The National Science Foundation has bestowed two prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards to University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering graduate students.
These top awards recognize and support outstanding grad students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees.
PhD student Kylie Boenisch-Oakes and master's student Annamarie Guth have each received the honor for 2023. Awardees receive a $37,000 annual stipend and cost of education allowance for the next three years as well as professional development opportunities.
Kylie Boenisch-Oakes
Advisors: Sheldon Masters and R Scott Summers
Labs: Masters Group and Summers Lab
Kylie earned her bachelor's degree from Oregon State University and started at CU Boulder in the Fall of 2022. Her research focuses on direct potable wastewater reuse (DPR), which is the process of treating wastewater to high standards for human consumption. DPR will become increasingly critical as climate change and drought strain existing water systems. A key component of treatment is disinfection, which destroys harmful pathogens. During disinfection, the disinfectant can react with organic matter and form a class of chemicals called disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which are known to be harmful to human health. There are more precursors for these harmful DBPs in treated wastewater. Her research is centered around understanding the behavior of these compounds in the water distribution system and in buildings in wastewater reuse scenarios to inform regulations and protect public health.
Annamarie Guth
Advisor: Michael Hannigan
Lab: Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Research Lab
I am currently an EVEN master’s student and will be transitioning into the mechanical engineering department in the fall to pursue my PhD. My research focuses on emissions and fuel characterization of prescribed fire in the western US. The goal of my research is to investigate the impact of commonly used prescribed fire ignition techniques on fuel reduction efficiency, emissions of {PM}_{2.5}, CO, VOCs, and {CO}_2, and modified combustion efficiency (MCE).