WQRA students graduate with honours

All four 2011 WQRA Honours Scholarship holders have graduated with first class honours, after a year of hard work and dedication.

Our congratulations go out to Michael Webber, Kimberly Sieburn, Heather Browett and Ana Martins (who also won the Victorian AWA Undergraduate Water Prize for their achievements.

Michael's honours project examined the development of rapid PCR markers for distinguishing Cryptosporidium oocyst infectivity and genotype. His project aims to validate a number of genetic markers which have shown promise as being capable of distinguishing between infectious and non-infectious Cryptosporidium oocysts, as well as determining genotype. He was supervised by  Dr Brendon King (AWQC), and  Dr Daniel Hoefel (AWQC, Flinders University) was a collaborator on this project (WQRA Project 4034-11).

Kimberly's project examined factors affecting pathogen die-off and nutrient degradation on Aldinga aquifer, looking at the removal rate of ammonia by microorganisms, and the level of contaminants present within influent water, and pathogen die off in laboratory microcosm studies using water taken from the aquifer. She was supervised by Dr Alex Keegan (AWQC) and Dr Daniel Hoefel (AWQC) and Greg Ingleton (SA Water, Flinders University) were collaborators on this project (WQRA Project 4035-11).

Ana's project looked at the development of chemiluminescence methods to combine with flow injection systems for monitoring pesticides in water catchments. It continues the development and testing of methods to be used in newly developed rugged portable systems utilising flow injection methods to monitor for pesticides in catchments and treated waters. Ana was supervised by Dr Nichola Porter (RMIT), and Nicholas Crosbie (Melbourne Water) was a collaborator on this project (WQRA Project 4036-1).

Heather's project evaluated the secondary impacts of water quality and quantity on health hardware in remote Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory. Her scholarship was sponsored by Power and Water (NT). Heather was supervised by   Catherine Vero (Power and Water Corporation) and Flinders University was a collaborator on this project (WQRA Project 4043-11).

We wish Michael, Kimberly, Ana and Heather the best in their future careers.