Published: July 8, 2021

A trio of University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering students have earned scholarships from the American Water Works Association.

PhD student Duong Nguyen and master’s students Nadia Jorgenson and Michael Hernandez have each earned 2021 scholarships from AWWA, a water industry non-profit.

Learn more about the honorees and their awards below:

Duong Nguyen

2021 AWWA Larson Aquatics Research Support Scholarship for Doctoral Studies

Advisor: Anthony Straub

Nguyen is pursuing his PhD in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and seeks to be a water researcher to ensure safe drinking water is available to all.

The Larson Aquatic Research Support Scholarships (LARS) provides a $7,000 award to a doctoral student interested in a career in corrosion control, treatment and distribution of domestic and industrial water supplies, aquatic chemistry, and/or environmental chemistry.

Nguyen is developing a new type of reverse osmosis (RO) across entrapped air layers inside a hydrophobic membrane called vapor-gap RO.

“This technology can be a breakthrough in the membrane area since it can solve two significant challenges that plagued conventional RO systems for three decades: low rejections of small uncharged contaminants and poor oxidation resistance,” Nguyen said.

Nadia Jorgenson

2021 AWWA AECOM Scholarship

Advisor: R Scott Summers

Jorgenson is earning her Master of Science in Environmental Engineering Process, Water Reuse and Reclamation. She is a first-generation college student originally from Tunisia. She is fluent in Arabic, French and English, and has diverse research experience in water quality and water reuse.

She hopes to apply her skills and knowledge as a water industry consultant to better understand and overcome the limitations in current potable reuse operations.

The AECOM Academic Scholarship is a $5,000 scholarship that funds a graduate student pursuing a graduate engineering degree on innovative solutions to improve drinking water in urban communities.

Michael Hernandez

2021 AWWA CDM Smith Thomas R. Camp Scholarship

Advisor: R Scott Summers

Hernandez is pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering with an expected graduation date of May 2022.

The Thomas R. Camp Scholarship recognizes outstanding graduate students conducting applied research in the drinking water field. It is given in honor of CDM Smith co-founder Dr. Thomas R. Camp and is worth $5,000.

Hernandez has classroom and field experience, he has worked as an Assistant Engineer with Hazen and Sawyer, a Treatment Intern at Aurora Water and severed on a plant operations pilot at the Binney Water Purification Facility in Aurora. He plans to concentrate on water and wastewater technology innovation to promote sustainability and public health.