LUNCHTIME SEMINARS (Oct 2002)

There will be a series of lunchtime seminars this term, given by Research Staff and PhD students. These will take place between 13.00 and 14.00 in Room 141 on THURSDAY lunchtimes in November/December. All members of the Section, including MSc students, are invited.
Thursday 14th November:
1300-1325:T. Breedon - Experimental investigation of the effects of iron concentration in sewage sludge and soil pH value on phosphorus extractability in sludge-amended agricultural soil
1325-1350: N. Lang - Decay of e. coli in soil following the application of biosolids to agricultural land
Thursday 21st November:
1300-1325: C. Makropoulos - Spatial decision support for urban water management
1325-1350: D. Covas - Inverse transient analysis for leak detection and calibration of water pipe systems - modelling special dynamic effects
Thursday 28th November:
1300-1325: B. Jackson - Lysimeter investigations of water flow in unsaturated soils
1325-1350: L. Ciciani - Transport of radionuclides in vegetated saturated and unsaturated soil under controlled conditions
Thursday 5th December:
1300-1325: N. Howden - Hydrogeological controls on groundwater-surface water interactions and water quality in a lowland permeable catchment
1325-1350: N. Weber - Fish food and the space-time continuum
Thursday 12th December:
1300-1325: E. Bowen - Bioremediation of Nitrate-contaminated Groundwater: The Nitrite Problem
1325-1350: Dong-Keun Kang - A study on the upward migration of radiocaesium in soil-plant systems

MSc PRIZE WINNERS (Sept 2002)

We are delighted to announce that Wing Lee was awarded the Binnie, Black and Veatch Prize 2002 for the most outstanding student on the Environmental Engineering MSc course. The standard of the MSc Dissertations this year was extremely good and so the award of the IPHE Prize 2002 for best Dissertation was shared between Akinleye Makinde and Karen McCormack. The standards set by the students on the Hydrology for Environmental Management MSc course were this year has been excellent, The Victor Appleby Prize 2002 for the best Dissertation was awarded to Heather Musgrove. Our congratulations are extended to all of the students and, in particular, the above mentioned prize winners.

WELCOME BACK (Sept 2002)

Professor Nigel Graham has recently returned from a 2-year secondment to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he was Director of the Research Centre for Urban Environmental Technology & Management (RCUETM) in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering. As Director of the RCUETM, Professor Graham was involved in promoting the expertise of the Centre within Hong Kong and internationally, and in facilitating new research initiatives and consultancy. During the two years he was involved in the organisation of two major international conferences, a specialist short course for local managers and industrialists, several technical investigations for the Hong Kong Government, and a number of new research projects. Although he is now back at Imperial College, he remains an Honorary Professor of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and has several ongoing research projects with former colleagues there.

PHD SUCCESS (July 2002)

Andrew Sincock successfully defended his PhD thesis on 'Conceptual River Water Quality Modelling Under Dynamic Conditions' on 30th July. We would like to wish him many congratulations from us all!

HEM MSC PRESENTATIONS (Jul 2002)

As part of the Hydrology for Environmental Management MSc, each student is required to give a 15 minute presentation on their summer dissertation, followed by 5 minutes question time. These presentations are due to take place on Tuesday 23 July in Room 315, between 10am and 4pm. The schedule for the day is as follows:
10.00 Amanda BORRMAN
10.20 Ian CALLENDER
10.40 Michele CERATI
11.00 Leonor CORTES-BADILLO
11.20 Paul KLIMCZAK
11.40 Andrew TERRY
2.00 Sonja FOLWELL (P/T)
2.20 John MACLEAN
2.40 Richard MAXEY
3.00 Heather MUSGRAVE
3.20 Simon PARKER
3.40 Antonios PEPPAS
4.00 Sarah ROBINSON
For further information contact Dr Adrian Butler.

PHD SUCCESS (July 2002)

Demetris Lekkas successfully defended his PhD thesis on 'New methods of real-time flood forecasting' on 5th July. We would like to wish him many congratulations from us all!

FAREWELL (May 2002)

After 25 years at Imperial College Dr Chris Sollars said his final farewell and left us on the 29th May for pastures new. Chris orginally came to Imperial in 1977, obtained his PhD in 1985 and proceeded to become Roger Perry's right hand man. As such, Chris was instrumental in establishing CECWM, and was responsible for co-ordinating many of the Centre's research programmes. Chris was popular with both staff and students, many of whom he has also helped along the way in gaining their PhDs. He will be very greatly missed and we wish him our utmost wishes in his future endeavours.

PROFESSOR GEDEON DAGAN (May 2002)

Professor Gedeon Dagan of University of Tel Aviv  and Stockholm Water Prize winner, will give an informal lunch-time seminar on Wednesday 22 May between 1.00 and 2.00 pm in room 141 Dept. Civil Engineering for members of the Department and the Petroleum Engineering group. His talk is entitled The Effective Conductivity of a Heterogeneous Medium of Log-Normal Conductivity Distribution. This is an open seminar, to which all are welcome.

GRADUATION DAY (May 2002)

Graduation Day for all those successful in obtaining their PhD degrees over the last academic year, plus the 2000-2001 intake on the Environmental Engineering and Hydrology for Environmental Management MSc courses, is due to take place this year on the 8th May. So look out for those familiar faces dressed in their black and Gold, and Claret and Gold gowns, surrounded by beaming relatives - and remind them to pass on their details to our Alumni !

HYDROLOGY MSc FIELD TRIP (Apr 2002)

Details of th is years Hydrology for Environmental Management fieldtrip are now available fr om Neil McIntyre. Both Hydrology for Environmental Management and Environmental Engineering MSc fieldtrips are due to take place at the same time following completion of all the exams, during the week begining the 29th April 2002.

PHD SUCCESS (Apr 2002)

Bojana Jankovic-Nisic successfully defended her PhD thesis on 'Uncertainty Management for On-Line Monitoring and Burst Detection in Water Distribution Networks' in April. Very many congratulations Bojana from us all!

PROF STEVE HRUDEY (Mar 2002)

Professor Steve Hrudey, Acting Chair in the Department of Public Health Sciences, and Professor and Director of the Envi ronmental Health Sciences Program at the University of Alberta will be in the UK during March and has offered to present a seminar on the public inquiry, with which he was recently involved, into the May 2000 Canadian Walkerton outbreak. This outbreak, which was caused by contaminated drinking waters, resulted in 2300 ill, 65 hospitalisations and 7 deaths. Prof Hrudey, who is also an Alumnus of EWRE@IC (Environmental Engineering MSc 1970-1971), will present his seminar on Tuesday 26th March at 1pm until 2pm in Room 141. All members of the Department, including MSc students, are encouraged to attend. See Prof Howard Wheater for more details.

MEng SITE VISIT (Feb 2002)

Visits to a municipal wastewater treatment plant and a potable water treatment plant by the MEng students on the Water option have been arranged to take place this year on Wednesday 20th February. These visits are being organised for us by Anglian Water Plc   to whom we would like to extend our sincerest gratitude. See Dr Steve Lambert for more details.

EWRE@IC GETS AN ICP-AAES (Jan 2002)

The analytical capabilities of EWRE@IC were enhanced during January following the aquisition by the Section of an ARL 3580B ICP analyser. Such an instrument will enable our laboratory users to undertake rapid multi-element analyses and compliments the various configurations of atomic absorption spectrophotometers already set up within the Section. Once fully commissioned it will also be the only ICP facility within Imperial College. Contact Dr Geoff Fowler for more details.

FIVE-STAR RATED RESEARCH (Jan 2002)

The results of the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) were published towards the very end of last year and within which, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department was again awarded the top 5-star rating for the quality of its research. We are thus very proud and delighted at this recognition of our work, and of that of our colleagues. As a whole, Imperial College is also now officially ranked as the best University in the UK, with the exception of Cambridge, in which to undertake research. Imperial College gained an RAE rating of 6.68, which was only 0.01 of a point behind Cambridge and a whopping 0.1 of a point ahead of the third place university, Oxford. Further information can be obtained from the RAE website  .

FAREWELL (Oct 2002)

Dr Steven Lambert said farewell and left us on the 18th October for pastures new. Steve orginally came to Imperial in 1988 as a research student, obtained his PhD in 1992, eventually becoming a Research Fellow when he finally left us in 1998 for W.S. Atkins. Steve returned temporarily in 2000 as a Lecturer to replace Professor Nigel Graham while he was away on his 2 year Sabbatical in Hong Kong. Steve was well-liked and an invaluable member of the Section, and will be greatly missed by many. We wish him all the very best in his new position as Assistant Manager at Severn Trent Water.

DIMITRI KAVETSKI - Hydrology Seminar (Oct 2002)

Dimitri Kavetski of University of Newcastle, Australia, will be presenting a seminar on work that he has recently been involved with entitled: Confronting Rainfall Uncertainty in Environmental Modelling (click here for seminar abstract). This Seminar will be given on Friday 25 October 2002 at 1pm until 2pm in Room 141. All members of the Department, including MSc students, are invited to attend. DUSAN SAKULSKI - Research Seminar
(Oct 2002)
Dusan Sakulski of NDMC, South Africa, will be presenting a seminar on work that he has recently been involved with entitled: Rainfall Data Management at the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) of South Africa (click here  for seminar abstract). This Seminar will be given on Tuesday 29 October 2002 at 1pm until 2pm in Room 141. All members of the Department, including MSc students, are invited to attend.

MSc EXAM RESULTS (Sep 2002)

The Examiners Meeting for both the Environmental Engineering and Hydrology for Environmental Management MSc courses took place on Wednesday 18th September. This was the first year that Professor Paul Jowitt (former HoD. in Civil Engineering)at Heriot Watt Univ. and ex-member of our section staff acted as External examiner.

The quality of the students this year, was very high, and our congratulations go out to all of the MSc students this year for their tremendous efforts in getting through both MSc courses successfully, and we wish them all the very best for the future. We would also like to remind them to please keep in contact with us, and to be sure that there will always be a very warm welcome in the Section for every one of them.

"MINI-WASTE" FARADAY PARTNERSHIP (Sept 2002)

The Mini-Waste Faraday Partnership has been announced by the Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt. The project, a Faraday Partnership called 'Mini-Waste', will involve a team of academics and intermediary technology translators who will talk to companies, both regionally and nationally, about how to minimise waste through development of new technology.

£2.2 million pounds has been allocated to the partnership as a start-up grant by the DTI, EPSRC and NERC. The partnership plans to raise up to £10 million over the next five years from other research funds, development agencies and industry to help meet the demands of new legislation.

Dr Chris Cheeseman was involved in setting up the partnership, together with Professor Geoff Kelsall from Chemical Engineering and Zen Mackuch from the Department of Environmental Science and Technology. The partnership aims to help industry meet the requirements of new waste management legislation through research and training and involves Technology Translators who will facilitate access to new and developing technologies for industry. Industrial support for the partnership has already been pledged by more than fifty companies and organisations.

PHD SUCCESS (July 2002)

On the 12th July, Luiza Campos successfully defended her PhD thesis, entitled "Modelling and simulation of the biological and physical processes of slow sand filtration". So impressive was her 461-page thesis that she came away with only 3 minor corrections! Throughout the duration of her PhD, Luiza has also demonstrated exemplary d edication and focus, but always with a laugh and a smile. She has earnt and thoroughly deserves all of her success. Very many congratulations Luiza, from us all!

ACADEMIC VISITOR (Jul 2002)

The Section i s very pleased to announce the arrival of Prof Habib Basha, who has come to work over the next few months as an academic visitor with Professor Howard Wheater. Prof Basha is an Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the American University of Beruit and his research interest includes modelling of unsaturated flows, rainfall-runoff processes, contaminant transport and conduit flows.

STAFF PROM OTIONS (June 2002)

In this year's round of Academic Staff promotions Dr Stephen Smith was promoted to "Reader in Environmental Biochemistry". I am sure everyone will join in in sending Steve our warmest congratulations.

PHD SUCCESS (June 2002)

Thorsten Wagener successfully defended his PhD thesis on 'Parsimonious rainfall-runoff modelling in gauged and ungauged catchments' on 7th June. Thorsten has now left us to join the University of Arizona as a Research Associate. We all wish him well in his future endeavours.

LABORATORY NEWS (May 2002)

The opening of the Roger Perry Laboratory was given an excellent write up in this months issue of "Wastes Management" j ournal. It mentions how the lab was opened by Sir Martin Doughty and was in honour of Roger Perry. It also s tates how our facilities are now "among the most advanced in the UK for research into waste management and water treatment".

LABORATORY VISIT (May 2002)

On Thursday 9th May The Rt Honourable Margaret Hodge, Minister for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education, accompanied by a Parliamentary Secretary, the Rector - Sir Richard Sykes, Deputy Rector - Prof Peter Bearman, Director of Strategy and Planning - Dr Rodney Eastwood and Professor John Perkins - Head of the Engineering Faculty, visited the Roger Perry Laboratory in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The £1.5 Million Roger Perry Lab was chosen for this important visit because it is the most modern and innovative laboratory within Imperial College. She was invited to the College by the Rector on a fact finding tour and spent some time in the lab talking to PhD students, discussing their research, and finding out how they find living in London and their concerns about Higher Education. She was given a guided tour of the laboratory by Dr Geoff Fowler and Prof Howard Wheater.

MSc DESIGN PROJECTS (April 2002)

The presentation of the Water Treatment plant and Wastewater Treatment plant design projects, part of the coursework requirements for the MSc in Environmental Engineering, are scheduled to take place on Tuesday 7th May. Each group will be allowed 20 minutes to present their reports, with a subsequent 10 minutes allowed for questions. Further details will be circulated internally or can be obtained from Prof David Butler.

PHD SUCCESS (Apr 2002)

James Lau successfully defended his PhD thesis on 'Influence of In-System Storage on Receiving Water Quality' in April. Very many congratulations James from us all!

EE MSc FIELD TRIP 2002 (Mar 2002)

Details of this years Environmental Engineering MSc Field trip are now available from Dr Stephen Smith. The trip will take place from 19th to 23 March (inc.) and encompass visits to a membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment plant, a landfill site, an in-vessel composting plant and an energy from waste plant; a materials recycling facility; and sewage sludge incineration, lime stabilisation and thermal drying plants. Departure from Imperial College will be at 9am on Monday 29th April, with successive overnight stays in Horsham, Swanage and Shanklin (2x nights) on the Isle of Wight. It is estimated that arrival back in London will be at 6pm on Friday 3rd May.

NEW LOOK WEBSITE (Feb 2002)

The EWRE webiste underwent another facelift during February, almost a year to the day since its first major revision, in order to resemble more closely the new Departmental website, which is due to be launched shortly. We hope that our new-look site meets with everyones approval. Please direct any comments to Dr Steve Lambert.

OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE ROGER PERRY LABORATORY (Jan 2002).

Now almost fully functional following its £1.5 million refurbishment, the new Roger Perry laboratory is shortly due to be officially opened. This honour is to be performed for us by Sir Martin Doughty, Chairman of English Nature and of one of our Alumni, in the presence of Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College, and other invited dignitaries.

50 YEARS OF EWRE@IC (Jan 2002)

At the veyr end of last year, the EWRE Section held a reunion of all its Alumni in celebration of both its 50th Anniversary, and that of the Environmental Engineering MSc course. This was very well and enthusiastically attended, with Alumni travelling from as far as the Aegean (Themis Lekkas, MSc 1973) and Turkey (Elvan Akkaya, MSc 1997), and from all 5 decades of the MSc course. They included Peter Martin, who attended the MSc course during its very first year in 1950, and Michael Knill from 1952, both of whom gave nostalgic and interesting recollections of their periods of study at Imperial College. Other equally delightful presentations were given by Milo Purcell (MSc 1982), Jean Venables (MSc 1973) and Gareth George (MSc 1976). A resounding success with alot of fun had by all.