Photo available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.
Editor's note: Trisha Culbertson is a graduate of Burlington High School; Alicia Greene is a graduate of Olathe North High School; and Patrick Bussen is a graduate of Wallace County High School, Sharon Springs.
News release prepared by: Rosanna Vail, 785-532-2720, rvail@k-state.edu
Monday, June 18, 2007
K-STATE TEAM WINS STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION AT ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CONFERENCE
MANHATTAN -- A team of five students from Kansas State University won the Student Design Competition at the 2007 American Ecological Engineering Society's annual meeting, May 21-25, at K-State. The winning project was a rain garden microcosm.
The Konza Prairie Biological Station was the inspiration for the group's project. The native tallgrass prairie preserve near Manhattan is owned by The Nature Conservancy and K-State, and is operated as a field research station by the K-State Division of Biology.
"We have this tallgrass prairie ecosystem that we model a lot of our work after," said Trisha Culbertson, a member of the team and a graduate student in biological and agricultural engineering, Manhattan. "The goal was to design an ecologically engineered structure that absorbs water into the soil very quickly, but holds as much water as possible. These small-scale systems are modeled on the natural landscape and help control storm water runoff."
According to the competition organizers, the K-State team's exceptional infiltration dynamics and other design elements earned the team this year's competition award.
Culbertson says her experiences at the competition, conference sessions and time spent on the Konza Prairie gave her a better understanding of the long-term sustainable solutions for the upkeep of prairie ecosystems with engineering components.
"I will definitely keep attending this conference in the future," Culbertson said. "It's a really great opportunity to network with practicing professionals and consultant engineers and hear about the obstacles they face in a real urban setting."
Faculty adviser to the team was Reid Christianson, extension assistant in biological and agricultural engineering. Other team members, all biological and agricultural engineering majors, included:
From Manhattan: Patrick Bussen, senior; Laura Christianson, graduate student; and Alicia Greene, senior.
Hale Sloan, junior, Sharon Springs.
More than 150 university students, faculty, engineers and practicing professionals attended the annual meeting at K-State's Fiedler Hall. More information about the conference is available online at:
http://www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/aees/
For more information about upcoming conferences, contact the K-State Division of Continuing Education at 1-800-622-2578, informationdce@k-state.edu or online at http://www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/