CSE student is runner-up in Dow Sustainability Challenge
Runner-up receives $2,500 to study the destruction of antibiotic resistance genes in residual municipal wastewater
Contacts:
Mary Hoff, Institute on the Environment, maryhoff@umn.edu, (612) 626-2670
Matt Hodson, University News Service, mjhodson@umn.edu, (612) 625-0552
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (12/03/2012) —Tucker Burch, a civil engineering Ph.D. candidate in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ College of Science and Engineering, was runner-up in the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award (SISCA) competition held Nov. 29 at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment. He received $2,500 to pursue the application of thermophilic anaerobic digestion for the destruction of antibiotic resistance genes in residual municipal wastewater solids.
The top prize went to a student proposal to help West African people turn Typha australis, a destructive aquatic plant, into cooking and heating fuel who captured the $10,000 top prize in the competition. The collaborative project, presented by student Matthew Aro, a Ph.D. candidate in Natural Resources Science and Management and a scientist at the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota, Duluth, was one of six submitted to the Dow SISCA challenge at the University of Minnesota, which is one of 17 universities around the world participating in the program. SISCA recognizes and rewards students and universities for innovation and research that encourages and promotes sustainable solutions to the world's most pressing social, economic and environmental problems. The competition was open to full-time graduate and professional students enrolled at all campuses of the University of Minnesota.
Judges were from Dow Chemical and the University of Minnesota. The awards are financial scholarships to the students to allow them to further develop their ideas.
"We’re extremely proud of these winners and of all of the students who participated in our inaugural Dow SISCA competition," said Fred Rose, who organized the University of Minnesota competition and who directs Acara, a program for emerging social entrepreneurs that is jointly supported by IonE and the University’s College of Science and Engineering. "Their vision and the work they put into identifying pressing sustainability challenges and innovative approaches to solving them are exemplary. We look forward to seeing where their dreams and initiative take them next."
Other finalists included mechanical engineering student Baris Mutlu (College of Science and Engineering) and Sujin Yeom (Medical School) who are working on the development of a silica gel encapsulated cell bioremediation system for wastewater treatment
The University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment seeks lasting solutions to Earth's biggest challenges through research, partnerships and leadership development. For more information on IonE and the Acara Program, visit environment.umn.edu. For more information on the Dow SISCA program, see dow.com/sustainability/studentchallenge.