A team of faculty and student researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla was awarded the 2007 Rudolph Hering Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for their paper, “Engineered Struvite Precipitation: Impacts of Component-ion Molar Ratios and pH.,” which was published in ASCE’s Journal of Environmental Engineering in 2005.

The paper addresses the optimization of phosphorous removal to produce usable fertilizer. Such waste-to-product technologies are critical elements in developing a sustainable future. The award, consisting of a bronze medal and a certificate, will be presented in May at the ASCE World Water and Environmental Resources Congress in Tampa, Fla.

The Rudolph Hering Medal was instituted and endowed in 1924 by the Sanitary Engineering Division (now the Environmental and Water Resources Institute) of ASCE, in honor of Rudolph Hering, past vice president of the society. The medal is awarded to the author(s) of the paper which contains the most valuable contribution to the increase of knowledge in, and to the advancement of, the environmental branch of the engineering profession.

Paper co-authors include Dr. Joel Burken, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at UMR; Dr. Xiaoqi “Jackie” Zhang, former assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering now at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Jun Wang, former UMR graduate student now with Crawford Murphy and Tilly in Aurora, Ill.; and Dr. Rao Surampalli, engineer director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.