The capstone design team of Ian Kosnik, Sam Mikell, Olivia Nachbauer, and Jake Senecal working with South Burlington Water Reclamation Facility and mentored by Professors Matthew Scarborough and John Lens won second place in the Wastewater category in the international Water Environment Federation Student Design Competition. The international competition started with 27 teams selected based on preliminary competitions at the state or regional level. Four teams were selected as finalists, including the University of Vermont. This was the first time a UVM competed in this competition.

As a result of their work the town is expected to save about $300,000 over 5 years and reduce chemical usage. The team’s path to the national competition was through the design competition for the New England Water Environment Association (NEWEA) where they secured first place. Two other capstone design teams that worked on PFAS Removal in the towns of Bristol and Vergennes also had a strong showing at the NEWEA competition. The team consisted of Lucy Murphy, Julia Szymanski, Kirsten Jensen and Rebecca Stouges, and was mentored by Professors Raju Badireddy and John Lens.