DOE Fellows participated in the Waste Management 2020 Symposia (WM20) in Phoenix, AZ, from March 8-12, 2020. A total of 15 technical student posters (by 13 DOE Fellows and 2 non-Fellow students) were presented, as detailed below, during Session 32A (Student Posters: The Next Generation – Industry Leaders of Tomorrow). The posters presented the DOE-EM research that they have performed at FIU’s ARC and during their summer internships at DOE sites, HQ, and national research laboratories, in the research areas of high level waste/waste processing, soil and groundwater modeling and remediation, and deactivation and decommissioning.
DOE Fellows with Dr. Ike White, U.S. Department of Energy Office’s Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
DOE Fellows and students at WM20 student poster session.
- Abdulmueen Alrashide: Autonomous Radiation Mapping and Quantification using an Unmanned Ground Vehicle Part II – Autonomous Navigation (20571)
- Alexis Vento: Culebra Dolomite Dissolution of Relevance to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Near Carlsbad, NM (20550)
- Anilegna Nunez Abreu: Accelerated Aging of Concrete for the Evaluation of Coatings to Protect the HCAEX Tunnel at the Savannah River Site (20588)
- Antony Maria: Reductive Removal of Pertechnetate and Chromate by Zero Valent Iron Under Variable Ionic Strength Conditions (20553)
- Christopher Excellent: Development of a Crawler for the Inspection of the Secondary Liners of The Double Shell Tanks at Hanford (20580)
- Daniel Martin: Deployment Updates for Miniature Inspection Tool for Double Shell Tanks at Hanford Site (20583)
- Jason Soto: Robotic Mapping and Monitoring of Nuclear Infrastructure (20581)
- Jeff Natividad: Robotic System for the Application of Coatings in the Savannah River Site H-Canyon Exhaust Tunnel (20579)
- Juan Morales: Amplicon Sequencing Assessment to Measure Microbial Community Response from Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils in Savannah River Site, Tims Branch Watershed (20578)
- Katherine De La Rosa: Mercury Speciation via Micro Column Extraction (20564)
- Michael Thompson: Ultrasonic and Fiber Optic Sensors for Pipeline Fault Detection in Hazardous Environments (20586)
- Rocio Trimino Gort: Iodine Co-precipiation with Calcium Carbonate in the presence of Silica Ions (20557)
- Roger Boza Deep: Learning Implementation for Structural Health Monitoring of Nuclear Facility (20584)
- Silvina Di Pietro: Uranium Partitioning Upon Ammonia Gas Treatment On Phyllosilicate Minerals (20554)
- Tristan Simoes Ponce: Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Foams for D&D Activities (20551)
DOE Fellow wins best undergraduate students poster award:
DOE Fellow Anilegna Nunez Abreu won the best undergraduate student poster award for her poster titled “Accelerated Aging of Concrete for the Evaluation of Coatings to Protect the HCAEX Tunnel at the Savannah River Site”. She was awarded with a cash prize during the WM2020 Conference Honors and Awards Luncheon.
WM20 Undergraduate Student Poster Winner – DOE Fellow Anilegna Nunez Abreu (center) receiving an award during the award luncheon.
Two DOE Fellows, Amanda Yancoskie and Gisselle Gutierrez-Zuniga, received Roy G. Post Foundation scholarships in the graduate and undergraduate categories respectively. They presented posters based on DOE-EM research during the Roy G. Post Student Scholarship Winners Poster Display. Two former DOE Fellows, Anibal Morales and Frances Zengotita, also received Roy G. Post Foundation scholarships at the undergraduate level.
- Amanda Yancoskie: 2D Dam-Break Analysis of L Lake and PAR Pond Dams Using HEC-RAS (20607)
- Gisselle Gutierrez-Zuniga: Evaluation of Techniques for Removing Vegetation from UAV-Based Photogrammetric Point Clouds (20587)
DOE Fellows Amanda Yancoskie and Gisselle Gutierrez-Zuniga standing in front of the Roy G. Post foundation winners’ banner.
The DOE Fellows joined staff from the Applied Research Center at Florida International University to host a booth in the exhibitor hall during the conference, interacting with conference attendees on how FIU-ARC provides support to the DOE EM in their mission of accelerated risk reduction and environmental legacy cleanup. DOE Fellows also participated as Student Assistants during the conference, assisting conference organizers and presenters during the technical sessions.
DOE Fellows and ARC staff at WM2020.
Additionally, Two DOE Fellows presented during professional sessions and one DOE Fellow participated in a panel session.
- Adhesion Capabilities of Permanent Foaming Fixatives for D&D Activities – 20308, Tristan Simoes-Ponce
- Inspection Tools for Hanford Tanks and Waste Transport Systems – 20444, Christopher Excellent
- Roger Boza participated as a panelist in the panel “The Wants and Needs of Graduating Students and New Engineers: Are Companies Even Listening?”
DOE Fellows at panel, oral and poster sessions.