By Neil Nachbar

URI engineering students Aaron Myers, Megan Caless, Eloise Davis, Thalia Bulhoes and Logan Beattie won the Fresh Ideas poster competition as part of the New England Water Works Association Spring Conference and Exhibition.

The team’s project/poster was titled “Emerging Technology for Determining the Speciation of Manganese Oxides.”

“The project was aimed at developing new colorimetric methods for measuring manganese oxidation state,” said Assistant Professor Joseph Goodwill, who mentors the students in URI’s Water for the World Lab. “Knowing the oxidation state of manganese requires advanced instrumentation, to which most water utilities currently lack access. This approach promises a simplified process appropriate for all.” 

The students are civil and environmental engineering majors, except Bulhoes, who is studying chemical engineering.