22nd Annual Meeting
June 21-23, 2022
University of Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Designing for Our Future: Ecotechnology for Watershed Health in Urban-Rural Continuum
We are excited to host the 22nd annual American Ecological Engineering Society Meeting in Baltimore, MD. This year’s meeting theme is “Designing For Our Future: Ecotechnology for Watershed Health in the Urban-Rural Continuum." With this meeting, we hope to better contextualize the realm of Ecological Engineering while looking for the next generation to use these emerging practices to solve the world’s grand challenges. The interplay between students, industry professionals, and academia will be a key element of the meeting. We are encouraging industry professionals to attend the meeting as sponsors and mentors and provide insights to entering the field.
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The American Ecological Engineering Society’s mission is to promote the development of sustainable ecosystems that integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both by fostering education and outreach, extending professional development and associations, raising public awareness, and encouraging original research.
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Meeting Agenda
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Monday, June 20, 2022
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Optional Registration Packet Pick-Up (Tru by Hilton - Baltimore)
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Informal gathering at Five Iron Golf (responsible for own dinner/drinks, not included in registration fee)
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
IMET: Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (701 E Pratt St. Baltimore MD 21202)
8:30 am - 9:00 am: Registration Packet Pick-Up​
​9:00 am - 10:45 am: Opening Keynote Presentation and Panel: Restoration in the Chesapeake Bay (Atrium)
10:45 am - 11:15 am: AM Snack Break in Sponsor Booth Area (1st floor)
11:15 am - 12:30 pm: Technical Sessions 1 (Atrium), 2 (Auditorium), and 3 (Conference Classroom)
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch at IMET (Atrium - included in registration fee)
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm: Technical Sessions 4 (Atrium), 5 (Auditorium), and 6 (Conference Classroom)
2:30 pm - 3:15 pm: Kickoff of AEES's new Journal of Ecological Engineering Design (Atrium)
3:15 pm - 3:45 pm: PM Snack Break (Atrium)
3:45 pm - 5:15 pm: Technical Sessions 7 (Atrium), 8 (Auditorium), and 9 (Conference Classroom)
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Social Dinner at Living Classrooms: 1417 Thames St. (dinner/drinks included in registration fee)
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
IMET: Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (701 E Pratt St. Baltimore MD 21202)
8:00 am - 8:45 am: ABET accreditation update for ecological engineering (Atrium)
9:00 am - 10:15 am: Technical Sessions 10 (Atrium), 11 (Auditorium), and 12 (Conference Classroom)
10:15 am - 11:15 am: Poster Session (with AM snacks in Poster Room – 3rd floor)
11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Technical Sessions 13 (Conference Classroom), 14 (Auditorium), and 15 (Atrium)
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm: Student Design work session (Atrium); Body of Knowledge Workshop (Classroom)
12:00pm - Grab To-Go Lunch in Sponsor Booth Area
12:30 - 3:30pm: Field Trips
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm: Orioles Baseball Game (Food and soda included with paid ticket)
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Thursday, June 23, 2022
IMET: Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (701 E Pratt St. Baltimore MD 21202)
9:00 am - 10:00 am: Technical Sessions 16 (Atrium), 17 (Auditorium), and 18 (Conference Classroom)
10:00 am - 10:30 am: AM Snack Break in Sponsor Booth Area (1st floor)
10:30 - 11:15 am: Technical Sessions 19 (Atrium), 20 (Auditorium), and 21 (Conference Classroom)
11:15 am - 12:30 pm: Closing Keynotes: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Session (Atrium)
12:30 pm - 12:35 pm: 2022 Odum Award Presentation
12:35 pm - 2:30 pm: AEES Business Lunch (seated meal in Atrium - included in registration fee)
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Optional Post-Conference Guided Tour of the American Visionary Art Museum
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Detailed Agenda with Technical Sessions
Plenary Speakers
Peter Goodwin, F.ASCE, F.ICE | Keynote Speaker
President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Peter Goodwin is the President of the University of Maryland Center of Environmental Science (a graduate university for the environment) and one of the 12 institutions within the University of System of Maryland (USM). He also serves as Vice-Chancellor of Environmental Sustainability for the USM. He is the immediate past-President of IAHR (www.iahr.org) and recently completed a federal appointment as Lead Scientist for the Science Program of the Delta Stewardship Council in California. His research interests include systems approaches to ecological recovery of river, wetland and estuarine systems.
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Sadie Drescher | Keynote Panelist
Vice President of Programs for Restoration at the Chesapeake Bay Trust
Sadie is the Vice President of Programs for Restoration at the Chesapeake Bay Trust where she and her team lead restoration programs that use innovative partnerships to work with and engage watershed organizations and residents. The Trust’s mission is to engage and empower diverse groups to take actions that enrich natural resources and local communities, using the latest science and best practices, to benefit the water and people in the Chesapeake Bay. She has background in environmental science with a M.S. in Environmental Studies from the College of Charleston and a B.S. in Environmental Biology from Tennessee Technological University. Prior to joining the Trust, Sadie was a Watershed Researcher and Planner for the Center for Watershed Protection where she developed watershed management strategies for local communities, a Research Specialist in the Science and Policy Division of SC’s coastal management program, worked at the USDA Center for Forested Wetlands in SC, and was an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow for DOE in Tennessee.
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​Joe Berg | Keynote Panelist
Biohabitats Senior Ecologist, Practice Leader
Joe is a University of Maryland Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science Program graduate. He is focused on systems ecology and has more than 35 years experience in the assessment and analysis of streams and wetlands, documentation, permitting, and the preparation and implementation of restoration plans. The focus of his efforts include restoration of integrated stream, wetland and floodplain functions as a means to deliver functional uplift, restore ecosystem services to society, increase natural capital, and integrate local community needs with an appreciation of natural resource values. Joe has been active in the Society for Ecological Restoration, Society of Wetland Scientists, and the Maryland Stream Restoration Association.
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​Rebecca Stack | Keynote Panelist
Principal of Designgreen
Rebecca is a civil engineer whose work is at the intersection of urban design, ecosystem science, and water resource management. She is an educator, and principal of Designgreen. During her tenure as a code official for the District of Columbia, she co-authored the city’s Stormwater Retention standards and its innovative Stormwater Retention trading market. In the private sector, Rebecca has worked on all aspects of stormwater management retrofits and compliance from planning and design to construction and maintenance. Her most recent work focuses on the integration of water quality and flood management with blue-green infrastructure and community engagement and the consensus design process on neighborhood scale urban resilience projects.
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Priscila B. R. Alves | Keynote Panelist
Lab Manager and Postdoctoral Associate to the SIRJ Lab
Dr. Priscila Alves is the Lab Manager and Postdoctoral Research Associate of the Stormwater, Infrastructure, Resilience and Justice (SIRJ) Lab at the University of Maryland (US). Combining professional experiences in Brazil, the UK, and the US, Priscila is a civil engineer with specialization in water engineering, especially flooding and water shortage modeling, sustainability, and public engagement. Her previous work and publications focus on engaging with policymakers and communities facing flooding risk, the analysis of actions and solutions for risk mitigation, including the mapping flood vulnerability with spatial tools, hydrological modeling, and public participation.
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Field Trips
Stream Restoration and BMPs in the Baltimore Area
​On this Compact Thousand Year Flood Zone Mitigation Planning and Deep BMP Implementation tour, a bus will take the group to sites in Baltimore and Ellicott City which each experienced two, thousand-year floods in the span of a few years. Landscape morphology and human modification conspired with several highly localized, brief and intense storm events to flood a neighborhood in Baltimore and the main street in Ellicott City, sweeping and destroying hundreds of cars and flooding property, twice only years apart. The sites present a neighboring dichotomy, one in which planning and implementation is currently underway with massive and innovative flood control projects, including sub-street grade storage & multiple stream restorations, and one which is not. Sites will be narrated by the drivers of the neighborhood efforts as well as the managers of the flood mitigation efforts and stream restoration designers. PBS video on the flooding can be viewed here.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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Picture source: Sarah Hansen, "Learning from Ellicott City."
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​Baltimore Aquarium Tour
The National Aquarium strives to connect people with nature to drive conservation action for the benefit of people, animals, and the planet. The National Aquarium’s mission—to inspire conservation of the world’s aquatic treasures —begins within the walls of our buildings, but it does not end there. We protect, enhance, and restore natural resources through education and engagement, habitat restoration, animal rescue and sustainable business practices. In this behind the scene tour, learn about their sustainable sourcing of food, energy consumption, visit their green roof, and learn of their efforts to combat climate change and reduce habitat loss and plastic pollution.
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Picture source: National Aquarium, "Conservation."
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​Hart-Miller Island Ecological Restoration Boat Tour
A boat operated by the Maryland Port Administration/Maryland Environmental Service will take the group to a wetland restoration project built out of three formerly disappearing Chesapeake Bay islands: Hart, Miller and Pleasure. Using dredge material from the Baltimore Ship Channel approaches, Hart-Miller is now a State Park with extensive interior non-tidal wetlands which support significant migratory bird habitat. A bus will tour the group around the island to detail its many features, ending at a beach prior to the boat trip back to Baltimore.
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Picture source: MD Dept of Natural Resources.
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​Oyster Reef Restoration: Carroll Island Francis Scott Key Bridge
This boat tour will pass by Fort McHenry and the spot marked where Francis Key was held by the British and penned the National Anthem. The oyster reef restoration project is located less than an hour cruise by the Key Bridge and Fort Carroll, an abandoned constructed island fort built by Robert Lee before the Civil War as an Army Corp of Engineers Project. This unique oyster reef restoration is a cooperative collaboration of the Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership, which sources shell from local restaurants and rears oyster spat in the inner harbor. An oyster dredge may be pulled on site to identify the infaunal invertebrate and fish community.
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Picture source: MD Dept of Natural Resources.
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Baltimore Harbor Eco-technology Walking Tour
This walking tour will be hosted and led by the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, which has funded several of the projects. The tour will begin in the basement of our conference location at UMD’s IMET touring the “Cadillac” of recirculating aquaculture systems, including an anaerobic digestion system for waste treatment. Within the Harbor, several innovative types of floating wetlands, including the Aquarium “bubbler,” will be highlighted. Other technologies includethe Navy grade marine aluminum “cruiser” and the French designed Biohut bulkhead suspended oyster reefs modules supporting post larval juvenile fish and invertebrates. The tour will visit the Great Baltimore Oyster Recovery Partnership volunteer managed oyster spat “cultch” rearing cells, a musical/art stormwater children’s park, and the famous Mr. Trash Wheel solar and hydro powered automated floatable debris conveyor collector barge. Too much eco-tech for you? We didn’t think so.
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Picture source: Peter May, UMD, of Mr. Trash Wheel on the Baltimore Harbor
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Socials
Social Dinner | June 21st | 6:00-9:00 pm
After a day of presentations, join us for food, drinks, and live music. Enjoy local drinks from local breweries, with a cash bar when the kegs run dry.
Baseball Game and Picnic (Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles) | June 22nd | 7:00 pm
After an afternoon of field tours, join us for evening at the ball park for a social/networking outing. Picnic menu includes all you can eat hot dogs, ice cream, popcorn, peanuts, salad, nachos, soda, and water until the 7th inning. The Camden Yards Ballpark can be reached by the free Charm City Circulator (orange route), which is a 21-minute route from the Tru Hilton, or you can walk directly, which is a 29-minute walk.
American Visionary Art Museum Guided Tour | June 23rd | 3:30-5:00 pm
Enjoy a delicious barbeque dinner from 12 Bones BBQ, live music, and lawn games at Smoky Park. This fun social is one event you do not want to miss. Beer and wine will be served with drink tickets. Transporation will be provided to and from the Renaissance Hotel.
22nd Annual Meeting Sponsors
