22nd Annual Meeting
June 21-23, 2022
University of Maryland - Baltimore, MD
Hosted by the University of 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.
Meeting Agenda
Monday, June 20, 2022
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Optional Registration Packet Pick-Up
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
8:30 am - 9:00 am: Registration Packet Pick-Up​
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9:00 am - 10:45 am: Opening Keynote Presentation and Panel: Restoration in the Chesapeake Bay
10:45 am - 11:15 am: AM Snack Break in Sponsor Booth Area
11:15 am - 12:30 pm: Technical Sessions 1, 2, and 3
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch at IMET
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm: Technical Sessions 4, 5, and 6
2:30 pm - 3:15 pm: Kickoff of AEES's new Journal of Ecological Engineering Design
3:15 pm - 3:45 pm: PM Snack Break
3:45 pm - 5:15 pm: Technical Sessions 7, 8, and 9
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Social Dinner at Living Classrooms: 1417 Thames St. (dinner/drinks included in registration fee)
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Wednesday, June 22, 2022
IMET: Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology
8:00 am - 8:45 am: ABET accreditation update for ecological engineering
9:00 am - 10:15 am: Technical Sessions 10, 11, and 12
10:15 am - 11:15 am: Poster Session
11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Technical Sessions 13, 14, and 15
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm: Student Design work session; Body of Knowledge Workshop
12:00 pm - Grab To-Go Lunch in Sponsor Booth Area
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12:30 - 3:30 pm: 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, 2021
IMET: Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology
9:00 am - 10:00 am: Technical Sessions 16, 17, and 18
10:00 am - 10:30 am: AM Snack Break in Sponsor Booth Area
10:30 - 11:15 am: Technical Sessions 19, 20, and 21
11:15 am - 12:30 pm: Closing Keynotes: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Session
12:30 pm - 12:35 pm: 2022 Odum Award Presentation
12:35 pm - 2:30 pm: AEES Business Lunch
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Optional Post-Conference Guided Tour of the American Visionary Art Museum
Detailed Agenda with Technical Sessions
Field Trips
Stream Restoration and BMPs in the Baltimore Area
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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 are currently underway with massive and innovative flood control projects, including sub-street grade storage and multiple stream restorations, and one that 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. Picture source: Sarah Hansen, "Learning from Ellicott City"
Baltimore Aquarium Tour
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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-scenes tour, learn about their sustainable sourcing of food, and energy consumption, visit their green roof, and learn of their efforts to combat climate change and reduce habitat loss and plastic pollution. Picture source: National Aquarium, "Conservation"
Hart-Miller Island Ecological Restoration Boat Tour
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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 that 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. Picture source: MD Dept of Natural Resources.
Oyster Reef Restoration Tour: Carroll Island Francis Scott Key Bridge
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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's 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 shells 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. Picture sourced from Peter May, UMD, of the Living Classrooms boats for navigation to the oyster reef site.
Baltimore Harbor Eco-Technology Walking Tour
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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 include the Navy-grade marine aluminum “cruiser” and the French-designed Biohut bulkhead suspended oyster reef 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. Picture sourced from Peter May, UMD, of Mr. Trash Wheel on the Baltimore Harbor
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 | June 22nd | 7:00 pm
Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles
After an afternoon of field tours, join us for an evening at the ballpark 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
Rated one of the best museums on the East Coast. The AVAM specializes in original thematic exhibitions that seamlessly combine art, science, philosophy, humor, and especially social justice and betterment. To get to the AVAM from IMET, you can take a free boat ride and arrive in 16 minutes, or you can walk around the Inner Harbor and arrive in 25 minutes by foot.
22nd Annual Meeting Sponsors
