Stevens Senior Design Team, DryWorks, in the final round of two national competitions

Throughout their years at Stevens, seniors Rami Kammourh, Ali Hameed, Aldin Llolla, and Mitchell Bollettieri had a plethora of experiences with flooding in certain areas of campus. Kammourh recalled that “If you go to the CPH parking lot during a large rainstorm, you’ll notice that it’s a disaster. There’s flooding in the parking lot, ponding in the tennis courts, and the runoff is visibly highly polluted. You’ll also notice some other issues like the concrete channel in front of CPH and parking blocks in the lot being eroded. This is the result of poor engineering practice.”

This sentiment, along with Professor Leslie Brunell’s suggestion, led the four seniors to sign up for the senior design project that is a part of the 2018 Campus RainWorks Challenge organized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project aims to develop a conceptual design for the implementation of green infrastructure practices for the North Tennis Courts, CPH Parking Lot, and the surrounding area. The team, called “DryWorks,” also seeks to showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices. Team members Kammourh and Bollettieri are Civil Engineering majors, Llolla is a Computer Engineer, and Hammed is in the Engineering Management program. The team is advised by Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering Department Professors Brunell, Varma and, Sarkar, as well as Professor Hole from the School of Systems and Enterprises.

As described in the project’s official abstract, “the design proposes five green infrastructure features: permeable pavement, a permeable walkway, a vegetative swale, deeper-rooted grass, and green bleachers that will increase infiltration and reduce runoff from a single design storm by approximately 30,000 gallons. Data collected on system performance will serve to educate students on the benefits of green infrastructure and support research done by professors. A robust cost/benefit analysis shows the feasibility of the project by considering possible sources of funding from state funds and alumni donations. Finally, comprehensive maintenance protocols and a risk mitigation strategy were developed to increase the likelihood of implementation.” The abstract also explains that due to the positioning of Stevens’ North Tennis Courts and CPH Parking Lot at the bottom of a steep hill, stormwater flows downhill causing ponding and asphalt erosion. This runoff then enters Hoboken’s sewer system, which has a high tendency to overflow. When overflows occur, Hoboken residents, especially residents who are low-income, elderly, or disabled, report issues relating to health and quality of life. The only future plans currently in place for the site are gray infrastructure plans (stormwater mitigation and containing structures); however, this would not be the most efficient way to solve the problem. DryWorks’ environmentally-friendly concept hopes to remove the need for the gray infrastructure.

Although the EPA’s deadline for project submissions was December 14, 2018, the team is continuing to expand its design this semester. The project was entered into two competitions: the EPA’s 2018 Campus RainWorks challenge and the 2019 Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) WSP Student Design Competition. The group made it to the final round of the EPA Competition and is one of the top three teams in the EWRI WSP Competition. The team did not win the EPA competition but is still in the running for the EWRI WSP Competition. For the latter competition, the team has been invited to Pittsburgh, PA in May to present their project to a panel of industry experts.

The team is proud to have made it to the final rounds of both competitions and hopes that Stevens will acknowledge their ideas as worth implementing given the environmental, social, and economic benefits.