University of Colorado at Boulder
 
Angela R. Bielefeldt, PhD, PE 
Background

Professor and Associate Chair for Undegradate Education

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering

University of Colorado at Boulder

Associate Professor Aug. 2003 to July 2012; Assistant Professor Aug. 1996 to Aug. 2003

Phone: (303) 492-8433

FAX: (303) 492-7317

e-mail: Angela.Bielefeldt@colorado.edu

Affiliated Faculty, Environmental Engineering Program, 1998-present

     Director, Aug. 2006-June 2010

  • Ph.D. University of Washington, Environmental Engineering Program, Dept. Civil Engineering. August 1996.
    • Dissertation: Biotreatment of Contaminated Gases in a Sparged Suspended-Growth Bioreactor: Mass Transfer and Biodegradation Model.
    • Advisor: Dr. H.D. Stensel
  • M.S.C.E. University of Washington, Environmental Engineering Program, Dept. Civil Engineering. March 1994.
    • Thesis: Cometabolic Degradation of Chlorinated Aliphatics Using a Phenol-Degrading Enrichment
    • Advisor: Dr. H.D. Stensel
  • B.S. Iowa State University, May 1992 Major: Civil Engineering

    Professional Development
  • Engineering Faculty Engagement in Learning Through Service: Summit and Distillery. Sept. 22-24, 2011. University of Colorado Boulder. NSF-funded and co-organized by Bielefeldt, Swan, Paterson, Duffy, and Pierrakos with 24 invited faculty participants from North America.
  • Peak-to-Peak Workshop - Teaching Sustainability. Aug. 15-16, 2011. University of Colorado Boulder.
  • Exploring How People Learn Engineering, NSF-Sponsored Workshop. Aug. 2-4, 2010. Colorado School of Mines.
  • University of Colorado’s Emerging Leaders Program Fellow. 2008-2009 academic year.
  • Frontiers in Environmental Engineering Education Workshop. Jan. 8-10, 2007. Arizona State University.
  • Institute for Scholarship for Engineering Education (ISEE). July 9-14, 2006. Washington DC.
  • Leadership Education for Advancement and Promotion (LEAP) Introductory Leadership Workshop. University of Colorado – Boulder. January 5-8, 2004.
  • Women’s Engineering Leadership Institute (WELI) Conference. Nov. 5-8, 2003. Snowbird, Utah.
  • National Science Foundation Engineering Education Scholars Workshop. July 1997. Carnegie Mellon University.


    Professional License
  • Professional Engineer (PE), State of Colorado, 2003
  • Engineer in Training (EIT), State of Iowa, 1992
  • Assistant Engineer at Remediation Technologies, Inc.
    Seattle, WA. Summer 1994
    Supervised and conducted laboratory experiments for an EPA SITE demonstration project to investigate the feasibility of packed-bed bioreactors for treatment of TCE and DCE contaminated gas streams.
  • Assistant Engineer at Montgomery Watson, Hazardous Waste Division
    Des Moines, IA. Summer 1992
    Worked on a Superfund site 30% Remedial Design; wrote monitoring plan and quality assurance project plan; made design calculations for order of magnitude cost estimates, piping and pumping.
  • Student Intern; Sandia National Laboratories, Environmental Restoration
    Albuquerque, NM. Summer 1991
    Primarily conducted research on in-situ bioremediation of an oil spill site. Project deliverables included a literature review, results of lab studies, and ideas for remediation system design.
  • Environmental Engineering Intern at CH2M Hill, Municipal Services Division
    Reston, VA. Summer 1990
    Work included calculation checks, cost estimating, literature review on innovative water treatment technologies, bench scale testing for the Chesapeake project.
  • Environmental Engineering Research Assistant; Civil Engineering Dept.
    Iowa State Univ. Jul. 1987 to Mar. 1992
    Supervisor Dr. A.D. Levine. Laboratory studies, data interpretation, contributions to final reports & papers. Research topics included: effect of particle size on THM formation, influence of permanganate addition on THM formation, biodegradable plastics, metals leaching from fly ash and biosorption to silica immobilized algae and actinomycetes.
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. 2012.
  • Best paper award, K-12 Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Zarske, Bielefeldt, et al. 2012.
  • Excellence in Service Award from the Boulder Faculty Assembly, University of Colorado - Boulder. 2011-2012.
  • Max Peters Faculty Service Award, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado - Boulder. 2010.
  • Service Award, Department of Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado. 2010.
  • Best Paper Award with co-authors K. Paterson and C. Swan. Environmental Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Also Best PIC II Paper and Best Overall Conference Paper. 2009. See: ASEE Link
  • J.S. Braun / Braun Intertec Professorship of Science and Technology. University of Minnesota. Department of Civil Engineering. Minneapolis, MN. Fall term 2005.
  • Teaching Award, Department of Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado. 2005.
  • Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)/McGraw-Hill Award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering & Science. 2004.
  • Early Career Award, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Environmental Engineering Division. 2003.
  • Editor's Award for Outstanding Service from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Environmental Engineering, Editor Robert G. Arnold. 2002.
  • Karen Morehouse Best Paper Award for Proceedings of the 1999 Conference on Hazardous Waste Research (with Illangasekare and Grant). 2000.
  • Rudolf Hering Medal, American Society of Civil Engineers. 1997.
  • National Science Foundation Scholarship, 1992-1996.
  • Mercury Seven Foundation Scholarship, 1993-1996.
  • Top Civil Engineering Senior, Iowa State University, 1991-1992.
  • Honor Societies: Tau Beta Pi, Chi Epsilon. (ISU Chapters)
  • Advised winning team of 5 EVEN seniors in the AECOM Student Design Competition. Competed against 16 teams from the U.S. and Canada. 2012
  • Advised winning team in the National Water Environment Federation (WEF) Wastewater Design Competition. 2012.
  • Advised winning team in the regional Rocky Mountain Water Environment Assoc./AWWA Student Design competition. Team was advised through senior design course and comprised of 4 EVEN seniors and 1 CVEN master’s student. 2012.
  • Advised three teams of EVEN seniors who placed in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) University Design Competition; CU teams placed second and two teams tied for third. 2012.
  • Advised winning team of 4 EVEN seniors in the AECOM Student Design Competition. Competed against 15 teams from the U.S. and Canada. 2011.
  • Advised undergraduate student Tamara Relph, Outstanding Research Presentation Award at SACNAS National Conference, Bacterial Disinfection in Ceramic Water Filters, October 2010.
  • Advised winning team in the National Water Environment Federation (WEF) Wastewater Design Competition. 2009.
  • Advised winning team in the regional Rocky Mountain Water Environment Assoc./AWWA Student Design competition. Team was advised through senior design course and comprised of 6 EVEN seniors. 2009.
    • Water Environment Federation (WEF)
    • International Association on Water Quality (IAWQ)
    • Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
    • American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
    • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
    • Engineers Without Borders (EWB)

      National and International

    • Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP). Board of Directors, Summer 2006 to 2009. Treasurer 2007 to 2009. Co-chair for 2013 AEESP Research and Education Conference, Golden, CO.

    • American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Environmental Engineering Division. Board (sequentialy treasurer, secretary, program chair, division chair for 1 yr each; director 2 yrs). Summer 2006 to present.
    • ASEE, Community Engagement in Engineering Education Constitutent Committee. Chair Elect 2011-2012.

    • Science Adviser for the NewsHour. 2007-present. Link to interesting story on the gender gap in engineering and science.

    • Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology, Editorial Board, 2009 – present. Springer Netherlands, ISSN 1569-1705 (print) and 1572-9826 (online).
    • American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE), editorial board for Environmental Engineer magazine. Sept. 2006 to present.
    • International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering: Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, Editorial Board, 2011 - present.
    • Water Environment Federation, program committe Oct. 1998 - Oct. 2002).

      University
    • ABET assessment coordinator for Dept. of Civil, Environmental, & Arch. Engineering (2008 to present) and Environmental Engineering Program (Fall 2006 to summer 2010).
    • Curriculum committee, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, & Arch. Engineering. Fall 2000 to Summer 2005, Fall 2008 to present.
      Chair Fall 2003 to summer 2005, Fall 2011 to present.
    • Faculty co-mentor for the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) CU student chapter. Summer 2003 to Summer 2005.
    • Freshman advisor, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, & Arch. Engineering. Spring 1999 to Fall 2002.
    • Operations committee, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, & Arch. Engineering. Fall 2001 to Summer 2002.
    • On the Bioengineering Committee (1998-1999, 2002-2005), Undergraduate Education Council (Fall 2003 to Spring 2005; Fall 2006 to Summer 2010), Assessment Committee (Spring 2008 to present), Scholarship Committee (Spring 2007 to Summer 2010), Engineering Planning and Policy committee (Aug. 1998 to 2002), First Year Task Force (Spring 2010), and the Strategic Futures Council (Spring 1999 to 2000) for the College of Engineering.
    • Member of the Women in Engineering Program faculty advisory board (Fall 1997 to Spring 2005)
    • Faculty in the Environmental Engineering Program, a new undergraduate degree starting at CU in Fall 1998
    • Demonstrations for: high school Career Day through Women in Engineering Program (WIEP), WIEP Energy Workshop for Middle School Girls, Expanding Your Horizons for junior high girls sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), High School Success Institute for Minority Students
    • CVEN 5514: Bioremediation
      Fall 1996, 2002; Spring 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012
      A graduate-level course covering current in-situ and ex-situ methods for bioremediation of contaminated sites. New course developed.
    • CVEN 4474/5474: Hazardous and Industrial Waste Management
      Summer 2013 online; Spring 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007; Fall 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
      A senior-level undergraduate/graduate course covering regulations, risk assessment, and treatment processes.
    • CVEN 4434: Environmental Engineering Design
      Fall 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006; Spring 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
      The capstone for senior undergraduate students; a real-world project (such as WW tmt plant upgrade; sustainable drinking water treatment in a developing country) is followed from proposal to design.
    • CVEN 5544: Solid Waste Management
      May 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
      Graduate course covering solid waste generation, collection, recycling, and "treatment" by incineration, composting, and landfilling.
    • CVEN 1317: Introduction to Civil Engineering
      Fall 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011; Spring 1999
      Overview course for Freshman students. Includes ethics, sustainability, societal impacts of engineering, team bridge modeling, etc.
    • AREN 1316: Introduction to Architectural Engineering
      Fall 2012
      Overview course for Freshmen students. Taught combined with CVEN 1317.
    • CVEN 3414: Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering
      Fall 2004
      Overview of chemistry, ecology, microbiology, mass balance fundamentals; air pollution, water/wastewater treatment, hazardous waste, solid waste.
    • EVEN 1000: Introduction to Environmental Engineering
      Fall 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
      Overview course for Freshman students. Includes ethics, sustainability, team project, etc.
    • GEEN 1500: Introduction to Engineering
      Fall 2011, Fall 2012
      Civil Engineering modules. Introducing first-year students to engineering.

    My current passion is working to improve the education of engineering students. This includes conducting rigorous assessment of my own teaching, assessment of program-wide student learning outcomes, and research on engineering education. My research explores students' developing identity with engineering and attitudes about engineering. I am particularly passionate about infusing sustainability throughout engineering courses. At present, all of my courses include discussions, modules, and/or assignments that focus on sustainability. I want to ensure that future engineering professionals work to ensure a sustainable future for our planet. I believe that problem-based learning and open-ended problems foster systems-thinking, creativity, and real-world skills.

    I am also working with other faculty to promote Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC) at the University of Colorado. We are committed to educating globally responsible students and professionals who can offer sustainable and appropriate technology solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities at local, national and global levels. Toward accomplishing this goal, several of the projects in the capstone design course that I teach are service-learning oriented. I am also working with Scott Summers and a number of students to research the water treatment effectiveness of point-of-use ceramic water filters for in-home drinking water treatment.

    I particularly enjoy mentoring undergraduates and high school students in laboratory research. This interest began as a result of my own research experience with Dr. Audrey Levine and her master’s student Anne Spiesman at Iowa State University (ISU) just after my junior year of high school. That summer my love of environmental engineering was born. I continued working in the research laboratories in Environmental Engineering throughout my senior year of high school and 4 years as an undergraduate at ISU. Doing research made the coursework more interesting, and kept me motivated. Since I’d been in the lab longer than most graduate students (5 yrs total) I soon was able to help train other students and "co-mentor" other undergraduates with my major professor.

    While a graduate student getting my masters and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Washington, I was privileged to have a number of undergraduate work-study students and students earning independent study credits working with me. It was always more fun to do research as part of a team. Everyone always had a unique perspective that contributed to the research. I was happy to see that many of these students went on to obtain advanced degrees in Environmental Engineering.

    Here at the University of Colorado, I continue to enjoy working with students at all levels through research. I am always glad to mentor a special topics or independent study project for any student interested in getting involved in the lab. Working with bacteria is a particularly challenging area of research (after all, these are living organisms!!). I look forward to many years of collaborative research efforts with students!