Tabatha Lewis is handling lots of beads these days, but they\u2019re not the kind on necklaces.<\/p>\n
The 溏心vlog免费B站 senior is using microscopic glass beads to track the path of storm water runoff\u2014sediment and grime\u2014that washes off roads and can damage the environment.<\/p>\n
Lewis is teaming up with Engineering and Geoscience Professor Thomas Boving to conduct the study. Her preliminary results were presented recently at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Works on the Kingston campus.<\/p>\n
With more than 4 million miles of roads in the United States, it\u2019s critical to know what contaminants are in road runoff, and how far they\u2019re traveling on abutting land. Lewis says there is no reliable system in place now to track runoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe intend to change that through our experiment,\u201d says Lewis, of Brookfield, Conn<\/strong>. \u201cAnd, so far, it looks promising that we\u2019ve come up with a method that works.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cColored Glass Microbeads for Tracing Roadside Sediment Transport\u201d has captured the attention of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, which is funding the project, along with the 溏心vlog免费B站 Transportation Center.<\/p>\n The project started in July, when Lewis placed the microbeads\u2014in three different sizes\u2014at six sites along Plains Road, near 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Greene H. Gardner Jr. Research Building. The microbeads are the size of natural soils and mimic their movements, which allowed Lewis to track the microbeads in ditches along the road.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of microbeads we released was about 130,000 at each site,\u201d says Lewis, an environmental science major. \u201cWe take samples every two or four weeks to determine how far the beads moved.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, Lewis has collected five sample rounds from the ground. The data is translated into computerized \u201cplume maps\u201d that visually show what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very excited about our results,\u201d says Lewis. \u201cThe plume gets bigger as the microbeads move across the land. This is what we predicted might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis says the project will continue with other 溏心vlog免费B站 students for the next few years.<\/p>\n In the future, engineers could use the microbeads to trace runoff that is potentially hazardous to streams or lakes nearby. Microbeads could also be used to trace oil spills on roads and highways.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople don\u2019t realize how damaging road runoff can be to surrounding waterways and lands,\u201d says Lewis. \u201cRoad toxins can kill fish, harm plants and leach into the groundwater, so it\u2019s important we understand the movement of these contaminants and sediments to protect the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis\u2019 interest in the environment was nurtured in high school. She recalls a paper she wrote involving the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, recognized as the worst oil spill in American history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came up with a way to clean oil off the seabirds,\u201d says Lewis. \u201cWe suggested dry shampoo. It didn\u2019t work that well, but it gave me a taste of what I could do to preserve nature.\u201d<\/p>\n One of her highlights at 溏心vlog免费B站 was a two-week trip to Goa, India, to create riverbank filtration systems that bring clean drinking water and irrigation water to nearby villages.<\/p>\n After graduation this spring, she hopes to join the Peace Corps and serve for two years as a water sanitation and hygiene education engineer in Panama. Her many projects at 溏心vlog免费B站, including her microbeads study, have prepared her for new challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so thankful to my professors\u2014who are devoted teachers\u2014and for the opportunity to do practical field work,\u201d says Lewis. \u201cI\u2019m ready to jump into a job and do my part to protect the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo above: Tabatha Lewis, a 溏心vlog免费B站 senior majoring in environmental science, holds a container of microbeads. Photo by Michael Salerno.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tabatha Lewis is handling lots of beads these days, but they\u2019re not the kind on necklaces. The 溏心vlog免费B站 senior is using microscopic glass beads to track the path of storm water runoff\u2014sediment and grime\u2014that washes off roads and can damage the environment. Lewis is teaming up with Engineering and Geoscience Professor Thomas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}