Congratulations to CEE students Tom Gallen, Jen Huber and Paloma Vila for winning the Library Prize for Undergraduate Research on Sustainability & the Environment for their Senior Design project.

The Library Prize for Undergraduate Research on Sustainability & the Environment was established by Temple Libraries and Gale, a leading organization in e-research and educational publishing, to encourage undergraduate research and projects in the area of sustainability.  Winning entries which receive a $1000 prize,  were judged on (1) originality, depth, breadth, or sophistication in the use of information resources; (2) exceptional ability to select, evaluate, synthesize and utilize information resources in the creation of a project in any media; and (3)  contribution to our understanding of sustainability, or to improving or developing sustainable practices.

The system that Tom, Jen and Paloma designed consists of rain gutters to capture stormwater from the roof of a house and direct it to a sedimentation pond where particulate matter will be removed.  From the sedimentation pond, the water will flow to a constructed wetland where native plants and soil will be used to remove metals and other contaminants.  The cleansed water will be stored in the constructed wetland and also in a secondary storage tank and will be delivered to the irrigation system of a neighboring urban farm through a pumping system designed by the students.  The system will reduce the amount of polluted runoff discharged to the Philadelphia storm sewers (and thus the amount of polluted runoff discharged to local streams); reduce the demand on the potable water supply system (which had been used to irrigate the farm); and increase the ability of a local farm to economically provide fresh food to neighboring residents.
More information on the  Library Prize for Undergraduate Research on Sustainability & the Environment can be found at http://guides.temple.edu/sustainabilityprize