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Lafayette will hold an open house to showcase its new and renovated environmental engineering research laboratories, as well as the innovative student research conducted in them, 2-5 p.m. Friday in Alumni Hall of Engineering.
According to Roger Ruggles, associate professor and head of civil and environmental engineering, the new equipment will enhance at least 20 courses offered by seven faculty to a total of about 200 students. It is part of the new integrated environmental research laboratory shared by the civil and environmental engineering and chemical engineering departments, updated hydraulics and Geographical Information Systems laboratories, and soil resistivity testing.
Funded by a $366,354 National Science Foundation grant and $123,131 from the College, the labs are part of a massive renovation and modernization of Lafayette’s engineering facilities. Building upon its national reputation for academic excellence in engineering education, Lafayette will upgrade its entire 90,000-square-foot engineering complex by August. The new complex will be named Acopian Engineering Center in recognition of a major gift from Easton, Pa., businessman Sarkis Acopian ’51, and his wife, Bobbye. Acopian is the founder of Acopian Technical Company, Palmer Township, Pa.
In addition to state-of-the-art environmental engineering equipment, the open house will introduce a student project to help the United States Environmental Protection Agency develop an inexpensive method to remove arsenic from drinking water in New Mexico. Eight students have been meeting weekly to tackle the noncredit challenge and will present their findings April 6-10 at the 13th annual International Environmental Design Contest in Las Cruces, N.M.
“I am incorporating everyone’s skills and expertise into the project,” says project organizer May Chui, a senior from Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. “It is really exciting to work with people from different majors.”
Those expected to attend the open house include officials from the City of Easton and Northampton County, local companies such as Air Products and Victaulic, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Lafayette civil and chemical engineering alumni, and Lehigh University’s department of civil and environmental engineering.
Christopher Harty ’04 (L-R), May Chui ’03, and Professor Arthur D. Kney discuss arsenic removal results.