Congratulations to our Newest Fellowship Recipients

The work of three Ph.D. students in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been recognized with prestigious awards.  Raul Marrero and Paul Roots received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (NSF GRF) and Carolyn Wilke was awarded one of Northwestern’s Presidential Fellowships and an AAAS Mass Media Fellowship.

Raul Marrero is a first year Ph.D. Student in the Mechanics, Materials, and Structures group and recently joined the department from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.  For his NSF GRF Raul proposed to study the use of carbon nanotubes and nanostructured silica as reinforcement for sustainable concrete.”  With this fellowship he plans to work with Professor David Corr. 

Paul Roots is a second year Ph.D. student in the Environmental Engineering and Science program.  Paul is working with Professor George Wells and will be using his GRF award to study biological methods for nitrogen and phosphorus removal from wastewater.  He is primarily working at the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant where he utilizes lab-scale bioreactors to investigate the application of the anammox bioprocess under mainstream conditions.

Carolyn Wilke is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Environmental Engineering and Science program.  Carolyn is working with Professors Jean-François Gaillard and Kimberly Gray to study the unintended toxic and chemical effects of photoactive nanomaterials in aquatic systems.  Carolyn is the first CEE graduate student to receive a Presidential Fellowship, which recognizes outstanding scholarship and the capacity to become an active member of an intellectual community, the Society of Fellows.  Carolyn’s promise as a scientist was previously recognized with an NSF GRF and a Nicholson Fellowship.  Carolyn’s deep interest in science and engineering communication was recently recognized with an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mass Media Fellowship for Summer 2017.  She currently produces a podcast, “Inhabiting Earth,” where she interviews CEE faculty on various subjects related to civil and environmental engineering and science.