Two Students Earn EPA Fellowships

October 19, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: Two Calvin College engineering students are among 15 students around the nation to win prestigious research fellowships from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/epa-fellowships.htm

Two Calvin College engineering students are among 15 students around the nation to win prestigious research fellowships from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Junior Val Horstman and senior Corinne Kluge, both engineering majors with a civil and environmental concentration, each received two-year undergraduate fellowships from the EPA's Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) program.

Both received the GRO fellowships to cover tuition and fees, books and expenses and a monthly stipend; the fellowships also encourage their research with Calvin engineering professor David Wunder.

"A fellowship is common for graduates," said Horstman, 20, a Grand Rapids native. "It's not as common for undergraduates. This is a big blessing."

A 21-year old hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, Kluge is already in the second year of her fellowship.

Together Horstman, Kluge and Wunder are researching how antibiotics interact with biologically active filtration systems used for drinking water treatment in numerous regions worldwide. Common antibiotics, Horstman explained, which are used to treat cattle as well as humans, don't entirely break down when they enter wastewater and then the environment. The students and professor are studying to what degree the biofilm bacteria that are the heart of the treatment process are compromised by antibiotics.

Whether or not the GRO fellowship leads her to a career in development, Horstman said, it was a tremendous encouragement to her as an engineer. Kluge, who mentors the Women in Engineering Study Group, said the GRO fellowship has allowed her some academic flexibility.

Because of the competitiveness of the EPA Greater Research Opportunities program, Wunder is impressed that not one, but two Calvin students have earned GRO fellowships.

"I was pleasantly surprised, but at the same time I knew they were both the kind of student that this program was looking for," he said. "They both are gifted and highly focused students who are passionate and professionally focused on caring for creation in their work as engineers. Frankly," he added, "I couldn't do what I'm doing without both of them."

Contact Wunder at 616-526-6337

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Received on Fri Oct 19 00:55:21 2007