ASMR 2019

In June of 2019, 9 students and 6 faculty in the environmental engineering program traveled to Big Sky, Montana for the 2019 American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR) conference. This included one current student, six recent graduates, and two alumni (currently obtaining graduate degrees at the University of Rhode Island and Virginia Tech). The students listened to many technical presentations over the course of the week which varied from improving mining-impaired water quality to the ecological impacts of reclaimed mining sites. They attended multiple events which encouraged networking between young professionals and more experienced professionals. One of which, the Early Career Professionals’ Social, held a 30-min long “speed-networking” portion which allowed the students to meet and talk with multiple seasoned professionals for five minutes each. Another event, called the Wild Women of Reclamation, gave the women members of ASMR a chance to meet one another, eat breakfast, and share their experiences and successes in a field that is predominantly male.

Kari Lagan, an upcoming junior, presented a poster at the conference on her research with optimizing a passive AMD treatment technology. As this conference was her first with ASMR, she was “a little nervous to present,” but she found that her peers, professors, and even the ASMR members in the poster audience were all very supportive and offered useful suggestions for her future work. Kari expressed an interest in attending future ASMR conferences and plans to encourage her classmates to do the same in order to continue SFU’s attendance. Another student, Debbie Slovikosky ‘19, presented a poster on her preliminary experiment using ferrate to treat AMD. Debbie is also an author on a paper dedicated to this research that was accepted for publication in the Journal of Environmental Quality. She appreciated the feedback from experts in the field and said, “as an undergrad I had the opportunity to work on this research and the fact that our work is getting published makes it even better.” Recent graduates Staci Shoemaker, Justin Hugo, and myself (Ashley Rovder) along with graduate student Charles Spellman ‘17 (now studying at the University of Rhode Island) also presented posters.

Not only did our students have a strong presence at the poster session, but some delivered 30 minute oral presentations during the technical sessions. Nicholas McKnight and Jack Gaughan presented on their Senior Capstone Project, where they studied a passive treatment system called Spaghetti Hole in Blair County, PA and created a retrofit design to improve its performance. “It was incredibly exciting to see some of the individuals at the conference whose work we have been citing for our Senior Capstone Project,” McKnight reflected, “It was a real ‘meet your heroes’ moment.” Some of those individuals were even present in the audience for their presentation, and the interest in the project was evident by the amount of questions which followed. Graduate student Hannah Patton ‘17 (now studying at Virginia Tech) also gave an oral presentation concerning the socioeconomic factors which influence access to clean water in rural West Virginia. Finally, I presented on my georeferencing project which resulted in a tool that ASMR members could use to find previous ASMR publications and their respective study locations; this doubles as a way to preserve past and future research. I have attended three total conferences in my four years as an undergraduate student, and while I struggled to follow along with most of the technical talks as a freshman, I found myself fully immersed in the presentations at the 2019 conference and that I could understand much more than I ever could before.

Our students’ performances provided an excellent opportunity to practice communicating with a professional audience and receive constructive criticism, but they also gained positive recognition from the ASMR community as well—some even earned awards from the ASMR scholarship committee. Charles Spellman was awarded 2nd place and a cash prize for his poster in the Student Presentation Competition (graduate level). I received the Memorial Scholarship (BS) this year along with Justin Hugo ‘19, which was previously awarded to SFU graduates Stefan Long ‘18, Hannah Patton ‘17, and Rebecca Peer ‘14. Finally, every SFU student (past and present) who attended the 2019 conference were given a $250 Travel Grant by the scholarship committee.

While the academic activities of the conference certainly enriched the experience, both SFU faculty and students fondly recollect the numerous adventures we went on. The highlight of the conference for many was the field trip to Yellowstone National Park. On the last day of the conference, the group traveled with other ASMR members on a bus tour through the park and witnessed Old Faithful, plenty of wildlife, and other remarkable features with a guide along the way. The group also went white water rafting and kayaking in the Gallatin, hiked to Ousel Falls, and climbed the ski slopes to watch the sunset over Lone Peak. Over the course of the week, we also lived together in a lodge and enjoyed meals and games. “It was fun living in one big house with everyone for a week,” Lagan said, “It reminded me of how much our department is like a family—something you might not experience at a big school.”

Overall, the 2019 ASMR conference in Big Sky, Montana was an overwhelming success. The students were given the opportunity to learn about all the different topics within the field of mining and reclamation, present their own research, receive feedback from and network with professionals in the field, and explore the natural wonders of the area. We hope to continue sending students and faculty to future ASMR conferences to share our work and learn about others’, and maintain our relationship with ASMR. On behalf of the SFU students, graduates, and alumni that attended the ASMR conference, I would like to thank SFU’s Environmental Engineering Department and the Center for Watershed Research and Service for supporting us on this trip.