and a civil engineering major. "The students involved represented schools from all over the country that did projects involving science and technology to try to provide sustainable innovations to contribute to the well-being of both people and the Earth. The Expo allowed us to present the research we had done for the P3 competition."

Hillary Holmes, Class of 2009 and a civil engineering major, said presenting the research in Washington was a great experience.

"We had a lot of fun enjoying the city and presenting our project for the three days we went," Holmes said. "The National Sustainable Design Expo was part of a larger event going on at the National Mall for Earth Day so we were right at the hub of the entire event. Additionally, because we were set up on the National Mall, we were able to easily see many of the national monuments and the museums."

Ross Klein, a graduate student in ecosystem science and management, said that communication to such a diverse team was a challenging and fulfilling experience.

"It was a wonderful experience. Our team was composed of graduate and undergraduate students from ecosystem science and management, civil engineering, computer science and water management and hydrological sciences," Klein said. "From the beginning, it was apparent that we each used terminology unique to our fields that others were not familiar with. Through weekly discussion meetings we were all able to work together as a team and communicate on the same level."

Zechman said they decided on the research topic after finding erosion problems in the area around the George Bush Library.

"We arrived at the topic once we talked with the Division of Facilities and staff of the Texas A&M Physical Plant Engineering Design Services. These divisions had already begun to address [the] erosion problems," Zechman said.

Zechman said the problem of soil erosion is caused by the urbanization of the area.

"Due to the high level of imperviousness (paved parking lots, roads, sidewalks and buildings), the storm water runs off and cannot infiltrate into the soil," Zechman said. "This increased imperviousness can severely impact the availability and quality of water resources for both human and ecosystem uses."

Holmes said the soil erosion also caused loss of biodiversity, and they looked into different ways to solve the problem.

"This causes excessive erosion and loss of biodiversity in White Creek, which the water runs into," Holmes said. "Our project looked at different management practices to mitigate the runoff problems including pervious pavement, green roofs and rainwater harvesting."

Zechman took the initiative of bringing the students together.

"I wrote a grant to the EPA in December 2007 that funded this research. Out of 300 proposals, 50 were selected," Zechman said. "I recruited students and faculty to help with this project and cast the larger vision for the project. The students took it from there."

Klein said it was imperative that the students in the group come from different educational backgrounds so that the project could cover all aspects of the design in elaborate detail.

"I contributed to the project with my background on landscape ecology and students from civil engineering did the quantitative analysis on different models," Klein said. "Students in water management and hydrological sciences provided the literature review required to support our methodology. The computer science student wrote a program to develop a new wireless approach to download rainfall data."

Holmes said they will not be able to continue the research as a team.

"Several of us who worked on the project have graduated. However, we left our data and pertinent information with students and professors who do plan to continue this research," Holmes said.

Other faculty members involved in the project included Bryan Boulanger (civil engineering), Georgianne Moore (ecosystem science and management) and Radu Stoleru (computer science).

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