(upbeat music)

- [Michelle] Hello, and thank you

for tuning in to
"Connections & Directions,"

our University of Michigan's

civil and environmental
engineering podcast.

My name is Michelle San Santillan

and I am the CEE marketing
communications specialist

and host of this series.

During our podcast,

we are featuring members
of our CEE community

and how their work reflects our mission

of engineers in service to society.

We will be highlighting
our strategic directions

and our commitment to diversity,
equity, and inclusion.

CEE's five strategic directions

are human habitat experience,

shaping resource flows,

adaptation, automation, and
smart infrastructure finance.

I'm here today

with CEE environmental
student, Renata Starostka,

who's majoring in
environmental engineering

and is a PhD candidate.

Thank you for joining us today.

- [Renata] Yeah, it's great to be here.

- [Michelle] How do you

and other current students
see yourselves participating

in our strategic directions?

- [Renata] I think it's incredible

just how much work is coming
out of the CEE department.

I know as a PhD student,

I can get holed into just my own research

and maybe a couple neighboring lab groups,

but it's really nice to see

at large department events

just how much research is happening

and how many different
directions people are going,

and how much is coming
out of our department.

- [Michelle] And speaking
of those directions

and your own research,

what are you doing
specifically in your studies

and how does that fit
into CEE's broader vision?

- [Renata] So my research
is in wastewater treatment

and so I'm working right now

in anaerobic digestion of
food waste and sewage sludge.

And we're sort of co-digesting that

with a two-phase dynamic membrane system.

So we're trying to make
conventional wastewater treatment

less energy intensive

by using a biological biofilm membrane

instead of membranes

that typically require really
high pressure and energy.

So trying to reduce those energy demands

in wastewater treatment,

which, everyone needs
wastewater treatment.

- [Michelle] And for the layperson,

what is anaerobic digestion?

- [Renata] So, essentially,

we're doing treatment without oxygen.

So typically there's a treatment
process that is with oxygen

and then there's a secondary
treatment for more high solids

that is without oxygen

and that's where you're
producing your biogas,

so your methane,

and then we're trying to convert that

to renewable natural gas,

so then you can be cooking on your stove

with your own waste water products.

- [Michelle] So that's really
shaping resource flows then

if you had to identify one

of our strategic directions,
is that what you would say?

- [Renata] Yeah, definitely.

- [Michelle] And how does our mission

of engineers in service to
society resonate with you?

- [Renata] I think,

being more on the
environmental side of things,

I know there was just
recently the big spill in Ohio

and so thinking about service to society,

the Flint water crisis,

I know there are professors
in the department

who have been involved in in
working with Flint on that.

So it's not just research
for the sake of research,

but it's research for the
sake of helping people,

and we're providing a service to society.

We're not just trying to learn cool things

in our ivory tower.

We're trying to really
actively participate in society

and make the world a better place.

- [Michelle] And how do you
envision yourself becoming

an engineer in service to society?

- [Renata] So I'm really interested

in water sanitation and hygiene questions.

So looking at developing areas,
or remote or rural areas,

and how I can help with,
especially, for me,

wastewater treatment there,

but also drinking water is a part of that.

And so I'm interested in,

first, maybe working at a national lab

and doing government funded research

that's really trying to help people

and is a little bit more applied.

But really interested in
solving those problems

that people are facing every day.

- [Michelle] And how do
you see DEI incorporated

in the department,

not necessarily specific to
a class or a research area?

- [Renata] I think it's just
becoming a more inherent thing

and so I was thinking about
this question for a while

and I was like, "I don't know

that I see it specifically in any action

that people are actively trying to take,"

so much as just the friendships

that are formed with
people who are different

and realizing that people
in my research group

are from so many different countries,

from so many different continents.

And just being able to
hang out with people,

and make food for each other,

and share our culture and way of life.

And I think that

that's a really important
part of the department.

I think the department
does really well with that.

- [Michelle] And why did you choose CEE

at the University of Michigan?

What would you say

to prospective students
considering applying here?

- [Renata] Michigan is great.

It's February, so I joke
that it's cold and dark,

not so much today,

but I grew up in the desert,

so it's a bit of a weather shift for me.

But the research here is just outstanding.

I work with Lut Raskin and Steve Skerlos,

and they're phenomenal advisors.

And so, just to be part of
such a great research team.

I think the biotech group,

especially, just having these professors

who are collaborating

not just within their own research groups,

but across research groups

and sharing lab space,

and sharing advice and wisdom,

and there's just this culture

of, "If I need advice from Glen Daigger,

I can just go knock on his door

and he'll probably have
an answer to my question,"

or, "If I wanna ask Nancy Love something,

I can just go and ask her."

And even outside of my own advisors,

there's just this culture of,
"I can ask anyone anything."

And even on the civil side of things,

there are people who are
doing these numerical analyses

that I might need in wastewater research.

And so I can go and be like,

"Hey, I know it's not related
to geotechnical things,

but how would you solve a non-linear,

second order, partial
differential equation?"

And people are happy to help
and have those conversations.

So it's just a really great culture here.

- [Michelle] And how has
belonging to enhanced

your student experience?

- [Renata] GrEENPEAS
has been really great.

I joined a little bit
reluctantly, honestly.

I was like, "I've got a lot of work.

I've got a lot of other responsibilities.

I don't know if I have time

to be part of this organization."

But GrEENPEAS has been great.

I stressed a lot over the first
couple of Free Bagel Fridays

and trying to get everything set up,

but just the number of
people that I've met

and just had very casual
conversations with,

and being able to hear
about everyone's research

and feel like I really know
people in the department

has been really great.

And I got back after winter break

and like 20 people said,
"Hi," to me the first day

and, especially, after the pandemic,

it's just so nice to be
able to see familiar faces

and not just faces in the building.

- [Michelle] For people
who may not be familiar,

could you tell us a little
bit about GrEENPEAS?

- [Renata] So GrEENPEAS is

the Graduate Environmental
Engineering Network

of Professionals, Educators, and Students,

which is a very long name

and that's why we typically
just call it GrEENPEAS.

But we host events

mostly in the environmental
and water resource side,

but also with the whole department,

just for people to be able
to network with each other,

get to know each other
a little bit better,

and we have some professional activities.

So we hosted the Anaerobic
Digestion Conference here

over the summer

and GrEENPEAS was able

to host a networking event
for young professionals

at the conference.

And I know in the past,

we've done happy hours with
some of the seminar speakers.

Hopefully, we'll be
bringing that back soon.

So just being able

to really get to know the
people in the department,

get to know people in the field

and feel like you're
part of a community here.

- [Michelle] Will you be doing anything

with the Borchardt Conference
coming up this May?

- [Renata] Hopefully.

(Renata laughing)

That's a good question.

I haven't thought about it yet,

but, yeah, we'll hopefully

host a similar young professionals
networking event there.

- [Michelle] And likewise,
would you be able

to share a little bit with our audience

what the Borchardt Conference is?

- [Renata] It's a really great way

for people to share their work.

I know there's a really big presence

of posters and presentations

by people at the University of Michigan,

and so I think it's great.

It's free for students,

so it's a great way to just see

what your peers and
colleagues are working on.

And if it's your first conference,

it's a great first conference.

You'll see a lot of familiar
faces, a lot of friendly faces,

and just be able to see the
research that everyone is doing.

So I think it's a really good
first step into conferences

if you're nervous about that.

- [Michelle] And if you
have one pearl of wisdom

from your own experience in CEE

that you'd like to share
with a prospective student,

what would that be?

- [Renata] Make friends.

I knew that....

For me, I'm a little bit
more of an introvert,

even if I might not seem
so on Free Bagel Fridays,

but I knew that moving to grad school,

it was going to be really easy

to just bury myself in my research

and watch TV or read books,

and not make that effort
to go out and meet people.

And so I tried really hard my first year

to meet my lab mates, to meet
other people in Ann Arbor.

And, honestly, if it
weren't for those friends,

I don't know if I would've
gotten through my first year.

And so I definitely think,

just make friends with people
in your research group,

with people in neighboring
research groups,

and definitely with people in Ann Arbor.

Just go out and meet people,

because that's what life is about.

We're engineers in service to society,

which means we have to
participate in society too.

We can't just be buried in
our research all the time.

- [Michelle] Thank you
for joining us today.

(upbeat music)

Thank you for listening to
our podcast conversation.

For more information
about CEE at Michigan,

please visit our website at cee.umich.edu.

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