Anndee Huff Recognized for Research and Leadership

Anndee Huff, a Ph.D. student advised by Paige Novak, has received a Women in Leadership Scholarship and a Moos Graduate Research Fellowship.

Anndee Huff was chosen to receive the 2020 Brown and Caldwell Women in Leadership Scholarship. The scholarship supports female students interested in pursuing a career in the environmental profession. Selection was based on academic achievement, recommendations, an essay, and the applicant must demonstrate leadership within the community. Excelling in all these areas, Huff received $5,000 toward tuition and expenses.

Huff was also selected as one of two recipients of the Moos Graduate Research Fellowship in Aquatic Biology from the College of Biological Sciences at UMN. For this Fellowship, applicants submitted a proposal for research to be completed during the summer of 2020 that is focused on understanding and developing sustainable use of freshwater. Selection was based on the quality and creativity of the proposed research and an interview. Recipients are expected to present their findings at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Freshwater Society, an organization that is active in local freshwater issues.

Huff and Professor Novak are working on a project to remove nitrogen from wastewater. They are targeting a microorganism that can remove nutrients more efficiently than traditional treatment processes can. Essentially, the current nitrogen removal process is a two-step process. Two zones are needed; one needs to be aerated, and one often needs carbon addition to make the nitrogen convert to harmless nitrogen gas that is released into atmosphere. The microorganism Huff and Novak are working with can do it in one step, greatly reducing the amount of air needed, eliminating the carbon, and saving space. Huff and Novak and some colleagues in the Chemical Engineering and Chemistry departments are developing a new membrane technology.