Scott SummersMessage from the EVEN Director, Professor R. Scott Summers

It is always a highlight for me to be on the stage at the graduation recognition ceremony and present the diplomas and shake hands with our EVEN graduates as they cross the stage. They have worked very hard to achieve their degrees and I, and the other faculty, are proud of this accomplishment. This year we awarded our first MS and PhD degrees, and it marks our 15th year of awarding BS degrees.

A lot of changes have occurred during those 15 years. There are now more than 25 faculty members associated with the EVEN program and over 200 undergraduate students, which makes us one of the largest environmental engineering programs in the country. In addition the recognition of our young program by our peers continues to grow.

 A culminating experience for our undergraduates is the EVEN Design course lead by faculty members Dr. Chris Corwin and Dr. Mike Walker. The results of our exit and alumni surveys invariably list this experience as a highlight of their undergraduate education. We have a history of our design teams doing well in regional and national competitions and this year was no exception. Two of our teams placed first and second in the Rocky Mountain AWWA/WEA with the first place team representing the region at the national competiion in September. In addition another EVEN team was awarded first place in the national FAA sponsored 2015 – 2016 Airport CRP University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs: Environmental Interactions.  Congratulations to the 16 members of those three teams as well as the other team members.

I encourage you to go to our News column of the EVEN website to see the wide range of additional awards that our students, staff and faculty have received this year. Some highlights:

Two of our current graduate students were awarded the 2016 National Science Foundation - Graduate Research Fellowships and one the USEPA STAR Fellowship.

Dr. Chris Corwin was awarded the 2016 John and Mercedes Peebles Innovation in Education Award and the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award and Joanne Uleau, our Undergraduate Academic Advisor, the 2016 Outstanding Staff Advisor Award by the College of Engineering.

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Summers Signature

R. Scott Summers