Cresten Mansfeldt News

CU ��«��Ƶ faculty recognized for advancing environmental engineering

Susan Glairon — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 23:20:01 +0000

CU ��«��Ƶ faculty recognized for advancing environmental engineering Susan Glairon Mon, 01/13/2025 - 16:20

Two professors from CU ��«��Ƶ’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering have been honored by The American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists through its 40 Under 40 Recognition Program.

Associate Professor Sherri Cook and Assistant Professor Cresten Mansfeldt were recognized as “talented individuals who have, either personally or as part of a team, been responsible for helping to advance the fields of environmental science or environmental engineering in a demonstrable way within the last 12 months,” according to the academy’s website.

Cook received her BS from Virginia Tech and her MSE and PhD from the University of Michigan. At CU ��«��Ƶ, she pioneered three courses that teach sustainability principles to students across disciplines. Her research focuses on sustainable solutions to global drinking water and sanitation challenges, aiming to improve treatment systems while minimizing risks to human health, the environment, and financial stability. Her research has included innovative technologies such as biochar-based micropollutant removal from wastewater and advancing zero-carbon bio-cement through her co-founded company, Prometheus.

Mansfeldt earned his PhD at Cornell University, after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota. He refined his expertise during a postdoctoral fellowship at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. Mansfeldt teaches courses on material flows, from microbial carbon cycling to urban waste management. His research focuses on the interplay between natural and built environments, emphasizing water reuse, the microbiome of built environments and the impacts of disasters, such as wildfires, on urban systems. Past projects include monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in campus wastewater, evaluating the risk of synthetic biology products and exploring the bioethics of biological innovations in environmental engineering. His current research examines contaminants from wildland-urban interfaces, tracking synthetic biology products in the environment and advancing water reuse.

Associate Professor Sherri Cook and Assistant Professor Cresten Mansfeldt have been honored by The American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists through its 40 Under 40 Recognition Program.

Off

Traditional

White

Cresten Mansfeldt, Matthew Morris explores impacts, solutions after Marshall Fire

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 21:44:34 +0000

Cresten Mansfeldt, Matthew Morris explores impacts, solutions after Marshall Fire Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/21/2022 - 14:44

The Marshall Fire spurred CU ��«��Ƶ researchers to apply their expertise to the aftermath. CEAE Assistant Professor Cresten Mansfeldt, along with other researchers, collected water samples from Coal Creek waterway shortly after the fire; the work has since expanded to monitor the response of bugs and algae living in these waters. CEAE Teaching Professor Matthew Morris, who lost his Superior home in the fire, helped solicit design and construction proposals from builders, providing homeowners with a “short list” of options to select a builder.

Off

Traditional

White

What the Marshall Fire can teach us about future climate catastrophes

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 17:17:28 +0000

What the Marshall Fire can teach us about future climate catastrophes Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/25/2022 - 10:17

Nearly one month after the Marshall Fire became the most destructive and one of the most unique wildfires in Colorado history, CU ��«��Ƶ researchers from across campus—many of them personally affected by the fire—have pivoted and applied their expertise to the aftermath, hoping to learn from a tragedy in their own backyard and help prepare the country for the next “climate fire.”

“What makes this fire really unique is that it happened in a community that is full of researchers that study this exact topic,” said Natasha Stavros, director of the Earth Lab Analytics Hub at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at CU ��«��Ƶ. “We are going to have measurements unlike anywhere else.”

What makes this fire really unique is that it happened in a community that is full of researchers that study this exact topic. We are going to have measurements unlike anywhere else.”
–Natasha Stavros

As a grass-fueled December wildfire in a crowded suburb, the fire was quite different than the state’s massive forest fires of 2020, resulting in many novel impacts on the environment and human health. More than a dozen research projects are already underway, investigating everything from its impact on air and water quality, to the fire speeds that drove it, and how changes in infrastructure and insurance could limit damage from future fires like it. Researchers hope the findings can help inform homeowners, local governments and communities today and shape policies for tomorrow.

“In between all of us, there is so much expertise to address the causes and the impacts of this fire,” said Joost de Gouw, CIRES fellow and professor of chemistry. “If we come together to produce and publish research, we can really change the future of how we think about wildfire.”

Recipe for a winter wildfire

Three ingredients contribute to fire on the landscape: fuel, climate and ignition, said Stavros.

Due to higher-than-normal snowpack levels in late winter of 2021, a wet spring and a rainier than normal July, grasses grew abundantly in the Front Range throughout the year. By the time December rolled around, fuel accumulation was up 60% to 70% compared with a normal year. These plentiful dry grasses, combined with a 3-foot snow deficit and fierce Chinook winds, set the perfect stage that day for a spark to spiral out of control.

Avery Hatch, a CU ��«��Ƶ doctoral student in environmental engineering, monitors indoor air quality in a spared home after the Marshall wildfire. (Photo by Casey A. Cass/CU ��«��Ƶ)

Environmental engineering faculty Julie Korak and Cresten Mansfeldt collect water samples. (Credit: Fernando Rosario-Ortiz)

This abundant fuel would not have existed without increases in precipitation and snowmelt in the first half of 2021, followed by a drastic lack of moisture in the second half of the year—both of which point to climate as the driving cause.

“It’s the first time in my career I have felt comfortable saying this is a climate fire,” said Stavros.

Climate change will continue to have a hand in the future of wildfire, increasing the length and intensity of fire seasons as well as changing how, when and where water is distributed, said Stavros.

In addition to analyzing the impacts of fuel growth, researchers in the Earth Lab are also examining the role of another major factor in the Marshall Fiire: speed.

The Marshall Fire only burned 6,000 acres, less than half the size of Colorado’s second most destructive fire in state history, the Black Forest Fire. Yet it tore through twice as much infrastructure, accounting for 39% of all homes lost to wildfire disasters in the state since 1999, according to Maxwell Cook, doctoral student in the Department of Geography and the Earth Lab.

The fire also now ranks in the top 15 most destructive wildfire events in the western United States, only one of two grassland fires in that list.

Cook is currently working with Jennifer Balch, director of the Earth Lab, to conduct research on the factors which make a fire most likely to burn down homes.

So far, their data shows speed matters most. This may seem obvious, but Cook, Balch and their colleagues have developed new data that now allows them to track and quantify that impact.

“The speed of the fire is also really what makes it difficult for emergency management personnel to respond, to get evacuation orders out in time,” said Cook. “Management strategies that are aimed at reducing the speed of wildfires could be critically important for communities.”

This could include creating fire/fuel breaks around suburban neighborhoods and removing vegetation next to homes—strategies already broadly in use in foothills communities around Colorado. Early detection systems and quick emergency responses are also key, especially in densely populated neighborhoods.

The Earth Lab is also involved in helping develop better maps of where homes are at risk of wildfire across the West, which can help communities and insurances companies better plan for and mitigate that risk.

“We may need to think hard about what we define as the wildland urban interface (WUI). There's a lot of flammable landscape and development out there that's maybe not accounted for,” said Cook. “Building smarter, both in terms of where we build and how we build, that's going to be a big thing moving forward.”

Clearing the air

Three weeks after the fire, homeowners and renters who did not lose their residences still face an important unknown: Is it safe to go home?

Buildings were inundated with smoke, full of unhealthy compounds created as the blaze burned paint, fried refrigerators and melted metals in nearby homes. These chemicals, absorbed by surviving structures like a sponge, now pose a previously unquantified problem.

Air quality scientists from CU ��«��Ƶ, CIRES and NOAA quickly compiled an online resource about the impacts of post-fire smoke cleanup in homes. Led by de Gouw, they next installed instruments in several surviving homes to measure levels of harmful gases and understand the lingering effects of smoke on indoor air quality. Another team of scientists have also been driving through affected neighborhoods with a mobile laboratory to measure what the remains of buildings emit into the immediate atmosphere.

An interdisciplinary team including engineers, social scientists and chemists from across campus will continue to collect data indoors over the coming months to inform residents and local governments and learn more about lingering human health concerns that wildfires in urban areas can present.

Downstream effects

Meanwhile, Fernando Rosario-Ortiz and his colleagues are studying water.

For years, the associate dean for faculty advancement at the College of Engineering and his colleagues in the Environmental Engineering Program have worked to understand the implications of wildfire on water. But they usually study forests.

“Combusting homes is a whole different ball game,” said Rosario-Ortiz.

It’s not just wood that’s burning in a suburban fire: It’s homes, vehicles and all the stuff in them: fabric, plastics, electronics, batteries, you name it. Those remains and the compounds created can find their way into local water systems. When a fire is quickly followed by rain or snow, as was the case with the Marshall Fire, concerns about contamination are even higher, he said.

Julie Korak and Cresten Mansfeldt, assistant professors of environmental engineering, have partnered with colleagues across campus, local community organizations and municipalities, to collect surface water samples in the area, test for concerning chemicals and address questions of watershed safety posed by residents. In the next month or so, the team will have initial results to share with stakeholders.

“Everyone here takes their water very seriously,” said Mansfeldt. “This work provides a first fingerprint of how a fire like this impacts a community, and how we can assist recovery.”

Building back better

Now that we know a fire like this is possible, the big question the Front Range faces is: How do we keep this from happening again?

A first step in answering: To get a comprehensive, birds-eye view of the damage.

Read more

Fire resources

To that end, Brad Wham, assistant research professor in the Center for Infrastructure, Energy and Space Testing, will join a national team of colleagues this week to fly drones over the burn sites before cleanup begins, gathering valuable clues about what happened that day. The work is part of a larger collaborative research effort, supported by the Resilient Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity IRT (RISE) within the College of Engineering and Applied Science, formed in the wake of the fire to connect environmental engineers, social scientists, first responders, and policy experts conducting work on natural disasters.

And once rebuilding begins?

“It is entirely practical to build back better,” said Keith Porter, adjoint professor of civil, architecture and environmental engineering.

Porter explains that using fire resistant materials to build a home doesn’t only make it less likely to burn, but they’re a relatively cheap upgrade (less than $10,000 compared to replacing a home worth $600,000) and due to their longevity, can lead to immense savings over the life of the home.

The International Wildland Urban Interface Code, for example—adopted in parts of ��«��Ƶ County—requires that fire resistant materials be used in new construction. Porter points out, however, that unless cities and counties mandate this kind of fire code, homebuilders aren’t required to swap wood shingles for a non-combustible roof or to replace vinyl siding with stucco in new developments. When rebuilding, insurance companies may mandate that a house be replaced “like for like,” potentially inhibiting homeowners from replacing flammable building materials with fire resistant ones—even if it could save insurance companies money to let people do so, according to Porter.

As affected residents navigate their insurance policies, find temporary housing in a tight market and try to stay healthy during the omicron surge, fighting for fire resistant materials may not be able to be a top priority. This is why, Porter points out, the real power to protect public safety is not on the individual, but in the hands of local officials.

“Everybody else is affected by somebody else's house burning,” said Porter. “Both in an economic sense and in a moral sense, we really are all in this together.”

Off

Traditional

White

Cresten Mansfeldt, campus pandemic team recognized with CU ��«��Ƶ award

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 18:46:05 +0000

Cresten Mansfeldt, campus pandemic team recognized with CU ��«��Ƶ award Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/11/2021 - 11:46

CU ��«��Ƶ’s Alumni Awards are recognizing a team of faculty and staff for their efforts on the COVID 19 pandemic.

Cresten Mansfeldt, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, is among a group of employees collectively referred to as the CU ��«��Ƶ Pandemic Scientific Steering Committee and Science Team (“The Team”) receiving a 2021 Robert L. Stearns Award.

The full list of honorees include Kristen Bjorkman (PhDBioChem’07), Gloria Brisson, Jose Jimenez, Mark Kavanaugh, Daniel Larremore (ApMath’09; PhD’12), Leslie Leinwand, Cresten Mansfeldt, Jennifer McDuffie, Matt McQueen (Psych’96), Shelly Miller, Roy Parker and Melanie Parra.

Most people will forever remember where they were in March 2020 as the world began to shut down. For many at CU ��«��Ƶ, an incredible haul of work instantly followed.

Like the COVID-19 virus, their tasks were new, momentous and immediate.

“I can think of no more difficult year than the one that began on March 13, 2020, and was dominated by COVID-19, its impact on our students, faculty and staff and our institutional response,” said CU ��«��Ƶ provost Russ Moore.

One group of faculty and staff — the CU ��«��Ƶ Pandemic Scientific Steering Committee and Science Team, or “The Team” — was set on determining how the university could remain operational during a pandemic.

“Without being asked, and in the true spirit of public service, the members of the Scientific Steering Committee and Science Team dropped what they were doing in order to develop the science and many of the associated operations that allowed our campus to successfully open and operate,” said Moore.

The Team consisted of Kristen Bjorkman, Gloria Brisson, Jose Jimenez, Mark Kavanaugh, Daniel Larremore, Leslie Leinwand, Cresten Mansfeldt, Jennifer McDuffie, Matt McQueen, Shelly Miller, Roy Parker and Melanie Parra. Their priority was the safety of the CU ��«��Ƶ community and beyond.

Their work was evident in every aspect of campus life.

They developed saliva- and wastewater-based SARS-CoV-2 screening tests to find both individual infections and larger outbreaks on campus. They created a contact tracing program that involved eager students and became one of the most responsive in the state. They helped design the HVAC systems that were installed throughout campus to reduce airborne disease transmission. They guided physical distancing and masking protocols. Most importantly, their solutions were grounded in science.

Their ideas and implementations were constant — sometimes happening from the hours of 2 to 4 a.m. or on weekends. The work is not done. Much of The Team’s scientific work will be studied, reviewed and published to help future crisis response practices.

In the words of the provost, speaking on behalf of thousands positively impacted by their work, “The Team’s dedication serves as an inspiration to us all.”

Off

Traditional

White

EPA awards over $300,000 to ��«��Ƶ to develop biotechnology software tools

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 21:55:34 +0000

EPA awards over $300,000 to ��«��Ƶ to develop biotechnology software tools Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/27/2021 - 15:55

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced $337,616 to the ��«��Ƶ to create software tools to quantify and predict the effects of synthetic microorganisms on local, native and microbial communities. Last week, EPA announced $3,041,583 in funding to five institutions to develop science-based approaches to evaluate the potential human health and environmental impacts of new biotechnology products.

“EPA is funding this research to better understand advancements in biotechnology, which have many potential benefits for society, and to ensure public health and environmental protection,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development and the EPA Science Advisor.

��«��Ƶ’s investigative team will use the funding to develop and deploy a Python-based bioinformatic tool called EcoGenoRisk. The software tool will help develop an ecological risk assessment by comparing databases of novel synthetic biological organisms to known local, native and microbial organism communities. The team will develop EcoGenoRisk as an open-source tool so that users may incorporate the software and approach into other bioinformatic pipelines and link with existing EPA ecological risk assessment tools.

“Developing techniques that better identify risks associated with synthetic biology organisms informs both product design and appropriate disposal processes for a new material,” said Dr. Cresten Mansfeldt, principal investigator on the grant and assistant professor in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the ��«��Ƶ. “Uniquely, the identical genomic information and databases that are driving this biotechnological product evolution can be mined to identify and mitigate potential risks to our built and natural environments.”

Each research team is receiving a grant of up to $760,000 through EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program. Their projects will lead to the development of tools and methods that allow decision makers to better understand and monitor how biotechnology products might impact public health and the environment before they are used or released into the environment.

Off

Traditional

White

Not a moment to waste: How a resource beneath our campus was key during COVID-19

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 17:37:16 +0000

Not a moment to waste: How a resource beneath our campus was key during COVID-19 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/01/2021 - 11:37

It’s a chilly spring morning in March 2021 and campus is quiet. Dew hangs on blades of grass. Songbirds chirp from the trees, while a few students speed by on their bikes and skateboards.

But while campus may seem calm, an artificial river flows underneath, holding a wealth of information about levels of SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, circulating in the world above.

The only visible sign of this rich world below is a series of nondescript black plastic tubs sitting out on the lawns.

Top: PJ from Reno, Nevada, who graduated from CU ��«��Ƶ environmental engineering, conducts COVID-19 wastewater testing on the CU ��«��Ƶ campus in March of 2021. (Credit: Casey A. Cass/CU ��«��Ƶ) Bottom: Cresten Mansfeldt and Katelyn Reeves examine a wastewater monitoring station that collects wastewater from the Kittredge residence hall complex in August of 2020. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/CU ��«��Ƶ)

Cresten Mansfeldt, assistant professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering, stands double-masked and in a cable knit sweater, surrounded by residence halls, pointing out some of the 23 sampling stations carefully laid across campus to catch samples from the sewers below.

Since the stations were first installed and turned on in August of 2020, a team of 35 undergrads, graduate students and alumni have collected over 3,000 samples and run more than 4,700 tests over at least 140 days.

While last fall there was a clear signal of SARS-COV-2 in their samples, this spring the data is showing levels of the virus are over 1,000 times less. More than 80% of sites don’t even detect it on a given day. It’s a strong sign that the hard work of students, staff and faculty to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is paying off.

These snapshots of what’s in our wastewater have been critical to keeping campus safe during the pandemic—and systems like it could even help us catch the next one.

“We’re moving away from the concept of this source as a waste, but seeing it instead as a resource,” said Mansfeldt.

An early warning signal

Undergraduate students collect samples across campus in spring of 2021. (Credit: Cresten Mansfeldt)

After COVID-19 caused CU ��«��Ƶ to switch to remote learning in March of 2020, conversations soon followed in May about what would need to happen to open campus for the fall semester. Roy Parker, professor of biochemistry, and the campus planning committee that oversaw the safe return to campus in the fall of 2020, initiated this unique wastewater monitoring initiative. Mansfeldt, who is trained in environmental engineering and environmental microbiology, was asked to lead it. It’s been his top priority since.

Environmental engineering linked medical data and sewage data very early on in the pandemic, moving it from proof of concept to direct application almost immediately, said Mansfeldt.

“It’s no longer a theoretical application,” he said. “If you're going to do testing on campus, you probably should also monitor your sewage.”

While CU implemented a comprehensive framework of individual testing, contact tracing and enhanced ventilation on campus, this non-invasive surveillance system has done what nothing else could: Provide an early warning signal.

Since about 40% to 80% of people infected with SARS-COV-2 shed it in their waste, testing for it in our sewers has enabled CU ��«��Ƶ to detect infections almost a week before someone might exhibit symptoms. This has allowed campus to deploy targeted testing to residence halls which could be on the cusp of an outbreak.

The beauty of this data is that it requires no public participation and is completely anonymous. The most detailed it can get down to is to a building, not a person.

“This testing has complemented and advanced the individual testing, because you don't need user buy in—you already have user buy in,” said Mansfeldt.

From manholes to morale

The wastewater stations are straightforward: A battery-powered pump constantly pulls a small amount out of the sewage below through a thin tube, which is stored in a container surrounded by ice packs and insulation to keep it cool. Every day, a member of the team collects a sample from each station and brings it back to the lab for analysis.

But this summary understates the complexity and commitment involved.

This fall, Mansfeldt traded his daily routine of running for weightlifting, learning to carefully lift manhole covers which clock in at a hefty 250 pounds, in order to install and maintain the sites. He has not only been responsible for a large bulk of the initial fieldwork and the team’s safety and scheduling, but he has worked equally hard to keep up their morale as temperatures dropped over the winter.

“I was often buying hot chocolate and coffee just to keep everybody's spirits up,” he said.

After a long day of checking the stations and collecting samples, the testing—conducted by a separate, small team of alumni in the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building—often wouldn’t return results until 10 or 11 p.m. Then they’d go back out the next day and do it all again.

This spring, the field team has expanded and now does the analysis in their own lab on campus, so their results come in closer to the end of a typical workday. But it’s still been demanding, and dramatic weather changes have provided an additional challenge.

Mansfeldt joined CU in the fall of 2019, only half a year before the pandemic took over and this project began in earnest. But for him and his team, the end may now be in sight. If the virus remains under control, the team plans to shut it off after the semester concludes this May.

Top: Professor Cresten Mansfeldt has been leading the COVID-19 wastewater testing at CU ��«��Ƶ. (Credit: Casey A. Cass/CU ��«��Ƶ) Bottom: Katelyn Reeves, an environmental engineering graduate student, is one of a team of 35 undergrads, graduate students and alumni who have worked with assistant professor Cresten Mansfeldt to implement a wastewater monitoring systems that collects wastewater from residence hall complexes. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/CU ��«��Ƶ)

Commitment, credit and careers

While the campus monitoring system will likely soon wrap up, its impact on students and the field of environmental engineering will last much longer. The CU ��«��Ƶ system and similar projects across the country, developed in response to the pandemic, have shown the direct application of the profession.

For Elle Coe, a senior in environmental engineering, this past year hasn’t just been life-changing because of COVID-19: This project changed her career.

Coe was “dead set” on working in groundwater engineering after leaving CU ��«��Ƶ, and already had her classes scheduled this year with that aim in mind. Yet she’s now switched to a career focused on wastewater and drinking water treatment, and has a full-time position in the field lined up after graduation.

Intrigued by the unique cross-disciplinary opportunity with Mansfeldt, team member William Johnson came back to school in 2020 and is now a graduate student in environmental engineering.

“I find the idea at the core of wastewater epidemiology—that our sewers are chock full of information—to be really compelling,” said Johnson.

Wastewater can also tell us a lot about the world around us, including helpful information for universities—even when not in a global pandemic—such as levels of annual influenza, pharmaceuticals and more. As the global population continues to grow and climate change starts to have more consequences, Mansfeldt notes that applied science and engineering like this project will become even more important.

For Jorge Vargas-Barriga, an undergraduate in the Environmental Engineering Program, this project has solidified the reason that he chose to major in environmental engineering: He wants to do work that meaningfully impacts communities. It also enabled him to do everything from fieldwork to lab work, helped battle his imposter syndrome and improved his sense of belonging as a first-generation person of color at CU.

“The amazing team that Cresten [Mansfeldt] has formed has absolutely made me feel more welcome than I have in a while, and I think that speaks to the individuals that make it up,” said Vargas-Barriga.

This feeling also rings true for Katelyn Reeves, who has worked with Mansfeldt since setting up the first sampling stations in August 2020 under a hot summer sun.

After she completed her MS here in civil engineering, Mansfeldt reached out to Reeves about joining the project as a PhD student. For her, every box was ticked: Hands-on, laboratory-based wastewater research with the potential to fight COVID-19 in the meantime.

“The truly most exciting thing about this project was the opportunity to take action amidst all the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic,” said Reeves.

Categories:

Off

Traditional

White

Cresten Mansfeldt News

CU ��«����Ƶ faculty recognized for advancing environmental engineering

Off

Cresten Mansfeldt, Matthew Morris explores impacts, solutions after Marshall Fire

Off

What the Marshall Fire can teach us about future climate catastrophes

Recipe for a winter wildfire

Clearing the air

Downstream effects

Building back better

Off

Cresten Mansfeldt, campus pandemic team recognized with CU ��«����Ƶ award

Off

EPA awards over $300,000 to ��«����Ƶ to develop biotechnology software tools

Off

Not a moment to waste: How a resource beneath our campus was key during COVID-19

An early warning signal

From manholes to morale

Commitment, credit and careers

Off

CU ��«��Ƶ faculty recognized for advancing environmental engineering

Cresten Mansfeldt, campus pandemic team recognized with CU ��«��Ƶ award

EPA awards over $300,000 to ��«��Ƶ to develop biotechnology software tools