Movers & Shakers: Siemens names new CEOs, announces research award winners

Leofwin Clark | Image courtesy of Brown and Caldwell

Brown and Caldwell announces VP of integrated project delivery

Brown and Caldwell, a leading full-service environmental engineering and construction firm, named design-build veteran Leofwin Clark as vice president, integrated project delivery, working in the company’s Denver, Colorado, office.

Clark joins BC as the company expands its presence in the integrated project delivery market, with multiple large design-build and program management projects underway. Clark brings more than 25 years of experience focusing on project development for major municipal, federal, and private infrastructure projects, including design-build, design-build-operate, construction manager-at-risk (CMAR/CMGC), public-private-partnerships, and contract operations/privatization.

Celebrations, milestones & awards

H2O Innovation wins Visionary Company of the Year, announces BoD 

H2O Innovation Inc. won the Visionary Company of the Year prize at the 2016 Vision Trophy Awards for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Quebec. The corporation was among three finalists for this major distinction, along with Graph Synergie and IEL ltée. The award was presented to H2O Innovation for its visionary spirit shown in its research and development, staff training, sustainable development and economic benefits for the Quebec region.

H2O Innovation Inc. held its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders at its headquarters in Quebec city, Canada, during which shareholders re-elected the following directors to the corporation’s board of directors: Philippe Gervais, chairman of the board; Frédéric Dugré, president and CEO; and Pierre Côté, Peter K. Dorrins, Laurence E. Gamst, Lisa Henthorne, Richard Hoel, Élaine C. Phénix and Jean-Réal Poirier. Of these nine directors, eight are external directors and independent.

During its last meeting, the board of directors created the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Committee consisting of three members, one of which could be an independent individual having technical expertise, extensive experience and deep knowledge in the field of operation and maintenance services for water and wastewater treatment plants. The main purpose of the O&M Committee is to assist the Board of Directors and the management in organic and external growth initiatives of the O&M business pillar.

PepsiCo collaborates to feed 800 Fort Lauderdale families, supports Haiti & Southeast US

Eight hundred Fort Lauderdale families in need will receive enough food to supplement meals for a week plus daily essentials, thanks to a partnership between PepsiCo and Feed the Children. The distribution event is part of a larger initiative between the two organizations to help feed communities in cities throughout the U.S. and is the third annual event PepsiCo and Feed the Children have hosted in the Fort Lauderdale community, where more than 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The receiving families have been identified and preselected by Joshua’s Heart, a local nonprofit organization.

PepsiCo is providing the Haitian Ministry of Health – through the NGOs, Partners in Health and Heifer International – 200,000 bottles of Gatorade, a sports drink which includes electrolytes and carbohydrates, for Hurricane Mathew victims in the southern region of Haiti. Additionally, the PepsiCo Foundation is donating USD $750,000 to the American Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, one growing concern has been the outbreak of cholera and other diseases as a result of a lack of safe water and adequate sanitation for an estimated 1.2 million people, including 500,000 children. There have been at least 1,421 cholera cases reported. Diarrhea and/or vomiting, symptoms of cholera, can lead to dehydration. The correct combination of electrolytes, particularly sodium, plus carbohydrates, is critical to enable victims to absorb and retain water and these electrolytes, also help to replace electrolytes lost. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will be delivering the Gatorade to Haiti.

Siemens announces regional research competition winners in math, science & technology

Several students have been named National Finalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology after earning top spots in regional competitions, the nation’s premier science research competition for high school students which seeks to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects.

For the 2016 Siemens Competition, 2,146 students (1271 individuals, 304 2-person teams, 89 3-person teams) submitted applications from 46 states plus the District of Columbia and 7 countries with more than 1,600 projects submitted for consideration. A total of 498 students were named Semifinalists and 96 were named Regional Finalists. The students present their research in a closed, online forum, and entries are judged at the regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research universities which host the regional competitions: Georgia Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame, Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Texas at Austin.

• Alexander Kirov of Evans, Georgia, earned top individual honors and a $3,000 scholarship for research on uncovering the mechanism of the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Research on replacing injured dental tissue and restoring function to a tooth after severe damage earned Jasmin Gao of Suwanee, Georgia, and Rose Hong of San Diego, California, the $6,000 shared team scholarship. They were among 96 students overall selected to compete in regional competitions across the country this month out of a pool of more than 1,600 projects submitted for the competition this year.
• Manan Shah of Los Altos, California, earned top individual honors and a $3,000 scholarship for developing a computational model that will help pathologists more rapidly and accurately assess the severity of breast cancer tumor growth and spread.
• Yoshihiro Saito of Ellicott City, Maryland, and Lauryn Wu of McLean, Virginia shared the $6,000 team scholarship for research that allows a new material called two-dimensional topological insulators to be used at room temperature and opens the door to a new generation of electronics, potentially making even quantum computing more efficient and powerful.
• Vineet Edupuganti of Portland, Oregon, earned top individual honors and a $3,000 scholarship for developing a biodegradable battery that can power ingestible medical devices.
• Nikhil Cheerla of Cupertino, California, and Anika Cheerla of Cupertino, California, shared the $6,000 team scholarship for developing a tool that automates the process of diagnosing and measuring cancerous tumors, which could save the time of pathologists who currently count tumor cells manually. They are among 96 students overall selected to compete in regional competitions across the country this month out of a pool of more than 1,600 projects submitted for the competition this year.
• Pranav Sivakumar of Tower Lakes, Illinois, earned top individual honors and a $3,000 scholarship for his research studying Almost Dark Galaxies (ADGs), masses that are mainly composed of dark matter, in hopes of learning more about this substance and the history of the universe.
• Katherine Cao of Mequon, Wisconsin; William Hu of Saratoga, California; and Alice Wu of Dix Hills, New York, shared the $6,000 team scholarship for developing a novel technique for growing dental pulp stem cells, which could potentially improve bone and teeth regeneration. They are among 96 students overall selected to compete in regional competitions across the country this month out of a pool of more than 1,600 projects submitted for the competition this year.

These top regional winners are now moving on to the final phase of the Siemens Competition to present their work at the National Finals in Washington, D.C., December 5-6, 2016, where $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.

Expansions & relocations

Suez restructures China business to boost growth prospects

French waste and water group Suez is restructuring its businesses in China to put it in a better position to win market share, according to Reuters. Suez merged its waste recycling and construction businesses in China into its joint venture Sino-French Holdings, bringing its operations in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan under single management. Once the restructuring is finalized in December, Suez will own 58 percent of SFH, with Hong Kong-based NWS Holdings holding the rest.

IXOM Watercare relocates to larger, more high-tech facility

New IXOM headquarters | Image courtesy of IXOM

Ixom Watercare Inc., the global provider of MIEX magnetic ion exchange solutions and Watercare innovations for industrial water treatment, moved its North American headquarters just south of the Denver Tech Center in Highland Square area of Centennial, Colorado. The new location features a larger, newly renovated office space with high tech conference rooms, instrumentation/controls and customer service center, state of the art laboratory, design center and a combined warehouse/distribution space.

Water Planet moves corporate headquarters, expands manufacturing capabilities

Water Planet, a global supplier of high-performance membrane-based water treatment solutions, moved its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations to a new location in Inglewood, California. The new facility provides 6,700 square feet of additional office and manufacturing space to accommodate the company’s growth and meet its rapidly increasing demand for PolyCera membranes. The new manufacturing space increases WPI’s production capabilities for PolyCera by a factor of 12X and will meet the company’s projected PolyCera sales through 2020. Moreover the production capacity can be further expanded by up to 4X within the new facility as demand requires.