Powell Hinson, a sophomore EVEN student and new president of SEVEN (Society of Environmental Engineering), is teaming up with EEF to teach the importance of properly disposing hazardous waste. Hinson is working alongside Ralph Bogle, a Chemical Treatment Specialist, to illustrate the importance of hazardous waste disposal to students - especially for engineering students, as engineering generates more waste than most other colleges.
On CU Boulder's Campus, the Environmental Health & Safety building is in charge of processing around 50 tons of hazardous waste produced by the campus each year. Each of the neatly organized and stinky drums costs $400 dollars to incinerate, and that does not include labor, liability or transportation. To save on costs, Bogle treats some of the waste on campus, which is a large piece Hinson is interested in learning about.
Hinson's proposal is to video a tour of the facility and work small demos of hazardous waste disposal into the curriculum of several engineering classes.
“When people think research, they think grad school,” Hinson said. “The more we open undergraduates to research opportunities, the better we’ll prepare them. Everything we do in school is so conceptual. Through research you can reinforce that what you’re studying is actually something you’ll enjoy, and EEF is a great catalyst for finding, or making your own research project.”
The Engineering Excellence Fund (EEF) is designed to bridge the gap between ideas and their manifestations for engineering students at CU Boulder. A committee of 12 members manages the fund: six undergraduate students, three graduate, and three non-voting faculty/staff advisors. Students vote on how to spend and fund their peers’ money and projects, a unique opportunity among major universities and colleges. As the fund comes from engineering student fees, it is meant to benefit engineering students with an innovative idea or unique project proposal that have yet to establish themselves in their given field.
Check out the full article written by the College of Engineering here.