Environmental Engineering students win three awards at WERC competition
Four seniors competed in the 36th annual WERC Environmental Design Contest as a part of their capstone course
Students in the Environmental Engineering Capstone course in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis won three awards at the WERC Environmental Design Contest at New Mexico State University April 12-15, 2026.
Olivia Richards, Bailey Vogt, Henry Fine and Thomas Bambrick, all recently-graduated seniors in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, competed in the contest, which charges teams with designing a working bench-scale system that provides proof of concept for one of various tasks. WashU chose Task One, “After RO: Brine Management in the Desert,” which challenged the team to develop a solution to dispose of brine concentrate after reverse osmosis (RO) treatment, particularly in water-scarce areas such as southern New Mexico, where this difficulty often causes engineers to avoid using RO.
Each team’s solution was evaluated for its potential to prevent pollution through improved operational process, which results in savings across all aspects of energy, environment and economy.
The WashU team earned the Pollution Prevention Award for its concepts’ ability to reduce waste from a high waste process, turning byproducts into useful, sellable products.
“One element of our design that I'm really proud of is its ability to leverage waste generation, which traditionally presents a cost, into a profit by recovering those products and selling them as resources for local businesses, such as the acids and base byproducts created,” Olivia Richards, team leader, said.
The team’s solution also won the Peer Award, which was determined after all teams visited each bench-scale demonstration in the contest and voted on the best concept.
Richards’ contributions and leadership throughout the WERC event earned her the Terry McManus Outstanding Student Award, given each year to the student who demonstrates a dedication to environmental conservation and a passion to pursue global environmental improvements. She plans to use her engineering training to help industries reduce carbon emissions and create economic value from byproducts through resource recovery initiatives.
WashU EECE Capstone students have competed at WERC since 2023, winning a total of 12 awards across various categories.
