CEE's Heather Bischel and Hannah Safford Named Top U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Pathogen Monitoring Prize Winners

CEE Professor Heather Bischel and graduate student Hannah Safford were chosen to receive the top $40,000 prize from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Pathogen Monitoring Prize Competition.

Safford and Bischel’s idea used novel computational tools for quantifying waterborne viruses detected through flow cytometry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the duo was chosen because “their concept incorporates advanced data processing techniques to assist in the underlying signal to noise ratio problems that have prevented the use of this technology in the identification of viruses to this point -- the proposed computational tool will use cluster analysis and diffusion mapping to facilitate rapid quantification of viruses in raw or treated wastewater.”

The Bureau of Reclamation in partnership with Xylem, Inc., a global water technology provider and leader in digital water, The Water Research Foundation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sought ideas for the development of a rapid, accurate and preferably online/onsite monitoring techniques for various pathogens at advanced water treatment facilities.

To learn more about this and other related prize competitions, please visit Reclamation's Water Prize Competition Center at: www.usbr.gov/research/challenges.

Congratulations, Heather and Hannah!