The team, which is composed of undergraduate and graduate students from civil engineering, computer science, water management & hydrological sciences and ecosystem science & management, presented their research that investigated erosion due to increased storm water on Texas A&M’s West Campus.

A team of 12 graduate and undergraduate students from Texas A&M competed in the EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington, D.C.

Through a modeling study, the team investigated the impact of using low impact development strategies such as permeable pavement and rainwater harvesting to decrease the volume of storm water runoff. 

Additionally, the team looked at a new way to measure the impact of urban development on the downstream hydrology, developed the design for an ecologically friendly riparian area bordering the stream, and one student designed a new wireless “drive-by” approach to download rainfall data from rain gauges.

Undergraduate team members included: Philip Bullock (civil engineering); Andrea Ryan (civil engineering); William Saour (civil engineering); Hillary Holmes (civil engineering); and Meg Davis (computer science). Graduate students included: Marcio Giacomoni (civil engineering); Chandana Damodaram (civil engineering); Michelle Hollingsworth (civil engineering); Neetha Ravikumar (civil engineering); Prakash Khedun (water management & hydrologic sciences); Troy Berthold (water management & hydrologic sciences); and Ross Klein (ecosystem science & management).

Dr. Emily Zechman, assistant professor of water resources engineering, accompanied the team to Washington, D.C. Other faculty involved in the project include Dr. Bryan Boulanger, assistant professor of environmental engineering, Dr. Radu Stoleru, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, and Dr. Georgianne Moore, assistant professor of ecosystem science & management.

Written by: Tim Schnettler