Environmental research is diverse, dynamic and teeming with questions. How do striped bass larvae identify a safe place to grow? Can we combat pollution in the Arctic by modifying the routes of cargo ships? How much would you pay for a Delaware-raised oyster?

Those were among the topics March 7 at the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) Student Symposium at Harker ISE Lab, showcasing graduate student work across the University of Delaware. The standing room only crowd, and the 52 student presentations represent an increase of 60% over last year. “It’s a competitive process and we were excited to see the breadth of topics offered across natural, physical and social sciences,” said doctoral student Kyra Kim, a DENIN fellow and program chair.

Pei Chiu, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is adviser to Danhui Xin, a DENIN fellow who spoke on quantifying the electron storage capacity of biochar, a soil amendment rich in carbon that can endure for thousands of years. “This is a great opportunity to see research from many perspectives under one roof,” he said.

The event included scientific talks and 44 posters; best poster prizes went to: Anna Internicola, for Identifying Microplastic in the Delaware Bay through FTIR Analysis (1st); Zhongyuan Xu, for Static and dynamic connectivity metrics for subsurface flow and transport in a deltaic aquifer (2nd) and Taozhu Sun, for Mechanistic Investigation of Colloid Retention on and Removal from PDMS Replicas of Fresh Produce (3rd).

The event was organized by the DENIN Environmental Fellows, whose research bridges science and society. In addition to Kim and Xin, they are: Mohammad Afsar, Margaret Capooci, Matthew Fischel, Anders Kiledal, Xiangmin Liang, Eric Moore, Amanda Rosier and Alma Vázquez-Lule.