13th Annual Meeting
June 10-12, 2013
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Ecosystems for Water and Energy
The 13th Annual American Ecological Society meeting focuses on the theme of Ecosystems for Water and Energy. As the complexities of the problems affecting world growth and sustainability are uncovered, it is becoming increasingly clear that it is impossible to consider water or energy in isolation from each other. It takes energy to treat polluted waters and producing and transferring energy frequently requires a clean source of water. More researchers and engineers are exploring and even implementing ecologically-engineered solutions that concurrently address both water and energy problems. For example, biomass production for bioenergy has the potential to either improve of degrade water quality – depending on agricultural practices. Anaerobic digestion has the potential to be combined with ecosystems, such as treatment wetlands and algal ponds, to both produce clean energy and reclaim wastewaters.
Image courtesy of Wallpapers.com
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Robert H. Kadlec
We are excited to announce that are plenary speaker for the 13th Annual AEES Meeting is Dr. Robert H. Kadlec, one of the founding researchers and engineers to design and construct wetlands for improvement of water quality. Dr. Kadlec earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and University of Michigan. Dr. Kadlec is well known for his development of wetland process characterization and his co-authorship of the extensive text “Treatment Wetlands.” Throughout his career, Dr. Kadlec has worked on over 250 wetland projects and authored or coauthored over 130 publications.
Student Design Competition
In recent years communities have developed best management practices (BMPs) to capture stormwater from surrounding roads, parking lots and buildings. Through a variety of BMPs, stormwater is detained and either reused or infiltrated on site. Capturing stormwater reduces pollution runoff into the river and improves water quality. These sites can be powerful educational tools that promote public awareness to stormwater management and the engineering practices that are utilized to improve environmental water quality.
The objective of the 2013 student competition is to develop a creative 2-3 minute video summary of a stormwater BMP on Michigan State University campus that will provide information about how this system works to improve water quality. These videos should contain information that provides the background engineering principals as well as the potential for how the general public can use a similar system or component to address water quality on their own properties. The target audience should be considered to be undergraduate college students, visitors to campus and the surrounding community. The goal of the video is to not only educate the audience on these practices but also to inspire them to take action in creating stormwater solutions to improve their environment.
Videos will be shown on Wednesday morning, with winners selected by popular vote! More details will be available at the registration table. Video cameras are available to borrow. Prizes will be awarded!