Highpoints

Volume 40, No. 11 -- November 2024

AAEES Patrons

Patrons of the Academy are organizations that are distinguished by providing financial support to the Academy's programs in addition to their engagement in specialty certification of their Engineers and Scientists. They are dedicated to a collaborative effort with the Academy in pursuit of Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science. For more information, go to https://www.aaees.org/patronsprogram.

2025 Spring Awards Event

The 2025 Academy Convocation and Celebration of Excellence (previously known as The AAEES Spring Awards) will be held on Thursday April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC and online. 

2024 Fall Board of Trustees Meeting Highlights

The 2024 Fall Annual Meeting took place on Friday, October 18 via Zoom.  The meeting was well attended by both current and incoming board members.  Highlights of the meeting included:

• Approval of the 2025 budget
• Approval of the 2025 Trustees, Officers, and Executive Committee
• Approval of the AAEES award winners (details are below)
• Approval of the 2025 AAEES event calendar 
• Changing the submittal deadline of E3S projects to December 31

2025 Individual Award Recipients

The following individuals were selected for the 2025 AAEES Individual Awards.  Congratulations to:

• Edward J. Cleary Award - Kevin D. White, Ph.D., P.E.
• Gordon Maskew Fair Award - Michael K. Stenstrom, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
• Honorary Member - Tissa H. Illangasekare, Ph.D., PE, P.Hyd, BCEE, DWRE 
• International Honorary Member - Cheng-Di Dong, Ph.D.
• Stanley E. Kappe Award - Lisa Woodward, P.E., BCEE
• The Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award - William A. Arnold, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE

A first cohort of 40 Under 40 Awardees for 2025 were selected.  Congratulations to:

• Ariel Atkinson, Ph.D.
• Joe Charbonnet, Ph.D.
• Jiannan (Nick) Chen, Ph.D., A.M. ASCE
• Rebecca Ciez, Ph.D.
• Sherri Cook, Ph.D.
• Jeseth Delgado Vela, Ph.D.
• Sarah Fakhreddine, Ph.D.
• Alex Gorzalski, PhD, PE
• Sarah-Jane Haig, Ph.D.
• Ling Nathanael Jin, Ph.D.
• Hanyang Li, Ph.D.
• Cresten Mansfeldt, Ph.D.
• Brett A. Poulin, Ph.D.
• Mohommad (Mim) Rahimi, Ph.D.
• Yun Shen, Ph.D.
• Lauren Stadler, Ph.D.
• Arjun K. Venkatesan, Ph.D.
• Yuan Yao, Ph.D.
• Jiachen Zhang, Ph.D. 

Following the BoT meeting, the Academy Celebration of Leadership was held.  During this event, AAEES President Wendy Wert recognized the service of our trustees and committee chairs to our organization, Past President Dr. David Vaccari conducted the ceremonial swearing in of new Officers and Trustees, and President-Elect Dr. David Chin gave us a glimpse into the Academy’s future and his plans for 2025.

Congratulations to the 2025 Officers and Trustees who were installed during the AAEES Celebration of Leadership. They will join existing Trustees who continue in 2025. The new Board of Trustees takes office on January 1, 2025, including:

• President - Dr. David A. Chin, P.E., BCEE
• President-Elect - Dr. Jeffrey H. Greenfield, P.E., BCEE, BCES
• Vice President  - Dr. Charles Haas, BCEEM
• Past President  - Ms. Wendy Wert, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee representing ASEE  - Col. Andrew Pfluger, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee representing AEESP - Dr. Joel Ducoste, BCEEM
• Trustee representing SWANA - Mr. Darrin Dillah, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee representing WEF - Mr. Lucas Botero, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee-at-Large 2027 - Mr. David Kerr, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee-at-Large 2027 - Dr. Joan Oppenheimer, BCES 

A big Thank You to these Officers and Trustees leaving the Board on December 31, 2024, including:

• Past President - Dr. David Vaccari, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee representing ASEE - Dr. Veera Gnaneswar Gude, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee representing SWANA - Mr. Robert B. Gardner, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee representing WEF - Dr. Andrew Robert Shaw, P.E., BCEE
• Trustee-at-Large - Ms. Anne Marie Germain, P.E., BCEE

Upcoming Webinars

It's Time to Renew Your Board Certification!

It's that time of year for Board Certified Environmental Engineers, Board Certified Environmental Engineering Members, and Board Certified Environmental Scientists to renew specialty certifications.  Emails with an attached invoice were sent on November 1st.  If you can't find your email, don't worry - you can renew online here:   

Click here to complete your
specialty certification renewal online.  

Email Susannah with any questions you may have: swalz at aaees.org.

Call for Papers in Air Quality

70^th Anniversary of AAEES 
Special Issue of Environmental Engineer and Scientist

In honor of its 70th anniversary, AAEES will publish a special air quality issue of Environmental Engineer and Scientist in Summer 2025.

Air quality is an important part of environmental engineering and science.  For this issue, we are seeking manuscripts to include understanding sources, sinks and transport, identifying emerging pollutants, developing novel treatment technologies and use of sustainable precursors, and setting policies to reduce and mitigate threats to human welfare and planetary health from air.  This is not an exhaustive list, and we welcome enquiries to confirm that manuscripts fit within the scope of the Special Anniversary Issue prior to article preparation.  

To determine if your manuscript fits within the scope of this special issue, please submit your abstract using the intent to submit form at https://www.aaees.org/ees-airquality-intenttosubmit.

Contributions can be a Technical Note, State-of-the-Art Review, Forum, or Editorial.     

For more information, go to
https://www.aaees.org/environmentalengineerandscientist-callforpapers.

If you have any questions, please email Yolanda at [email protected].

Everything You Need to Know About Becoming AAEES Board Certified

Have you ever thought about Board Certification but aren’t sure where to start? Or perhaps you’ve taken a look and are worried about studying for the written exam? Or maybe you’re not sure if your work history is sufficient to make you eligible? Let us help to remove some of the (unneeded) mystery from the process of Board Certification!

Join us for this interactive meeting to sit down with our Executive Director, Professor Daniel B. Oerther, PhD, PE, BCEE, BCES, so you can learn all about becoming Board Certified with the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists!

Upcoming meeting:

Details can be found at: https://www.aaees.org/everythingyouneedtoknow-boardcertification.

2024 Environmental Engineering and Science Foundation Scholarship Recipients Announced

The Environmental Engineering and Science Foundation (EESF) has as its Mission “to secure and direct resources to advance environmental engineering and science in the areas of research, education and practice”. 

In line with its mission, EESF has created annual scholarships for Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science students at the Master’s level.

In 2024, nine $2,500 scholarships were awarded to outstanding students seeking their Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering and Master’s Degree in Environmental Science at accredited universities.

These individuals emerged from a highly competitive process that considered academic achievement, resume, essay, and letters of recommendation.

EESF was able to attract a sizable number of applicants, and the quality of their qualifications was outstanding!

It is our privilege to introduce these outstanding recipients and provide excerpts from their resumes and essays.

Congratulations to:

• Abigail Chapman
• Shawnee Chavez
• Alexis Eaton
• Tione Grant
• Antonia Kopp
• Thomas Avery McCall
• Chloe Mellgren
• Ana Luisa Sanchez
• Joelle Solowieczyk

These individuals emerged from a highly competitive process that considered academic achievement, resume, essay, and letters of recommendation.

Read more about them at https://www.eesfoundation.org/scholarship/ScholarshipRecipients-2024.php.

Foundation Donations

The Environmental Engineering and Science Foundation's primary purpose is to recognize and promote excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science. As a result, the public will become more aware of the important role Environmental Engineers and Scientists play in managing global, national and regional environmental challenges. To accomplish its goals, the Foundation dedicates its resources to education, research and awards focused on outstanding Environmental Engineering and Science achievement.

The Environmental Engineering and Science Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. As such, all contributions donated through this site are eligible to receive a tax-deduction. The Environmental Engineering and Science Foundation supports several educational, awards, and outreach programs and supports a variety of activities and initiatives of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. Descriptions of the various funds and their charitable objectives can be found at https://www.eesfoundation.org/donate/.

https://www.eesfoundation.org/donate/

Did You Know?

The AAEES calendar is a great way to stay connected with listings of upcoming events, meetings, deadlines, industry observances, and other important dates.

Click here to view the AAEES calendar.

Past AAEES Webinars

Did you know you can watch our past webinars on YouTube? Click here to visit our Youtube Channel.

Need PDHs?

You now have the opportunity to earn PDHs from recorded webinars! If you miss an AAEES webinar, you can watch it at your convenience and then take a quiz to earn PDHs.

1. Go to our webinar library and watch a webinar of your choice.
2. Once you have watched it, go to the coordinating quiz link to purchase and complete a brief quiz.
3. Once you pass the quiz, we will send you your PDH certificate.

It’s that simple!

Go to our webinar library to browse our recorded webinars: https://www.aaees.org/aaeeswebinarslibrary.

Stories Submission

AAEES is THE collaborating organization in environmental engineering and environmental science. Environmental engineers and environment scientists can come here to tell a story and connect with others. We accept a variety of formats:

• Photo(s) with description
• Links to news articles
• Video clips
• Links to relevant webinar/podcasts
• Links to industry white paper

We appreciate everything our members submit. Depending on the size of your item, we may include it on social media, the monthly Highpoints Newsletter, or Environmental Engineer and Scientist magazine.

For more information, and to submit your story, go to https://www.aaees.org/MemberStories.

Update Your Profile

Is your information up to date? Need to change your address, email, or other information? Log in to your account at https://www.aaees.org and click on ‘Go To My Profile’ under Quick Links.

Your username is .

You can update your password by going to https://www.aaees.org/login#/reset-password/.

Update any outdated information, change your primary contact information, or view any events for which you have registered.

If you are having trouble accessing your account, email Yolanda at YMoulden at aaees.org for assistance.

AAEES Podcasts

The Importance of Mentoring: No One is An Island

Join us as we sit down with Nicholas Albergo, PE, BCEE, BC.WRE, F.ASCE, F.EWRI and Matthew Talbert, PE, BCEE from Academy Patron, GHD. GHD Group is a global employee-owned multinational technical professional services firm providing advisory, architecture and design, buildings, digital, energy and resources, environmental, geosciences, project management, transportation and water services. Nick is a Professional Engineer, Senior Advisor to GHD, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida. Matt is an Environmental Engineer and project manager specializing in site assessment and remediation.

You will hear about GHD’s mentoring program and the importance of intentional conversations as well as the demands placed on emerging professionals. Matthew will share how he was drawn to becoming Board Certified through the Academy and how it has helped his career.

Nick’s humor during a conversation on ethics is sure to make you laugh as he asks, “What would your mom think?” Don’t miss this episode.

Stream or Download This Episode

Environmental Engineering and Science: A Team Sport

Join us as we sit down with two of our Board Certified Environmental Scientists. Dr. Mary deFlaun, BCES is a Sr. Principal Microbiologist at Geosyntec Consultants. Dr. deFlaun will be interviewing Heather Tahon, BCES, a Principal Scientist also at Geosyntec Consultants. Heather has worked in environmental consulting for almost 20 years now and has worked at Geosyntec for the past 11 years. Heather’s practice includes managing environmental investigation, remediation, transactional due diligence, and compliance projects primarily for industrial clients. Heather currently manages the groundwater remediation and environmental management department in Geosyntec’s Pittsburgh, PA office. During this podcast, Heather discusses how her mentors have helped her throughout her career and how being board certified with the Academy has benefitted her credibility in the consulting world. Heather also gives advice on how young professionals can develop their own leadership style.

As a strong leader who now mentors others, Heather is an inspiration to anyone working in the environmental engineering/science world.

Stream or Download This Episode

A Day in the Life of an Environmental Engineer and the Steps it Takes to Get There: Interview with Isreal Hodges, Jr., P.E., BCEE

Join us as we sit down with two of our Board Certified Environmental Engineers. Anastasia Rudenko, P.E., BCEE, ENV SP, who is an associate with GHD, will be interviewing Isreal Hodges, Jr., P.E., BCEE, who is a Lead EHS Specialist for Rivian Automotive. Almost four years ago, Isreal became a Board Certified Environmental Engineer with the Academy with a specialty in Air Pollution Control. Isreal’s story will inspire any young professional who is striving for a career in environmental engineering/science. During this podcast, Isreal talks about how being Board Certified with the Academy has helped his career, and he emphasizes the importance of being proactive with early career networking. Isreal also discusses his favorite part of the job, overcoming career challenges and how prioritizing physical health improves all aspects of his life. Above all, Isreal reminds us to enjoy the journey and celebrate success. As an ambassador of environmental engineering, Isreal is an inspiration to anyone working towards becoming an environmental engineer.

Stream or Download This Episode

Overcoming Obstacles to Become a Successful Engineer: The Story of Melody Gonzalez

Join us as we sit down with Anne Germain, a Board Certified Environmental Engineer and Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) who will be interviewing Melody Gonzalez, a Project engineer at Black & Veatch. Melody has a captivating story to tell. Originally from Venezuela, Ms. Gonzalez used her strength, grit and determination to become an engineer all while raising two boys on her own. During this podcast, you will learn the unique details of Melody’s journey from being a single mother with limited family support to growing into an engineer practicing in the United States and working on earning a PE license. Melody talks about the importance of having a good mentor along the way and also emphasizes the importance of being a good mentor to others. Melody also discusses the importance of getting involved. Joining professional organizations, being active in the industry, and cultivating a network all serve as the building blocks for getting an engineering career off the ground. Melody is an inspiration to all women and anyone who dreams of becoming an engineer.

Stream or Download This Episode

Interactive Who’s Who

The Academy’s website has an improved and expanded feature for members: the Interactive Who’s Who. Look for the link just below the welcome message after you log in. With this tool you can search for members by name, specialization, organization, and location. You can use this feature to find Board-Certified individuals within a specialty for possible engagement on projects. You can find out who else in your organization is a member and see their biographical information. You can get contact information for colleagues in the Academy. Universities can find local Board-Certified members to engage them with their program as mentors or external advisory board members. The feature is intuitive to use by selecting one or more text fields to search for. Once you find a member you can then click on them for more detailed profile including contact information. And, if you search for yourself, you will be able to edit your profile including adding a headshot photo for your colleagues to know you by. Enjoy this new feature that will help our members connect with each other.

The AAEES Job Board

Visit the AAEES Job board at https://aaees.mcjobboard.net.

Job Seekers may post resumes for free, apply for jobs, and have access to useful tools such as alerts, keyword search, and a resume bank exposure.

Employers may post opportunities for internships, contract positions, part-time positions, and full-time positions. You will receive renewal notifications if your job is about to expire and access a resume bank of potential candidates.

As a member benefit, AAEES Board Certified Individuals and AAEES Members may post jobs for FREE. Just log in using the same credentials that you use on AAEES.org.

If you are not a member, you may post jobs at the following rates:

With a featured listing, your job will be promoted at the top of the board and publised to the Google Jobs Network.

Current Job Postings

	FEATURED Assistant Teaching Professor of Environmental Engineering Michigan Technological University - Houghton, MI Full-time	Posted: Nov 11, 2024 Application Deadline: Jan 3, 2025
	Civil Engineer Project Manager for Utilities City of Louisville, Colorado - Louisville, CO Full-time	Posted: Nov 6, 2024 Salary: $102,044.00 - $137,779.00 Annually Application Deadline: Jan 9, 2025
	Process Control Engineers Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission - Newark, New Jersey Full-time	Posted: Oct 24, 2024 Application Deadline: N/A
	FEATURED Director - Habitat Restoration Riverkeeper, Inc. - Ossining, NY Full-time	Posted: Oct 23, 2024 Salary: $100,000.00 - $120,000.00 Annually Application Deadline: Dec 27, 2024
	Intern / Co-Op – Civil / Environmental Engineering, Geology, Environmental Science Geosyntec Consultants - Pittsburgh , PA Temporary	Posted: Sep 27, 2024 Application Deadline: N/A
	Early-Career Geologist, Hydrogeologist, Environmental Scientist, Environmental Engineer Geosyntec Consultants - Pittsburgh , PA Full-time	Posted: Sep 27, 2024 Application Deadline: N/A
	Early-Career Remediation Engineer or Geologist Geosyntec Consultants - Minneapolis , MN Full-time	Posted: Sep 27, 2024 Application Deadline: N/A
	Water Resources Engineer Geosyntec Consultants - Minneapolis, MN Full-time	Posted: Sep 27, 2024 Application Deadline: N/A

New Member Benefit - PDH Online

The American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists has renewed our partnership with PDH Online to provide its members with professional development hour courses. All AAEES members receive a 30% discount off any of PDH online's 3,000+ courses, including live webinars. AAEES will receive a 20% royalty for each course taken by AAEES members using the AAEES membership code AAEES30. Members can search courses and sign up at https://www.PDHonline.com.

PDH Online is one of the leading online course providers and is an approved continuing education sponsor by many state licensing boards for professional engineers. Over 100 of their courses have been developed by BCEEs. AAEES has designated PDH Online as the Preferred PDH Provider to help AAEES members complete all their bi-annual PDH requirements.

Share Your Story

We always love to hear what our members have been up to! Send us your recent articles, news, project photos, etc. We would be happy to share with the rest of the environmental engineering and science community via social media. Send an email to Marisa Waterman at MWaterman at aaees.org.

It's Simple - Refer a Colleague to Apply for Board Certification

• Click here for the simple one-page referral form for Board Certification OR
• Click here for the simple one-page referral form for Board Certification through Eminence

Not Getting Email Announcements from AAEES?

Please be sure to whitelist or add [email protected] to your contact list to ensure you receive important updates and announcements to your inbox.

Host a Virtual Event

It's easy and free to host an AAEES Webinar or Virtual Workshop/Event

If you would like to learn more, please email Marisa Waterman at MWaterman at aaees.org. Be sure to give an approximate date and suggested topic and possible speakers.

Student Lounge

We always love to hear what our student members have been up to! Send us your recent articles, news, studies, project photos, etc. We would be happy to share with the rest of the environmental engineering and science community via social media. Send an email to Marisa Waterman at MWaterman at aaees.org.

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