Engineering – �鶹��Ƶ

Bioadaptation Project for the Ecosystems of the Valle de las Palmas River Basin – Tijuana (community intervention)

Ada Inman — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:29:49 +0000

Teachers and students from FCITEC coordinated their courses around a project focused on community activity in Valle de las Palmas (municipality of Tecate, Baja California). This section of the project analyzes the legal, hydrological, resource management, and project administration aspects of construction waste management the Valle de las Palmas area, considering its impact on the local population and how to improve public health in the town.

Students and teachers from five educational programs participated on this project (Civil Engineering; Bioengineering; Software Engineering and Emerging Technologies; Industrial Engineering; and a Master’s in Public Health program). Field visits were conducted in the town and along the Valle de las Palmas stream, and in this first phase, community-based initiatives were implemented towards a public school.

The project is linked to an external organization called the Mexican Association for Recycling Construction and Demolition Waste (Asociación Mexicana de Reciclaje de Residuos de Construcción y Demolición A.C.) and aims to analyze local legislation and incorporate sustainable practices to reduce the environmental impact in the area.

On December 9th, a progress presentation was made before members of the community and local government, and work will continue during the 2026-1 semester (January-May).

Bioadaptation of ecosystems in the Valle de las Palmas-Tijuana river basin. Recycling of construction waste and glass

Ada Inman — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:28:05 +0000

Teachers and students from FCITEC coordinated their courses around a project involving the community of Valle de las Palmas (municipality of Tecate, Baja California). The project seeks to evaluate the use of materials recovered from construction waste and glass in order to promote sustainable construction practices and mitigate the community’s vulnerability to soil, aquifer, and air pollution, as well as the risk of flooding inherent in the extraction of natural resources in the Valle de las Palmas area.
Students and professors from five courses in the Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering programs participated. Field visits were conducted in the town of Valle de las Palmas, and in this first phase, actions were implemented at a local school.
The project is linked to an external entity called the Border Environmental Education Project (Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental, A.C) and aims to incorporate sustainable practices that reduce environmental impact and promote the use of materials derived from construction waste in the area.

On December 9th, a progress presentation was made before members of the community and local government, and works will continue during the 2026-1 semester (January-May).

Innovative Solutions to Diverting Water Treatment Solids

Ada Inman — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:34:10 +0000

The City of Tempe is a thriving community in the center of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Serving a population of over 190,000 residents, as well as the Arizona State University Tempe Campus, the City aims to provide high quality services and resources for its growing number of community members and visitors. As a municipality focused on sustainability and innovation, the City of Tempe Public Works Department is committed to optimizing all available resources to achieve environmental, financial, and community goals as outlined in the Tempe Climate Action Plan. Thus, the Water Utilities Division is collaborating with undergraduate chemical engineering capstone students through the ASU Project Cities program to explore innovative opportunities to reuse or dispose of solids from water treatment sludge to divert the waste from landfill. Students will develop and propose solutions for reuse or diversion that meet regulatory standards and align with existing municipal resources, provide a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed solutions, and identify and describe opportunities for public sector and/or public-private partnerships to support proposed reuse or diversion efforts.

Creating an environmental sustainability action plan

Ada Inman — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:47:16 +0000

The goal of this project is to develop a sustainability action plan for the Village of DeForest. The current population of DeForest is around 11,000 people but it has been growing in recent years. With a larger population, the village has more needs for real estate, energy, water, and waste management. It is extremely important to make the village more sustainable for the residents, and for future generations. There are many areas that sustainability can improve including but not limited to environmental protection, economic benefits, social equity, and resource efficiency. We decided to primarily focus on three areas where sustainability can be improved: energy, water, and waste.

Our sponsor wants to generate a plan that is realistic for the village of DeForest with specific actions in each of the three areas we are focusing on. To begin our research we were given the previous sustainability plans for DeForest as well as previous projects for other cities in Wisconsin. For our project specifically, we are restrained by the geography of DeForest as well as a lower budget. In our final deliverable we wanted to provide solutions that are task oriented, and reasonable for this application. We recognized that it can be difficult to implement costly solutions, or time-intensive solutions. Our final deliverable for our project sponsor includes a sustainability action plan, a brochure discussing information surrounding energy efficiency, and a design for magnets that can be distributed to the community with information regarding waste efficiency.

Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu

Developing a road map for future technological improvements

Ada Inman — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:36:16 +0000

DeForest is a small village located in Dane County, about 15 miles northeast of Madison, and is home to about 11,000 residents. The local government of DeForest is attempting to transition its software to newer, more updated technology, which has led to challenges for both the community and staff. These challenges include tedious processes for staff, a difficult website and navigation for residents, and differing levels of technological competency amongst all users. Our team has been tasked with proposing potential solutions to these challenges to improve the lives of all DeForest staff and residents; thus, the name Technology Inventory and Needs Study.

To address these challenges, our team held numerous meetings with the Village of DeForest Director of Public Services and Deputy Administrator Judd Blau, along with Community Ambassador Stacey Harmon. In these meetings, Judd and Stacy discussed the primary technologies causing issues that they would like to be resolved. The first main issue is with their cloud file storage service, Dropbox. Staff are often forced to manually delete files and content using this service. Next, the DeForest team would like to utilize a more easily accessible livestream platform that allows for live commenting. The final issue involves their online content management service, OnBase, which poses issues when creating government-related workflows. Our team will dive further into the details of each of these challenges and our potential solutions throughout this report.

Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu

Creating a staff growth plan for best service delivery

Ada Inman — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:19:59 +0000

The Village of DeForest is a rapidly growing suburban community in Dane County, Wisconsin. It has experienced consistent and significant population growth, prompting the need for strategic planning to ensure public services can continue to meet community expectations. At the request of Village Administrator Bill Chang, our team developed a staffing plan that projects position-level personnel needs over the next ten years. The purpose of this plan is to provide the Village of DeForest with a proactive framework for aligning staffing with anticipated growth while maintaining service standards.

To inform our approach, we reviewed staffing plans and organizational structures from surrounding communities with comparable growth trajectories. The staffing plan for the Village of McFarland served as a primary reference due to its accessibility and similar demographic profile. The resulting tool is an Excel spreadsheet model that allows population growth rates to be adjusted, producing projected staffing needs across various departments. This report summarizes the assumptions, references, and recommendations behind the model, with the goal of supporting data-driven staffing decisions in DeForest over the coming decade.

Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu

North Hermiston Local Circulation Plan

Ada Inman — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 14:47:59 +0000

The City of Hermiston is a growing town located in the northeast part of Oregon. In the early 2000s, Hermiston had a population of about 13,000 people. With more homes and schools under construction, the town expects to reach a population of 20,000 in the next decade. Hermiston is a small town, and with a growing population, traffic will increase, causing large amounts of congestion. The congestion will primarily be an issue during peak hours in the morning and afternoon. Most of the congestion occurs on Highway 395. Portland State University capstone students are responsible for designing different alternatives that the team will present to the city of Hermiston. The report will include CAD drawings, a cost estimate, and a construction schedule. The alternative designs will focus on easing congestion, providing better access for residents and commercial establishments, pedestrian and driver safety, and total construction time. During a site visit, the team looked for areas along Highway 395 where drivers could make an earlier turn that would ease up the turning lanes on W Theater Lane and Highway 207. Highway 207 had an issue with an existing business, so the team decided not to evaluate the street for a potential redesign. ODOT had already purchased as much right- of-way as possible in the intersection, but the existing business showed no interest in relocating. No more can be done unless the property is bought and demolished. At an early design stage, the City of Hermiston decided that designing bike lanes was not preferred due to the popularity of using automobiles to get around town. The team ultimately produced three designs that the City could look into, not including a no-build option. The alternatives include a new street layout from Highway 395 to W Theater Lane, a new street layout from Highway 395 to NE 4th Street, and an intersection redesign from W Theater Lane to Highway 395. The team met with stakeholders around the area, and all alternative designs were disclosed. The stakeholders approved of each one. Stakeholders described that congestion was noticeably becoming an issue and wanted a solution. Some stated it was nearly impossible to make a left turn onto Highway 395. Another issue was the safety of employees, as drivers would speed and cut through the parking lots to get around traffic. With stakeholders understanding that redevelopment will occur throughout the city, these problems will worsen if no initiative is taken. After a thorough analysis, the recommended solution to solve the central issue of congestion and safety is to create a new street layout. The new street layout will cut through the privately-owned property to connect Highway 395 to NE 4th Street. The new street layout connecting Highway 395 to NE 4th Street is the best alternative as it will provide the best solution to ease congestion on Highway 395. The new road would also provide better street access to nearby residential areas and discourage the public from entering businesses using their rear entrance. This design will not affect traffic flow but will require right-of-way acquisition from private parties. The City of Hermiston officials approved this design as it would better impact congestion while having a slightly better cost than other design alternatives. In addition to adding a new roadway, swales will be added for drainage, and sidewalks will be constructed for pedestrians. This layout will allow the City to incorporate a new signal at Highway 395.

Developing membership engagement strategies for boards, committees, councils, and commissions

Ada Inman — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:59:47 +0000

Interdisciplinary engineering students offered recommendations for reaching a wider audience of people and encouraging them to participate in official city boards, committees, commissions, and councils. UniverCity Contact Info: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu [...]

Developing an eco-site and business plan for community compost

Ada Inman — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:55:28 +0000

The city of River Falls, Wisconsin used to have a thriving community compost site that caters to its residents, providing a convenient location for the disposal of yard waste, including leaves and branches. Initially, the site was open for all city residents to use and this worked seamlessly due to a company’s free collection of compost material for a central heating/energy plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. However, a devastating insect infestation sweeping through Minnesota is killing off ash trees, resulting in a surplus of dead trees throughout the area. As the heating plant can now access closer sources for the material, the River Falls compost site is no longer needed. The city now has to pay to grind and dispose of their waste and this is projected to cost upwards of $75,000 a year.

In response to the increased costs, the city of River Falls has made several adjustments. They have limited the hours for debris collection, and an attendant has been employed to ensure only residents and employees of River Falls Municipal Utilities can access the site. Not surprisingly, the community is displeased with the current compost site changes. In addition, the land that the site is on is expected to be developed for the future and will no longer be available for use as a compost site.

In order to come up with a solution to the current compost site problem, the city of River Falls is looking for a business plan to relocate the community compost site to another city property. The business plan will include an analysis of current considerations such as demand, expenses, and location in addition to recommendations for the future site including proposed rates, expected revenue, and overall recommendations for the best way to operate a new compost site.

UniverCity Contact Info: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu

Attracting and retaining public sector employees in Wausau

Ada Inman — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 18:25:47 +0000

The City of Wausau’s mission statement is to “enhance [their] community’s quality of life and foster a sense of belonging for generations to come” [2]. In the field of human resources, the recruitment and retention of employees stands as a critical pillar of effectiveness in any organization. In the past, there has been difficulty in these processes. The goal of this project and report is to determine comprehensive strategies aimed at enhancing the recruitment and retention processes within Wausau’s workforce. To ensure the City of Wausau attracts qualified candidates, the use of social media advertisements seeks to broaden the reach and visibility of job openings. Additionally, implementation of stay interviews and 30-60-90 day plans aim to proactively address the needs and aspirations of current employees.

Through the implementation of innovative recruitment ideas and proactive retention strategies, the city’s staffing needs can be met while cultivating a healthy workplace environment. This report will explain the analysis behind the recruitment and retainment strategies, while also highlighting the associated benefits of their implementation. By enacting the strategies featured in this report, the City of Wausau can position itself as an employer of choice within the community.

UniverCity Contact Info: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu