Biotechnology Firm Recognizes Future Environmental Science Leaders

SAN DIEGO - The Adventus Group, an international remediation biotechnology enterprise, has rejoined the Association for Environmental Health & Sciences (AEHS) to recognize talented, emerging environmental scientists during the “17th Annual AEHS Meeting and West Coast Conference on Soils, Sediments and Water” held in San Diego.

Two $500 awards were given for the best student presentations from among the diverse participants during the conference. The presentations were judged by a panel of industry experts including Susan Henry of AEHS, Rula Deeb of Malcolm Pirnie, Yue Rong of CA RWQCB, Steve Koenigsberg of WSP Environmental Strategies, Ioana Petrisor of Haley & Aldrich, Anna Willett of CEUS, Jim Jacobs of Environmental Bio-Systems, Karen Lyons of Shell Oil Products, and Jim Mueller of Adventus Americas.

In the poster session, Billa Cyprian Nkem from the Department of Environment, Technology and Spatial Change (TEKSAM) in Roskilde, Denmark won for the work titled “Leaching Behavior of Arsenic from Soil Stabilized by Blast Furnace Slag.”
Angela Pérez from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon won in the platform session with the work titled “Nickel Bioavailability Measured by Diffusive Gradient Thin-Films from a Four Year Fertilizer Field Dose Study.”
Other participants included were Diego Gomez of Rice University, Agota Horel of University of Alaska – Fairbanks, Gregory Sower of Oregon State University, and Fiona Kelly of Swinburne University of Technology - Australia.

“AEHS was created to facilitate communication and foster cooperation among professionals concerned with protection and cleanup of the environment,” said Dr. Paul Kostecki, executive director of the AEHS who offered some thoughts on the value of this public and private sector partnership. “This group of professionals is part of a worldwide network and represents practitioners in the fields of chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydrogeology, law, engineering, modeling, toxicology, regulatory science, public health, and public policy. The Adventus Student Award program is a great way to encourage outstanding students and bring the state-of-the-art information presented here to the next generation.”

“This talented group of internationally diverse young environmentalists all displayed superb thought leadership and presentation skills. Selecting the winning themes was extremely difficult, although the industry will surely be hearing more from these students in years ahead,” said Dr. Jim Mueller, President of Adventus Americas Inc., who led the panel of judges to select the winners. “As Adventus continues to develop the next generation of remediation biotechnologies, it is our privilege to showcase the important role a partnership with the academic community and private sector organizations can play. Adventus Americas is committed to continue sponsoring this exciting event, and again salute all the participants – especially our award winners.”