Greetings. I hope this message finds you in good health and best of the spirits. At UVM, we resumed fully in-person learning (with masks indoors). The resilience, creativity, and dedication of our students, staff, and faculty have been truly impressive.

Despite the challenges of the last academic year, our department made significant strides in training, research, and outreach. We initiated our Water Innovation for the Future campaign. Our faculty received a number of new research awards from NSF, NASA, NOAA, DOE, and the Department of Education, among others. In 2021, we engaged over 50 undergraduate students in research, a highly successful program supported by general funds, faculty research grants, and generous donations from alumni. Our undergraduate and graduate students continue to receive prestigious scholarships and placements, and our alumni continue to excel.

It gives me a great pleasure to share with you a few exciting stories about our students, alumni, faculty, and staff below.

Season’s greetings and my very best wishes for a restful and enjoyable break,

Mandar M. Dewoolkar, PhD, PE, F ASCE 
Professor & Chair, Civil & Environmental Engineering 

Our last year’s graduates faced an added degree of difficulty in their capstone projects of designing systems without actually seeing them. Working with photos, historical records and self-constructed computer models, students developed design solutions that may one day save a historic covered bridge from the next tropical storm, or preserve and repurpose a long-abandoned structure with an iconic presence in a northern Vermont village. Seven of the 13 service learning-based capstone projects involved preserving historic structures. A student could see how they can make an immediate contribution that’s very appreciated and very tangible.

Growing up in Vietnam, Linh Nguyen was initially intimidated by the idea of research, but discovered great research opportunities and mentorship at UVM. Flash forward a few years, Linh became a Barrett Scholar working with Profs Scott Hamshaw and Donna Rizzo on a research project funded by the Barrett Foundation that aimed to improve water quality of New York City through the Upper Esopus watershed. Linh was awarded Student Engineer of the Year by our College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.

Kennedy Brown was awarded a scholarship from the New England Water Environment Association in recognition of her academic and research accomplishments. She was also selected for the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering program and completed a report entitled "An Investigation on Decentralized Wastewater Management Systems in Rural America: A case study on the Alabama Black Belt’s wastewater infrastructure crisis."

Wyatt Matyas is working with Prof. Raju Badireddy to develop and test 3-D printed low-cost wireless microsensors for monitoring nutrients in soil and wastewater systems. His work was funded by the Gund Institute for Environment and our department’s REU program. This research team also aims to develop sensor networks to wirelessly monitor and collect data on nutrient transport in soils in small-to medium-size Vermont farms.

Prof. Arne Bomblies co-authored a new book, Projecting the Impacts of Climate Change on Malaria Transmission in Africa. There are more than 200 million malaria cases every year. As climate change affects the delicate balance of human and mosquito populations in places such as Africa, that number could be affected-potentially for the worse.

Prof. Eric Hernandez was named President-elect for the New England chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

Prof. Donna Rizzo was named 2021-22 University Scholar. Since arriving at UVM in 2002, she and her students have worked collaboratively with colleagues across five different UVM colleges, using a variety of machine-learning tools to tackle multi-scale environmental problems.

Prof. Matthew Scarborough received Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award. Matt's nomination highlights his wide capacity for compassion for students, involvement in community, and innovation in the classroom.

Prof. Britt Holmén retired earlier this year, but will continue to be engaged with the department as an emerita. Britt’s scholarly contributions at the Transportation Air Quality Lab centered on ultra-fine particles from vehicle tailpipes, recently for hybrid electric vehicles and biodiesel fuels, built on earlier work that included transit buses and on-road experiments where pioneering methods informed the California Air Resources Board.  The theme of agriculture has also been woven throughout her career starting with particle pollution from field operations to USDA-funded work on the relative toxicity of biodiesel-derived particles.  Britt has been an exceptional educator. Her project-based classes were known for rigorous work expectations and building effective communication skills. It was not surprising that she was selected this year for the Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Northeast section.

Kansas State University recruited Prof. David Rosowsky to be their Vice President for Research. He will also serve as chair of the board of directors for K-State Innovation Partners, K-State’s hub of corporate engagement, technology commercialization and economic development. We are very sad to see David move, but we wish him the very best in this new chapter in his career.