Ms. Ruriko Itoh, 2nd-year master’s course student, received a Best Presentation Award at 45th Annual Conference of Kanto Branch of Japan Society of Civil Engineers （JSCE）

 Ms. Ruriko Itoh, a graduate student of Special Master’s Course Program on River Basin Environmental Science, received a Best Presentation Award at the 45th Annual Conference of Kanto Branch of Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) which had been held at University of Yamanashi on March 7-8, 2018. This award is given to speakers younger than 35 years old, and only two out of 40 young speakers were selected in the Environmental Research session.

 The title of her presentation was ‘Evaluation of reductions of viruses at a constructed wetland in Arizona.’ This study was conducted during her stay, one month each in 2016 and 2017, at Prof. Charles P. Gerba’s laboratory of the University of Arizona. She collected water samples in a constructed wetland which received treated wastewater for further water treatment and examined various types of viruses, such as noroviruses and adenoviruses, to evaluate their reduction in the wetland system. The results demonstrated that some viruses are difficult to be removed efficiently, showing a quite different behavior with Escherichia coli, a current microbial indicator.

 Ms. Itoh’s comment is as follows: I’m really appreciated that the research in Arizona that became possible thanks to cooperation of many people born fruit.