11/2/2020
Annual Conference Ends With Outstanding Virtual Student Poster Contest

The final session of this year's Northeast Residuals and Biosolids Conference was a virtual student poster contest organized by NEBRA’s Research Committee which attracted 8 outstanding young researchers. Thanks to the judges from the Research Committee: Chair Tracy Chouinard, Andrew Carpenter, Ajay Singh, and Ned Beecher who had a really tough job in deciding amongst all the excellent presentations by the students. They did not come to an agreement until the next morning! And the winners are:

1st Place: Katherine Porterfield, PhD student, University of Vermont ($300 cash prize)

2nd Place: Eric Walling, PhD student, Université Laval in Quebec, Canada ($200 cash prize)

3rd Place: Kennedy Brown, junior undergraduate at the University of Vermont ($100 cash prize)

This year’s winning posters were focused on recovering phosphorus from dairy operations, optimizing composting operations, and the potential of agricultural waste management systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All of the research projects had applicability in the field of residuals/biosolids management and were very well defended by all the student contestants. Except for having to choose amongst them, it was an enjoyable experience for all who participated. We hope that attendees watching the event live learned a few things from these kids!

The other students who participated in the contest included:

• Kasuni Gamage, Kansas State University, poster titled: “Green” P-based Fertilizers from Wastewaters: Exploring Their Potential Use in Agriculture

• Bowen Hou, Lafayette College, poster titled: Optimizing Nutrient Recovery Through Struvite Crystallization

• Anna Beebe, University of Washington, poster titled: Testing Various Recipes of Co-Composted Class B Biosolids (King County, WA), Wood Residuals, and Biochar as Suitable Soil Amendments

• Sydney Adams and Cassidy Yates, University of New Hampshire, poster titled: Biosolid Stabilization Influence Distribution of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Wastewater Treatment Sludge

• Xue Bai, University of Maine, poster titled: Assessing Biochar Effects on Maine Soils

““Unfortunately, we could only select three students to receive prizes. We wish we could give all of them some money to encourage them in their research. All the students did an excellent job. I wish them luck in the future and I can’t wait to see what they do next!””

— Dr. Tracy Chouinard, contest organizer

Thanks to the sponsor of the Student Poster Contest conference session -- BioForceTech, a name that should be recognizable to NEBRA members. Also thanks to BioForceTech for contributing to the cash prize awards for the students along with Northern Tilth, Jeff McBurnie, Brown & Caldwell and Lystek. Responses to the poll questions asked during this session showed great support for continuing to host these student poster contests as well as finding funding for research projects related to residuals/biosolids. Research topics of most interest were improving the quality of compost and other agricultural soil amendments using biosolids and nutrient recycling/recovery from wastewater.