Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Hurricane-Resilient Construction Practices In The Southeastern United States, Eleanor Hopkins, Jonathan Gildersleeve, Kieran Hemminger, Remingtin Rodriguez

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Hurricanes pose a significant threat to infrastructure and communities across the southeastern United States, causing billions of dollars in structural damage each year. High wind speeds, storm surge, and wind-driven rain frequently lead to roof failures, structural collapse, and severe interior water damage. As coastal populations continue to grow, improving the resilience of buildings in hurricane-prone regions has become a critical engineering and planning challenge. This literature review examines hurricane-resilient construction practices and evaluates strategies that improve structural performance during extreme weather events. Key areas of focus include continuous load path structural systems, reinforced roof-to-wall connections, elevated foundations to mitigate …

Greenwall Use For Air Repair And Depollution (G.U.A.R.D.), Sophia Elwood, Sophia Piro, Maura Barrada, Kathrine Lopez, Wendi Goffer

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Creating habitable indoor environments for long-duration space missions and extraterrestrial habitats requires reliable, sustainable air quality improvement. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s ACE Lab provides a unique opportunity to investigate plant-based purification in a controlled environment while addressing campus air quality concerns linked to a high-traffic airport and exposure to jet fuel particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This collaborative project between Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering researchers and the Botanical Society evaluates whether a green wall can improve indoor air quality as a scalable model for future closed-loop habitats. In the study's first phase, student researchers documented ACE Lab dimensions to …

Climate Resilient Infrastructure: The Problem Shift, Tyler Lautieri, Isaiah Morrison, Harrison Totten

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Climate change is a heavily debated topic, but recent studies and data show that climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency and severity of hazards. Infrastructure systems are subjected to more compound and cascading events that lead to the degradation of the systems. More traditional infrastructure design relies on concern that the system will be subjected to single hazard issues, and the design focuses on preventing structural failure during these isolated events. These approaches often fail to account for long term degradation of the system, as well as the interacting hazards, and system interdependence, which makes resilience …

Czts Nanoparticles As Cost Efficient Catalysts For Producing Green Hydrogen, Aidan Hau

Undergraduate Research Symposium (2026- )

Hydrogen gas is produced to be used as feedstock, fertilizer, and fuel. Traditional hydrogen production produces “gray hydrogen” in a process that uses and releases fossil fuels into the atmosphere. One way to produce “green” hydrogen is with renewable energy technologies that produce hydrogen gas using electrolysis without emitting fossil fuels. In electrolysis, the hydrogen atoms bonded to oxygen in a water molecule are split to produce hydrogen. A typical catalyst for this process would be a precious metal like palladium, which can be costly. In order to make green hydrogen production more affordable, an alternative catalyst composed of CZTS …

Sprinkler Package Runoff Risk Tool For Center Pivot Irrigation Systems, Will Bowers

Spring Runoff Conference

Center pivots in Utah 

• 403,524 acres = 67% of sprinkler irrigated fields in the open in Utah 
• Considered one of the most effective sprinkler systems available with technological advancements over the years

Evaluating Alternative Water Conservation Scenarios For Alfalfa In The Great Salt Lake Basin Using Integrated Climate Model Projections, Saddy Pineda-Castellanos, Masoumeh Hashemi

Spring Runoff Conference

Elevation of Great Salt Lake North and South Arms (1903-2026)

An Estimation Of Crop Evapotranspiration Using Soil Water Balance In Vineyards, Tarique Aziz, Burdette Barker, Michael Caron, Michael Pace

Spring Runoff Conference

Breakout Session presentation given at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference

Immersive Modeling To Generate Holistic Strategies To Get More Water To Great Salt Lake, Hadia Akbar

Spring Runoff Conference

How to get more water to GSL?

Must Address

• Complex water rights
• Competing water needs
• Historical legacies
• Variable and arid hydrology
• Infrastructure limitations and opportunities
• Lack of trust

What Makes Smart Irrigation Work? Lessons From Producers In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Tejinder Singh, Matt Yost, Elisa Flint, Burdette Barker, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Silas Ekadu

Spring Runoff Conference

Colorado River Basin Water Crisis

• Water allocations in the Colorado River Basin were set during wetter periods and now exceed current river flows, creating a gap between water supply (12.5 maf yr^-1) and demand (15 maf yr^-1).
• River flow has declined 19% since 2000.

Making Water Visible: Neutral, Verification-First Infrastructure For Basin-Scale Water Accountability, Eric Mcculley

Spring Runoff Conference

Every Tool Tells You What the Lake Level WAS.

None Tell You What It WILL BE.

• Current monitoring is retrospective — USGS gauges and DWR reports show only historical data
• Decision lag: By the time you see the problem, it’s too late to adjust
• 2024–2025 season: GSL dropped to record lows before upstream conservation kicked in
• Agricultural users, municipalities, and GSL all compete for limited supply with imperfect information

Leasing Water For Great Salt Lake: Water Savings And Producer Impacts, Conner Harwood

Spring Runoff Conference

Great Salt Lake Water Leasing

• Utah is working to increase inflows to GSL through voluntary water leasing from agriculture
• But key information is missing:
• How much water can leases save at the field level?
• At what price should farmers be compensated?
• This project:

1. Estimates field-level consumptive water use
2. Estimates the value of water in agricultural production
3. Evaluates water savings and producer impacts across leasing strategies

Meteorological Monitoring With Real-Time Data Processing Using Uas, Htoo Poe Sar, Cal Coopmans, Sierra Young

Spring Runoff Conference

Background and Motivation 

• Agricultural water management requires information about crop water use and water consumption 
• Remote sensing methods are used to model and estimate environmental processes – but they require weather data 

Utah Prototype For Visualizing Vulnerabilities Downstream Of Dams, Courtney Flint, Michael Englert, Nicolas Holden

Spring Runoff Conference

The climate question 

• Overtopping = 1/3^rd of all dam failures (ASDSO) 
• Drought concerns and supply uncertainty motivate keeping reservoirs full 
• Overtopping likelier if extreme storm when reservoir full 
• Over much of the country the probability of the annual daily maximum rainfall > 100-year event and the preceding 30-day rainfall >10-year event are going up (Hwang & Lall 2024) 

The Reform Of Prior Appropriation And The Fate Of Great Salt Lake, Christopher L. Lant, Rocky Seeley, Beth Parker, Andrew Follett

Spring Runoff Conference

Legal Issues Raised by the Decline of Great Salt Lake

• Violations of Clean Air Act from dust threaten federal intervention
• Petition to list Wilson’s Phalarope as an endangered species

Nutrient Inputs, Crop Removal, And Residual Soil Nitrogen Under Automated Surge Irrigation In Northen Utah, Ngoni Mufute

Spring Runoff Conference

Introduction

• Increasing pressure on already water scarce resources due to

• Climate Change and or variability

• Increasing demand and competition for water. E.g. due to -urban expansion

• Environmental concerns (Especially concerning the Great Salt Lake (GSL)-

• the shrinking of water levels in the GSL,

• increasing pollution levels in the GSL and

• the impact of these issues on industry,

• dust from the drying lakebed,

• increasing threat to both aquatic life and land animals

The Physical, Legal, And Modeling Infrastructure For Water Resource Management Has Reached A Tipping Point, Paul Brooks

Spring Runoff Conference

Addressing these challenges requires improved predictions of water supply

Supporting The Great Salt Lake: M&I Water Conservation Opportunities, Easton Hopkins

Spring Runoff Conference

Analysis of historical M&I water use, depletion, and conservation strategies to reduce anthropogenic impact on Great Salt Lake (GSL) while supporting M&I water needs.

Impacts Of Biochar And Fe/Zn-Doped Biochar On The Degradation And Transformation Of Pfas In Wastewater Biosolids Compost, Chase Fry, R. Ryan Dupont, Joan Mclean

Spring Runoff Conference

Background

• >5.8 million dry metric tons of biosolids were produced in 2018.
• It is difficult & expensive to landfill all biosolids produced.
• Biosolids are increasingly used as an agricultural fertilizer and soil amendment.

Ground Water Assessment Of Cache Valley Using Modern Tracing Techniques, Eric Humphrey, Bethany Neilson

Spring Runoff Conference

Monitor, analyze, and predict current and evolving dynamics of complex human and natural Earth-system interactions and to deliver actionable information at scales and timeframes relevant to decision makers.

Rethinking Harmful Algal Blooms In Utah Waters: A Paradigm Shift In Water Quality And Management, Kabilan Mani

Spring Runoff Conference

Droughts are intensifying in frequency and severity, straining already limited water supplies.

Hydrodynamics Of Bear Lake: Waves, Currents, Circulation, And Residence Times, Jeffrey Nielson

Spring Runoff Conference

Until we understand water movement, we’ll struggle to explain or manage what happens in Bear Lake.

Water Needs And Recovery Pathways For The Great Salt Lake, David Tarboton, Sarah Null, Bethany Neilson

Spring Runoff Conference

Main Points 

• Levels of GSL inherently fluctuate because of variability in precipitation and temperature that drive inflow and evaporation 
• Reductions in inflows due to water use are superimposed on this variability 
• Consistent delivery of conserved water offers the opportunity to shift the range of lake levels upwards reducing the occurrence of serious adverse effects and increasing the potential for healthy lake levels 
• Adding 250 thousand-acre ft/year reduces the occurrence of serious adverse effects from 61% to 28% over the long term 
• Adding 800 thousand-acre ft/year shifts the mean of variable lake levels to the lower end of the healthy lake …

Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan, Laura Vernon

Spring Runoff Conference

What is the Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan? A roadmap for managing water in ways that promote a healthy lake and a high quality of life in the basin.

Microplastics As Physical Hubs Amplifying Antiobiotic Resistance Under Mixed-Contaminant Selection In Wastewater Systems, Liyuan Hou

Spring Runoff Conference

Microplastics (MPs) are tiny plastic particles within the range of (0.1 mm to 5 mm) in size

Integrating Hydrology And Human Water Footprints: A Case Study Of The Great Salt Lake Watershed, Rocky Lynne Seeley

Spring Runoff Conference

A new model, comprehensively integrating hydrologic, water footprint, and virtual water data

A Conversation On Water, Camille Touton

Spring Runoff Conference

A conversation on water presentation at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.

What’S Next In Water Leasing Panel, Scott Hotaling, Adam Wickline, Hannah Freeze, Matt Anderson, Peter Stanton, Mitch Hancock

Spring Runoff Conference

Panel on water leasing at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.

Balancing Water Needs In Walker Basin, Peter Stanton

Spring Runoff Conference

Walker Lake 

Supported 50% of Mineral County economy 

Traditional homeland of Walker River Paiute Tribe (Agai Dicutta) 

World-class fishery

Annual Loon Festival

Utah’S Water Network Panel, Brad Mortensen, Kelly Pehrson, Nate Daugs, Brad Parry, Lindsie Smith, Camille Touton, Megan Nelson

Spring Runoff Conference

A panel on Utah's water network at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.

2026 Northern Utah Water Champion Award, Spring Runoff Conference

Spring Runoff Conference

Recognizes individuals who have demonstrated sustained, meaningful contributions to the stewardship, management, governance, or understanding of water in Northern Utah.