FWEA COMMITTEE CORNER Welcome to the FWEA Committee Corner! The Member Relations Committee of the Florida Water Environment Association hosts this article to celebrate the success of recent association chapter activities and inform members of upcoming events. To have information included for your chapter, send the details via email to Lindsay Marten at Lindsay.Marten@stantec.com. Judges for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize are from the FWEA Public Communication and Outreach Committee.
2017 Florida Stockholm Junior Water Prize Collier Frank Wyche he Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) is the world's most prestigious youth award for water-related science projects. The prize taps into the unlimited potential of today's high school students as they seek to address current and future water challenges. The SJWP was founded in 1997 by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to complement the Stockholm Water Prize. In the United States, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and its member associations organize the regional, state, and national SJWP competitions, with support from Xylem Inc. The U.S. winner receives a $10,000
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prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to Stockholm, Sweden, where he or she represents the U.S. at the international competition during World Water Week. Each year a group of judges, as part of the FWEA Public Communication and Outreach Committee, selects a Florida winner for the SJWP. The FWEA sponsors the student’s trip to the national contest. Talar Terzian, a sophomore at Oak Hall School in Gainesville, has been selected as the Florida winner of the 2017 Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition. Talar was selected for her project, “Spin Cycle: An Off-the-Grid Hydrodynamic Water Filtering Washing Machine.” She represented Florida at the national competition in June at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Not only was her study very timely and relevant to issues facing the water quality community, but her work is also relevant to global water issues in developing countries.
Two finalists were also selected: S William Gao, a junior at Suncoast Community High School in Palm Beach Gardens for his project, “Stormwater Treatment Area Performance Prediction Using Artificial Neural Networks.” S Ammar Syed, a junior at Lawton Chiles High School in Tallahassee for his project, “Silver Nanoparticles: A Powerful Nanoweapon Against Bacteria.” The water-related science projects vary widely as evidenced by the winner and finalists selected this year. Many of the projects involve years of research by the young students, starting as far back as middle school. All three of the finalists are continuing the research on their projects. For two weeks in April each year, a group of judges review up to 30 papers submitted before selecting a winner and two finalists. The dedicated judges for the last few years are: S Ruth Burney, Brown & Caldwell S Matt Charles, Brown & Caldwell S Elizabeth Geddes, South Florida Water Management District S Julie Karleskint, Hazen & Sawyer S Kerstin Kenty, CH2M S Zachary Loeb, past Florida SJWP winner S Tim Madhanagopal, Orange County Utilities The SJWP competition is open to all high school students in grades 9-12 who have reached the age of 15 by August 1 of the competition year, and have conducted a water-science research project. More information about the Stockholm Junior Water Prize can be found at www.wef.org/sjwp. To participate in the Florida SJWP and other activities of the Public Communication and Outreach Committee, contact Chuck Olson at chuck.olson@neel-schaffer.com.
Talar Terzian, winner of the Florida Stockholm Junior Water Prize, presenting her project at the 2017 national competition.
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August 2017 • Florida Water Resources Journal
Collier Frank Wyche is the state coordinator for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and lives in St. Petersburg. S