Natalie Hull chosen for NAE Frontiers of Engineering
Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Natalie Hull has been invited to participate in The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2022 symposium, organized by the National Academy of Engineering.
Eighty-four outstanding early career engineers will meet for an intensive two-and-a-half day program in September to discuss cutting-edge developments in four areas:
- Microbes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Conversational AI
- Technology and Racial Justice and Equity
- Hydrogen: A New “Universal” Energy Carrier for the Carbon-Free Future
Hull leads the Water TEAM (Treatment Engineering and Microbiome) research group, which investigates sustainable engineering of water microbiology to protect human and environmental health. Fundamental scale research focuses on optimizing physical ultraviolet light treatment and cellular/enzymatic biological water treatment to combat microbial threats. System scale research investigates links between water microbiomes and human health, and between engineering and human factors on Appalachian water systems.
Joining Ohio State in 2018, she is a core faculty mentor of the Sustainability Institute and an affiliated faculty member of the Center of Microbiome Science, Infectious Diseases Institute, Environmental Sciences Graduate Program and STEAM Factory.
Identifying disinfection solutions for small water systems was the focus of a recent study Hull co-authored with colleagues from the University of Colorado Boulder. In the journal AWWA Water Science, they reported that disinfection by ultraviolet (UV) light via light-emitting diodes (LEDs) may be a sustainable treatment option. Her lab also collaborated on campus-wide efforts to monitor COVID through analysis of building dust, as well as studies assessing statewide monitoring of wastewater.
The symposium will be hosted by Amazon September 21-23, in Seattle. The goal of the Frontiers of Engineering program is to introduce outstanding early career engineers to each other, and through this interaction facilitate collaboration and the transfer of new techniques and approaches across fields. The participants—from industry, academia, and government—were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations.
“The ability to envision what is not yet possible, to create solutions to today’s problems that benefit all of society in the future, and to be open, inclusive, and diverse in our thinking and the abilities of ourselves and others—these are the hallmarks of outstanding engineers,” said NAE President John L. Anderson. “The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering symposium helps foster this collaborative spirit in young U.S.-based engineers by bringing a diverse group together from different technical areas and work sectors to spark innovation, broaden their perspectives on new approaches to engineering problems, and develop long-term relationships that are critical in advancing our nation’s future.”
Since the program’s inception in 1995, nearly 5,000 early-career engineers have participated in previous symposia, many of whom have gone on to become national leaders in the engineering community, according to Anderson.
Ohio State Engineering Associate Professor Karen Dannemiller and Assistant Professor Asimina Kiourti participated in last year’s symposium.
- by College of Engineering Communications
