CEE announces that Victoria Rexhausen will be joining the department as a Tennessee Fellow. The Tennessee Fellowship for Graduate Excellence is the signature graduate fellowship program at the University of Tennessee offered to top incoming doctoral and terminal-degree students. Tennessee Fellows are among an elite group of the nation’s top graduate students who have chosen UT for their graduate education.
Rexhausen will be graduating with honors from Mercer University with a bachelors in science and engineering in Environmental Engineering in May 2018. In August 2018, she will be joining Hathaway Research Group in pursuit of a PhD in Tickle College of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with a specialization in Environmental Engineering.
“I believe my research experience is what made me competitive for receiving the fellowship, especially earning the EPA P3 award/funding,” says Rexhausen.
Rexhausen’s undergraduate research career included work on an at-home Gray water treatment system for sustainable home irrigation. Her work on this project included leading a student team to apply and earn the EPA P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) award. Phase I of this award included a $15,000 grant for continuing research, as well as the opportunity to present the work at the 14th annual National Sustainable Design Expo at the U.S. Science and Engineering Fair in April 2018. Other research projects Rexhausen has worked on include geospatial air quality monitoring/mapping in Ecuador, design/build/test of a residential scale anaerobic digester for converting food waste to biofuel, and indoor air quality assessment in relation to COPD patients at the University of Washington Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences department. She is excited to continue research at the UT and is incredibly humbled to be recognized as a Tennessee Fellow.