April 17, 2026

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2026 Awards

Poster Presentation Winners

Masters Poster Winners:

First Place: Anson Regi

Second Place: Joseph Abi-Karam

Third Place: Kassandra Estrella

PhD Poster Winners:

First Place: Johanna Arita Mendoza

Second Place: Marissa Campobasso

Third Place: Juliana Marks

Podium Presentation Winners

First Place: Yoonjoo Seo

Second Place: P.S. Ganesh Subramanian

Third Place: Camila Cassunde

2026 Keynote Speakers

For this year’s Symposium, we are delighted to host keynote speakers: Dr. Katherine (Trina) McMahon, Professor of Bacteriology and Civil and Environmental Engineering and Dr. Ofelia Romero, State of California, State Water Resources Control Board.

Organizers

The Symposium is traditionally organized and hosted by our graduate students as part of professional development. This is an excellent opportunity to meet and interact with other students, faculty, and alumni in the environmental engineering community. Students present their research or special projects through oral or poster presentations.

2026 Organizing Committees

Past EES Symposia

• 30th (2025)
• 29th (2024)
• 28th (2023)
• 27th (2022)
• 26th (2021)
• 25th (2019)

Previous Keynote Speakers

• Prof. Yang  Liu, Chair and Gangarosa Distinguished Professor in the Gangarosa Department of Environment Health at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University (2025).
• Saskia  Versteeg, Graphyte, SAF Community Forester (2025).
• Dr. Damon S. Williams, PE, BCEE, F.ASCE, Managing Member, DSW Water Strategies, LLC (2024).
• Prof. Elizabeth A. Edwards, Ph.D., P.Eng., 2023-2024 AEESP Distinguished Lecturer (2024).
• Prof. Randall Martin, Raymond R. Tucker Distinguished Professor, Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis & Dr. Brian Shoener, Ph.D., P.E.*, Certified Data Analyst, AI/ML & Digital Water Applications Development Leader, Operations | Engineering & Development Services, *Licensed in Illinois, Black & Veatch (2023).
• Prof. Bruce Fouke, Professor in Geology, Microbiology, and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign & Dr. Jess Brown, Senior Vice President, R&D Practice Director at Carollo Engineers (2022).
• Prof. Pratim Biswas, Dean of Engineering at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida & Dawn Taffler, One Water Practice Leader and Vice President at Kennedy Jenks Consultants (2021).
• Prof. Lutgarde Raskin, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan & Dr. Issam Najm, Founder and President of WQTS (2019).
• Prof. Charles N. Haas, LD Betz Professor of Environmental Engineering.  Head – Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering, Drexel University (2018).
• Prof. Menachem Elimelech, Roberto Goizueta Professor of Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Yale University (2017).
• Dr. Carlos Campos-Callao, Senior VP Research and Development of Suez Environment (2016).
• Dr. Ali H. Omar, Physical Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center (2015).
• Prof. Kimberly Jones, Howard University (2014).
• Damon S. Williams (2013), PE, BCEE, F.ASCE
• Dr. Jess Brown, Ph.D., PE (2012).
• Dr. Kathryn Mallon, PE (2011).

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ABOUT EES AT UIUC

The Environmental Engineering and Science (EES) group within CEE at Illinois prepares students for the increasingly critical role of addressing the world’s challenges of air, land, and water pollution. Sustainable engineering practices for both developed and developing societies are the primary focus of the EES program.

Learn more about EES at UIUC here.