18th Annual Meeting
June 11-14, 2018
Texas A&M University
Hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Houston, Texas
Ecological Engineering: Addressing Uncertainty in a Dynamic World
The Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society takes place in Houston this year, with the theme "Ecological Engineering: Addressing Uncertainty in a Dynamic World". In the spirit of this theme, we will synergize efforts and integrate ecological engineering viewed through the lens of scientists, practitioners, policymakers, and society to advance the development of sustainable ecosystems, while fostering education and outreach in a constantly changing world. The meeting will consist of a plenary session, technical sessions, poster presentations, a student design competition, networking opportunities, and a suite of field trips, including TCWP wetland restoration and stormwater wetland sites.
Image courtesy of Wallpapers.com
Meeting Agenda
Monday, June 11, 2018
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Arrival, Attendee pick-up and Registration at the Hilton Post-Oak
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Informal Gathering and Sponsor Table Setup at the Hilton Post-Oak
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
7:00 am - 9:00 am: Continental Breakfast, Registration and Poster Set-Up in the Ballroom
8:00 am: Student Design Competition Meeting
8:30 am - 10:30 am: Welcome and Plenary Session with Invited Speakers Bill Mitsch and Michael Bloom
10:30 am - 11:50 am: Panel Discussion
11:50 pm - 12:00 pm: Break
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch with Invited Speaker Lee Forbes
1:30 pm - 2:50 pm: Concurrent Technical Sessions
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Stormwater Management I
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Resilient Coastal Communities
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Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
2:50 pm - 3:00 pm: Break
3:00 pm - 4:50 pm: Concurrent Technical Sessions
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Stormwater Management II
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Sustainable Food Systems
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Student Design Competition Session
4:50 pm - 6:30 pm: Break
6:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Bus transportation to St. Arnold Brewery
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Welcome Dinner Reception at St. Arnold Brewery
9:00 pm - 9:30 pm: Bus transportation to Hilton Post-Oak
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
7:00 am - 8:30 am: Continental Breakfast
8:30 am - 10:20 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions
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Urban Ecosystems and Innovations
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Streams: Ecological Restoration
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Antibiotics, Pesticides, and Nutrients in Agriculture
10:20 am - 10:30 am: Break
10:30 am - 11:50 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions
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Ecological Engineering Theory and Practice
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Streams: Geomorphology
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Decision-Making Tools
11:50 am - 12:00 pm: Break
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Local Field Tours
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm: Poster Session
Thursday, June 14, 2018
7:00 am - 8:30 am: Continental Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:50 am: Concurrent Technical Sessions
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Engaging Education
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Constructed Wetlands
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Reservoir Quality
9:50 am - 10:00 am: Break
10:00 am - 11:50 am: Final Technical Session - Student Competition Videos and Results
11:50 am - 12:00 pm: Break
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Business Meeting
Detailed Agenda with Technical Sessions
Field Trips
Sheldon State Park
This tour will take us through the initial phase of wetland restoration completed at Sheldon Lake State Park. Set within an urban park just 15 minutes east of downtown Houston, these restored marshes offer a glimpse of the historical coastal prairie wetland matrix, prior to any agricultural development.
Stormwater Wetlands
This tour will visit two stormwater wetlands:
1) The MD Anderson stormwater treatment wetland, located in the Texas Medical Center, is a small flood control basin that receives stormwater from an adjacent parking lot and has been designed to contain wetlands. As a demonstration site for natural water quality improvement, it also provides an interesting landscape destination for MD Anderson's staff and patient population.
2) This Exploration Green Nature Park is a transformation of a 200-acre defunct golf course into a stormwater detention facility in order to create five-finger lakes featuring miles of walking trails, native trees, and stormwater wetlands. The tour will visit the first completed section.
Green Street Reconstruction
The Bagby Street Reconstruction Project is the first Greenroads project in Texas, redeveloping a deteriorating ten-block corridor in the dense, urban, and rapidly developing Midtown neighborhood of Houston. The existing asphalt surface was in poor condition with severe cracking, potholes, and patching evident throughout. In addition to surface rehabilitation, the Project provides an improvement to pedestrian and parking facilities with access to local businesses and the Midtown Park, as well as low-impact development technologies. Space for these upgrades was found by implementing a road-diet, as traffic studies determined that the four-lane one-way collector could comfortably be reduced to two lanes.