CE En 540 Geo-Environmental Engineering

Sampling of Previous Term Papers

NOTE: Starting in Fall 2000, I required the students to write their term papers as html documents and post them on the web.  The students then mailed me the URL to grade the papers.  The links below include a copy of the term paper titles, abstracts, and references.

Fall 06

Brown, Jaron, Bioreactor Landfills: Engineering Marvel or Glorified Trash Heaps?
Bushnell, Tanner, Landfill as a Bioreactor
Draper, Joshua, An Overview of Vapor Extraction as a Site Remediation Technique
Dyer, Shane, Incineration and the Future
Handy, Jeffrey, Bioreactor Landfills: An Alternative to Traditional Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
Haws, Benjamin, Landfill Gas: What it is and What to do With it
Jones, Douglas, Electronic Waste:  To landfill or not to landfill
Lathen, Scott, Siting Hazardous Waste Facilities: Overcoming NIMBY
Pearson, Jeffrey, Fluorescence Spectroscopy and its Application to Environmental Site Characterization
Stout, Keri, The Process and Value of In Situ Vitrification
Thiele, Elizabeth, Tragedy of the Love Canal

Winter 05

Andrews, Wade, Learning from the Love Canal
Averett, Aaron, Detecting and Preventing Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems from Contaminating Groundwater
Bastian, Scott, Incineration Technologies Including Plasma Torch Heating of MSW Bottom Ash
Billen, Ryan, Nuclear Waste Disposal: Reviewing America's Options
Blankenagel, Brandon, In Situ Vitrification: Process and Effectiveness
Boren, Craig, Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Storage Facility
Chambers, Scott, Air Sparging as a Bioremediation Process
Fife, Melanie, Hazardous Waste Incineration
Foster, Travis, In-Situ Hazardous Waste Containment Using the RAHCO Subsurface Containment System (SCS)
Jenkins, Robbie, The Adverse Affects of Overabstraction of Aquifers
Johnson, David, Substrate Performance in Removal of Phosphorus in Constructed Wetlands
McCormick, Roger, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
McDonald, Cameron, Thermoselect Process for Waste Incineration
Miller, Coleman, Yucca Mountain: The Battle Between Science and Politics
Muhlestein, Jed, Moab, Utah Atlas Mine Tailings
Olson, Peter, HARS - Historic Area Remediation Site
Sonntag, Darrell, Interim Storage: the permanent solution to civilian nuclear waste
Strand, Spencer, Disposal of High-Level Nuclear Waste in the United States
Supinger, Spencer, Waste to Energy Process
Swavely, Zachary, Mercury in Our Landfills
Williams, Joel, Durability of HDPE Geomembranes
Williams, Robert, Soil Washing

Fall 03

Anderson Michael Wayne, In Situ Groundwater Treatment Via Zeolites
Awerkamp Todd Garrett, Surfactant enhanced aquifer flushing
Bartholomew Hannah Amber, Air Sparging Overview
Christensen Mark Stephen, In Situ Fluorometry as an Effective Groundwater
Doyle Katie Lynn, Rapid Decomposition of Waste in Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
Gallup Douglas J, In Situ Fluorometry in Groundwater Analysis
Greer James Edward, Ground Penetrating Radar
Kauffman Michael Grant, Surfactant Enhanced Remediation of the Vadose Zone
Roth Samuel Clark, Landfill Siting
Salah Ahmad Mohamad, Application of Geostatistics in Landfill Management, Monitoring and Design
White Rebecca L, Appropriate Liners for Bioreactor Landfills
Winkel Anthony David, Biodegradation of Municipal Solid Waste
Young Tyler B, Energy and Innovation In Japan

Winter 02

Broberg, Eliza, Soil Washing
Carr, Jared, Enhanced Reductive Dechlorination in Groundwater Systems
Garrett, Brian, Soil Vitrification
Gerber, Travis, Cone Penetration Technology For Subsurface Contaminant Characterization
Greenberg, Scott, Geosynthetic Cut-off Walls
Hammond, Gregory, MSW to Energy
Jones, Gordon, In Situ Bioremediation Of MTBE Contaminated Sites
Peirce, Lane, Ground Penetrating Radar
Pope, William, Yucca Mountain as the First Nuclear Waste Repository in The United States of America
Powell, Erick, Salt-Affected Soils and Geo-Environmental use
Serrano, Alberto, Bioreactors: The Next Step
Sewell, Erik, Passive Diffusion Bag Samplers
Smith, Sheldon, New Strategies For Immobilization and Stabilization of Buried Hazardous Waste
Stanfield, D. Starr, Use of Phytoremediation as an Alternative to Traditional Hazardous Waste Remediation Strategies
Staples, Kevin, The CERCLA Process: Contaminant Cleanup

Fall 00

Albee, Jill, The Feasibility of Incinerators
Archer, Harold, An Introduction to Soil Washing
Cole, Ryan Thomas, Compaction of Soil Liners
Cole, Ryan Travis, The Superfund Remedial Process
Crozier, Ben, Soil Vapor Extraction Technology—A Practical Means for Site Remediation
Decker, Jeramy, Using the Resistivity Cone Penetrometer Test To Characterize Ground Water Contamination
Fonseca, Ewerton, MTBE - Definitions, Uses, and Remediation
Green, Jonathan, Partitioning Interwell Tracer Tests
Hansen, Clarissa, Phytoremediation as an Alternative to Traditional Soil and Groundwater Remediation Techniques
Hartman, Brad, Weighing the Risks of the Yucca Mountain Repository
Hill, Mark, Phytoremediation
Knoll, Brian, Landfill Gas: Methane Estimation and Utilization
Lasswell, Mike, Does Yucca Mountain Remain a Viable Location as a Long-Term Repository of America's High-Level Nuclear Waste?
Liu Yunping, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) Contamination in Groundwater and Its Cleanup
Lynn, Chris, Hazardous Waste Regulations: Solidification
Nielson, Norma Jean, Phytoremediation - Using Plants to Clean Soil and Water
Olsen, Kimball, In Situ Vitrification
Omer, Creighton, An Evaluation of Leachate Recycling from Engineering and Economic Perspectives
Pehrson, Heather, Building Over Waste - Bringing New Use to the Useless
Phillips, Kathleen, Phytoremediation and Soil Washing: An In-depth Look into the Remediation Process, Cost, Limitations and Advantages
Sabbah, Walid, Applications of Geophysical Well Logging in Groundwater
Sant, Larry, Hanford’s Legacy
Smemoe, Chris, Processing and Visualization of Ground Penetrating Radar Data for Assessing Natural Hydrogeologic Conditions
Wagner, Jason, Contamination at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site
Wait, Isaac, Purge and Trap, Gas Chromatography, and Mass Spectrometry and Their Geo-Environmental Applications
Wakley, Jacob, Removal of Heavy Metals From Waste Water
Walker, Justin, Ground Penetrating Radar
Zappe, Aaron, Love Canal - Silly Name, Big Mess

Winter 99

NOTE: This semester I required the students to submit a copy of their papers to me in electronic format.  I then used MS Word to create the following pdf documents.

Bledsoe, James, In-Situ Remediation of DNAPL
Bodily, Melvin, Investigating Biological Remediation Technologies
Budge, Trevor, New Technologies for Remediation, Sites Contaminated with Radioactive Materials
Cawley, Matthew, Compacted Clay Liners, A Viable Solution for Landfill Leachate Containment
Davis, Jeff, Use of Surfactants in Ground Water Remediation
Dicataldo, Gennaro, Why Ground Penetrating Radar for Plume Detection?
Ford, Nathan, Bioremediation
Hall, Richard, Hanford Nuclear Reservation: A Test in Progress
Holland, Perry, The Effectiveness of Incineration
Jenson, Derek, Phytoremediation
Keddington, Patrick, Surfactant Properties, Application, and Review of Effectiveness
Kovacs, Tim, The Economic Benefits of Keeping Yard Waste Out of Landfills
MacDougall, Tom, Considerations When Building on Landfills
McDowell, Michael, Design Options and Barrier Technologies for the Disposal of Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Nielsen, Lance, Site Characterization of Contaminant Plumes in Groundwater
Peterson, Mark, Solid Waste Landfills
Peterson, Curt, Aerobic Degradation of Trichloroethylene
Record, Justin, Site Characterization and Analysis System (SCAPS)
Richardson, Angie, The Love Canal Disaster
Snow, David, Overview of Permeable Reactive Barriers
Teng, John, Municipal Solid Waste Energy Recovery via Mass Burn Incineration

Fall 97

(note: I asked the students after the semester was over to submit electronic copies for inclusion on this page.  By the time we go the papers translated to MS. Word format and then converted to pdf format, some of the papers lost some formatting and figures.  Next time I intend to require electronic submission from the start.  That should result in better versions posted here).

Miller, Nigel, Scrap Tire Management
Charest, Bruce, Natural Attenuation: An Overview
McDaniel, Roy, Leachate Recycle in Municipal Solid Waste Landfills to Enhance Biodegradation and Stabilization
Cline, Ed., Soil Washing
Jensen, David, Reclamation of Mining Lands: Reforestation and Revegetation Techniques
Robinson, Brett, New Technologies in Thermal Treatment of Hazardous Wastes: Plasma Arcs
Smith, Lance, Bioremediation Through Bioventing
Pack, Willard, Electrokinetics as a Method of Contamination Remediation
Smith, Stephanee, Phytoremediation: Using Plants to Remediate Soil and Groundwater Contamination
Garner, Clinton, Reclamation of the Atlas Corporation's Uranium Tailings Pile in Moab, Utah
Gilstrap, Sam, Natural Attenuation of Contaminants
Sims, Pete, Leachate Production, Control, and Treatment
Lewis, J. Degen, Overview of 3-D Subsurface Modeling of Geological Units
Raymond, Heidi, Ground Penetrating Radar
Thornton, Darren, Chernobyl: Then and Now
Chen, Richard, Bioremediation
Smith, Richard D., Survivability and Durability of Geosynthetics
Walton, Zane, Operation of Soil Vapor Extraction Systems During Diffusion Limited Transport
Jones, Stephen, Leachate Recycle in Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
Massey, Brian, Yucca Mountain Design Parameters
Burgoyne, Melanie, Natural Attenuation: The Future of Hazardous Waste Remediation
Richardson, Mark E., Dual Phase Extraction (DPE)
Manwaring, Colby, Geomembrane Welding and Quality Control
Lutze, Frederick, Carbon Tetrachloride Plume at the Hanford 200-Site
Bills, Tamara, Bioremediation of Groundwater
Stong, Todd, In Situ Vitrification as a Remediation Technology
Sands, Stephen C. III, Streamlining RCRA Corrective Action at the Geneva Steel Facility
Call, Matthew, Soil Vapor Extraction
Chen, Evan Y., Carbon Adsorption in Groundwater Treatment Systems
Erb, Christopher, Soil Washing
Lemon, Alan, Groundwater Dating with Tritium and Carbon-14
Lane, J. Dusty, A Case Study of Chemical Alteration of Calcareous Fill from Acidic Solutions: ASARCO Ray Complex - SX-EW Facility, Pinal County Arizona
Hansen, Corbett, Aerobic Cometabolism of TCE
Murphy, Ken, Enhancing Soil Vapor Extraction by Soil Fracturing
McCain, Aaron, Leachate Recirculation: A Solution to the Garbage Dilemna

Winter 94

Geomembrane Testing for Waste Applications
Geoenvironmental Aspects of Nuclear Waste
Validating Groundwater Models
In Situ Bioremediation of Groundwater
Air Stripping
The Sharon Steel/Midvale Tailings Site in Midvale, Utah
Waste Incineration: A Solution for Future Waste Disposal
In Situ Vitrification: In Theory and in Practice
Ground Penetrating Radar: A Tool for Subsurface Investigations
Overview of CERCLA and SARA Hazardous Waste Legislation: Goals, Objectives, and Progress
In Situ Bioremediation: Application and Design for the Surface and Subsurface Contaminated Zones
Hazardous as Defined by Superfund
Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid Pollution of Groundwater
In Situ Bioremediation: Teaching Old Bugs New Tricks
Adsorption with Activated Carbon
Vapor Extraction of Contaminated Soils
Thermal Desorption: A Review of Equipment, Rate, and Performance Controlling Processes, and Typical Lab and Full Scale Results
Site Assessments for Bioremediation Cleanup Projects
Using Bioventing to Enhance Bioremediation in the Vadose Zone
Geotechnical Considerations for High Level Radioactive Waste Repositories
Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Salt
Geomembrane Cutoff Walls in Waste Containment