top of page

16th Annual Meeting

June 7-9, 2016
University of Tennessee Knoxville

Hosted by the UT Institute of Agriculture
Knoxville, Tennessee

Rooftop to Rivers: Integrating Built and Natural Ecosystems

Welcome to the 16th Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society! We will celebrate our Sweet 16 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, along the banks of the Tennessee River and the theme of "Rooftop to Rivers - Integrating Built and Natural Ecosystems." With this meeting, we hope to create a synergy between reflecting on society's past and looking ahead to the challenges that lie before use, engaging our membership to continue to evolve with the emerging field of Ecological Engineering. In keeping with AEES tradition, a suite of technical field tours, a student design competition, and an assortment of networking activities will complement technical sessions.

Knoxville-TN 2.jpg

Image courtesy of Wallpapers.com

Meeting Agenda

Monday, June 6, 2016

4:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Registration, Hilton Knoxville, 501 West Church Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Informal Gathering at Hilton Knoxville; Sponsor table set up

6:00 pm: Market Square Crawl/Outdoor Knoxville Festivities

 

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

7:00 am - 9:00 am: Continental Breakfast, Registration, and Poster set-up

8:00 am: Student Design Competition Team Meeting 

8:30 am - 10:30 am: Welcome and Plenary Session

10:30 am -11:50 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Watershed Planning

  • Stream Restoration I

  • Wastewater Treatment In Ag & Coal

12:00 pm: Opening Luncheon (provided)

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Climate Change

  • Ecosystem Services

  • Sustainable Food Systems

2:40 pm - 3:40 pm: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Bioretention

  • Urban Watersheds

  • Innovations in Ecological Engineering Education

3:50 pm - 5:10 pm: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Urban Landscapes

  • Stream Restoration II

  • Treatment Wetlands

6:00 pm9:00 pm: Welcome Dinner Reception on the Tennessee Star Riverboat

 

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

8:00 am - 9:00 am: Student Design Competition Mentor Session with Industry Experts

9:00 am - 10:20 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Green Infrastructure Applications

  • Stream Restoration III

  • Novel Methods in Water Quality Monitoring

10:40-NoonConcurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Innovations in Green Infrastructure

  • Stream Restoration IV

  • Wastewater Treatment & Resource Recovery

12:00 pm: Lunch - provided

12:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Technical Field Trips 

4:30 pm: Poster Reception at Hilton (see presentation list)

6:30 pm: Student Design Competition Testing 

Thursday, June 9, 2016

8:30 am - 9:50 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Measuring Impacts of Green Infrastructure

  • Watershed Processes

  • Ecosystem Modeling

10:10 am - 11:10 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions:

  • Big Ideas: Knoxville-Area Projects

  • Green Energy

  • BioSolutions

11:30 am: Student Design Competition Presentations 

12:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Closing Luncheon and Annual Business Meeting - lunch provided

2:00 pm: Executive Committee Meeting

3:00 pm: Organized Recreational Activities

Detailed Agenda with Technical Sessions

Field Trips

2016 Field Tour 1.jpg

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) River Forecasting Center and UT Sedimentation and Hydraulics Lab Tour

This tour will visit the TVA Headquarters in downtown Knoxville and a new state-of-the-art research lab for river dynamics at UTK. 

2016 Field Tour 2.jpg

Making Orange Green: Green Infrastructure Demonstration Sites Tour

This tour will visit campus rain gardens and constructed wetlands as well as head across the river to see a regenerative stormwater conveyance at a local middle school.

2016 Field Tour 3.jpg

Beaver Creek Watershed Restoration Tour

This tour will head just north to Beaver Creek watershed and visit a stream restoration site and stormwater BMP park.

2016 Field Tour 4.jpg

Conservation Fisheries Presentation & Hatchery Tour

This tour will begin with a presentation by fisheries scientists of Conservation Fisheries on restoration projects and then a tour of the hatchery facility to see how sensitive fish communities are being protected.

2016 Field Tour 5.jpg
2016 Field Tour 5a.jpg

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Monitoring Station

This tour will hike up to monitoring stations located within the Great Smoky National Park.  Space is limited to 10 people.

Student Design Competition

This year’s annual competition focuses on stormwater runoff treatment. Students will work in teams to design a bioretention media for green infrastructure practices targeting urban runoff pollutants. Teams will have access to a suite of common media components (such as course sand, mulch, compost, perlite, etc.) and be given a transparent column for packing and testing. Students may also use other outside materials. Design media will be tested for pollutant removal efficiency using a synthetic stormwater created to simulate what you would find coming from a residential development. Students will also be asked to make a video advertisement for their product, showcasing its pollution attenuation potential and advertising price. Treatment efficiency will be measured in terms of pollutant concentration in water draining through the column (tested in a university lab). Teams will be judged on a combination of creativity, articulation of design in advertisement, product cost, and of course, treatment efficiency results.

All students will be expected to participate in the competition (especially if they received a travel award). Teams will comprise of 4-6 students, grouped according to institution. Institutions with only 1-3 representatives will be combined. Work time during the conference will be limited, so we encourage students to begin brainstorming before the conference. Winner plague awards will be presented at the business meeting.

16th Annual Meeting Sponsors

image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png
image.png

UT AgResearch advances science in agriculture and food systems, natural resource management, and family and community sciences. We do this through the discovery of new knowledge, the innovation of these discoveries into new products and processes, and the application of these innovations to enhance the lives of Tennesseans and the world.

 

Greg Jennings collaborates with consultants, contractors, government agencies, mitigation banks, and non-profit organizations to assess natural resource conditions and implement ecosystem restoration projects. He has 30 years of experience working in academia and consulting on a wide range of water resources engineering challenges.

 

 

Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. (CEC) provides comprehensive market-oriented consulting services that advance clients' strategic business objectives. CEC is recognized for delivering innovative design solutions and integrated expertise in the primary practice areas of civil engineering, ecological sciences, environmental engineering and sciences, waste management, and water resources.

 

The UT Office of Sustainability aims to foster sustainable development and promote environmental stewardship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

 

 

Eureka Water Probes designs and manufactures water quality instrumentation to monitor our world’s fragile water supplies. Eureka’s Manta2 multiparameter sondes, software, and data collection platforms are used to monitor surface and groundwater quality. Eureka’s multiprobes are easy to use, provide reliable data, and operate in the toughest field conditions. Eureka partners with industry, environmental agencies, educational institutions, and engineering consulting groups to provide turn-key monitoring solutions.

 

UT Extension provides a gateway to the University of Tennessee as the outreach unit of the Institute of Agriculture. It is a statewide educational organization, funded by federal, state, and local governments, that brings research-based information about agriculture, family and consumer sciences, and resource development to the people of Tennessee where they live and work.

 

The University of Tennessee’s Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment (ISSE) seeks to promote the development of policies, technologies, and educational programs that cut across multiple disciplines, engage the university’s research faculty and staff, and grow in response to pressing environmental and security issues facing the state, the nation, and the globe. ISSE’s specialized centers, programs, and initiatives address a range of issues that fall under the broad rubric of sustainability.

 

Copperhead Environmental Consulting, Inc. is located in Paint Lick, KY. Established in 2004, Copperhead specializes in environmental regulatory compliance and ecological inventories. We have conducted projects throughout the United States in a wide variety of habitats and are dedicated to providing high-quality environmental services to our clients.

 

 

 

 

The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) prepares students in natural and social sciences-based professional academic programs for careers in agriculture, natural resources, and other arenas.

 

 

 

CH2M is dedicated to tackling our clients’ toughest infrastructure and natural resource challenges with optimism and imagination. Together, we are dedicated to laying the foundation for human progress by turning challenges into opportunities.

 

 

 

Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) at Virginia Tech is the engineering discipline that applies concepts of biology, chemistry, and physics, along with engineering science and design principles, to solve problems in biological systems.

bottom of page