VALLEY FORGE CHAPTER
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
P.O. BOX 585 WORCESTER, PA 19490-0585
THE COMPASS
Volume 48. Number 1 September 2013
(Read the COMPASS online at www.pspe.org/valleyforge)
President’s Message
By: Michael Fischer, P.E.
Welcome to the 2013-2014 chapter year for PSPE Valley Forge Chapter. As President, it will be a pleasure and an honor to serve the Chapter during this year along with the Board of Directors. We have a full array of events planned for the membership, including tours, dinner meetings, our annual golf outing and Day at the Races, as well as opportunities to volunteer at academic events for students.
Hopefully many of you were able to attend the State Conference last weekend in Grantsville. PSPE always does an excellent job organizing their events and we encourage our members to attend these types of events as they are an opportunity to network with fellow engineers while also obtaining valuable PDHs for license renewal. With that in mind, if you have not done so already, a quick reminder that September 30 is the renewal date for all Pennsylvania PEs, so if you have not done so already, you can quickly and easily renew your license online.
I hope to see some new faces this year at our meetings and encourage the entire membership to get involved with the programs the Chapter endorses. Professional development is a major component to growing as an engineer, and the Valley Forge Chapter strives to help all its members in achieving that goal.
Upcoming Events
(visit www.pspe.org/valleyforge for more details)
October 23: Tour of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery
November (date/place TBD): Dinner Meeting, Village of Valley Forge Gravity Drains Presentation
December 8: Day at the Races hosted by NSPE Pres-Elect Harve Hnatiuk, PARX Casino & Racetrack
New Adsorbent Is More Effective and Environmentally Friendly for Treating Wastewater
Sep. 24, 2013— A novel new adsorbent for removing emerging contaminants from wastewater that is more effective, reusable and environmentally friendly, has been developed by researchers in Temple University's Water and Environmental Technology (WET) Center.
The researchers used cyclodextrins, a family of compounds made up of bound glucose (sugar) molecules, to develop their adsorbent material, which could have a positive impact on the water treatment, pharmaceutical, chemical and manufacturing industries, said Rominder Suri, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the WET Center in Temple's College of Engineering.
Suri said that cyclodextrins have an affinity for attracting organic compounds that is much higher than activated carbon, which is currently the most commonly used material by industry for removing wastewater contaminants.
"Activated carbon is very porous and water -- whether it be surface water, groundwater or wastewater -- contains a lot of natural organic matter," said Suri. "These are big molecules and when they hit the activated carbon, they block the pores which prevent the contaminant particles from getting inside."
Suri said the new adsorbent has a cavity-like area in which they can trap the contaminants, which are made up of organic compounds. By changing the functional groups on the glucose molecule, the size of the cavity can be increased or reduced.
"That means is we can potentially manipulate this adsorbent substance to target and remove select contaminants, something that activated carbon cannot do," he said.
Although cyclodextrins are soluble, meaning they dissolve easily in water, the new adsorbent has been made insoluble by the Temple researchers and can easily be attached as a thin coating to such surfaces as sand, glass, silica and filter paper.
So far, the researchers have tested their new adsorbent material against such contaminants as steroid hormones, detergent compounds and bisphenol A in both lab water and discharged wastewater and found that it has removed more than 90 percent of the contaminants, said Suri.
"This new adsorbent material has much less surface area than activated carbon, especially if you coat it on sand," he said. "But our results demonstrate that it has comparable, or even better, capacity than the activated carbon. And, it has the potential to be even more efficient by coating it on porous, high surface materials."
In addition to its effectiveness in removing contaminants, Suri also said that the new material's other benefit is that it can easily be regenerated and reused. A solvent such as methanol can be used to remove the contaminants or ozone can be used to destroy the trapped contaminants, both allowing the adsorbent material to be reused.
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130924174152.htm)
MATH RIDDLE OF THE MONTH
You have an infinite supply of water...
…and you also have a 5-gallon jug and a 3-gallon jug. How do you measure 4 gallons?
Answer: Start by filling the 5-gallon jug and pour that into the 3-gallon jug. Now you have 2 gallons in the big jug and 3 in the little one.
Empty the little jug, and pour the last 2 jug from the big jug into the little jug.
Fill the big jug, and then use that water to fill up the little jug. Since the little jug already has 2 gallons, it will fill up by 1 gallon, leaving the big jug with four gallons.
Board of DirectorS Meeting Minutes
Call to Order 6:07 pm
Minutes from Last Meeting
· None
Reports of Officers
· President – nothing to report
· President-Elect – nothing to report
· Vice President – nothing to report
· Secretary – nothing to report
· Treasurer – not present, but submitted budget via email.
o Jim to send Compass ad requests.
o Budget ok with the following changes:
§ Adjust PSPE dues to $2050.
§ Adjust dinner programs to 3 meetings at $1500.
§ Remove $300 other income.
§ Adjust chapter awards to $0.
§ Adjust Science Fairs to $175.
§ Adjust postage to $0.
§ Adjust Mathcounts to $1250.
§ Adjust dinner programs to 4 meetings including awards dinner at $2000.
§ Include PSPE ad at $300.
o Jim to revise and resend.
· State Director – not present
· SE Region PSPE VP – not present
· Directors
o Tony participated in PSPE conference call for state membership committee. NSPE has info on boosting membership.
Committee Reports
· Communications
o Compass – need articles and membership stats.
o Notifications of Membership Meeting in September.
· Scholarship
o Send out emails to schools NOW.
· Mathcounts
o Dan to get data for 2013 costs.
o $50K state grant restored per John Nawn.
· Membership
o Needs to be updated.
Programs
· September – No chapter meeting. State conference 9/19-9/21.
· October – Einstein Hospital tour? Tony’s colleague is checking on this.
· November – Valley Forge Injection Wells? Tony is coordinating this.
· December – Day at the Races.
· January – Villanova Student Chapter hosting. Needs sponsor to help defray costs.
Old Business
· Mathcounts costs for last year and money transfer – Approved transfer $2500 to the Mathcounts account. Jim to follow-up.
· Golf tournament proceeds – about same as before, but lost out a bit because of rain.
· Frank Stanton ad in the PSPE State Conference program – Approved $300 ad
New Business
· Old treasurer paperwork – Approved to shred everything older than 10 years.
Adjournment: 6:49 pm
Next meeting: October 1, 6:00pm, Wegmans King of Prussia
2013-14 CHAPTER OFFICERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Michael Fischer, P.E. Chapter Director Tony Dougherty, P.E.
President-Elect Dan Humes, P.E. Chapter Director Chad Camburn, P.E.
Vice President Bruce Rhoades, P.E. Chapter Director Kurt Leininger, P.E.
Treasurer Jim Thompson, P.E. Chapter Director Phil Gonski, P.E.
Secretary Lindsay Musselman, E.I.T. Chapter Director Nate Zipay, E.I.T.
Past-President Randy Cleaver, P.E.
State Director Paul Dugan, P.E.
Committees
Committee Primary Secondary
Audit: Kurt Leininger Dan Humes
Awards: Bruce Rhoades Tony Dougherty
By-Laws: Nate Zipay Paul Dugan
Engineers Week: Tony Dougherty Randy Cleaver
Ethics: Michael Fischer Bruce Rhoades
Legislative/Gov’t: Paul Dugan Chad Camburn
Mathcounts: Lindsay Musselman Dan Humes
Membership: Lindsay Musselman Jim Thompson
Nominating: Randy Cleaver (Chair), Dan Humes Chad Camburn
Programs: Bruce Rhoades Michael Fischer
Publications: Michael Fischer Dan Humes
Scholarship: Chad Camburn Nate Zipay
Science Fair: Tony Dougherty Jim Thompson
Web Site: Mike Fischer Phil Gonski
Practice Division Primary
PEPP (Private Practice) Paul Dugan
PEC (Construction) Tony Dougherty
PEG (Government) Paul Dugan
PEI (Industry) Lindsay Musselman
PEE(Education) Bruce Rhoades
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