Diversity & Culture of Inclusion

Dr. Sunil Sinha is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) Center of Excellence at Virginia Tech. Dr. Sunil Sinha is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award recipient in the area of sustainable water infrastructure management systems. Dr. Sinha was seed behind “90-minutes” PBS documentary titled “Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure,” that throws light on a long-buried problem — America’s aging water system. He has given many NPR interviews and featured as a water infrastructure expert in a History Channel documentary titled “The Crumbling of America.”

Dr. Watford is the Associate Dean for Equity and Engagement and the Executive Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED). The Equity and Engagement office is responsible for the recruitment and retention of diverse students, both undergraduate and graduate. This includes a wide array of programs developed and implemented for precollege students as well as programs supporting the academic, professional and personal development of current students.

Ted J. Kosowski. is Assistant Director of Human Resources at Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Illinois. Created in 1889 as the Sanitary District of Chicago, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) today is an award-winning, special-purpose district responsible for treating wastewater and providing stormwater management for residents and businesses in its service area, which encompasses 882.1 square miles and includes Chicago and 128 suburban communities throughout Cook County. The MWRD serves approximately 10.35 million people each day, including 5.25 million residents.

Ifetayo Venner is a professional engineer and ARCADIS’s Wastewater Treatment Practice Technical Leader. As a wastewater treatment technical expert she has been responsible for the planning, modeling, design and startup of municipal wastewater treatment facilities throughout the United States. As a project manager she has been responsible for project delivery for various projects related to water and wastewater treatment and distribution. Ms. Venner has been an active proponent of incorporating sustainability principles into design projects. She is a member of the ARCADIS Envision Leadership team, providing training to ARCADIS staff in pursuit of ENV SP credentials, as well as support for project teams in incorporating sustainability principles into projects and evaluating the applicability of Envision and the various credits. She is also involved in several Water Environment Federation (WEF) and International Water Association committees and task forces on wastewater process design, modeling, and sustainability. She is Director of the WEF Sustainability Community of Practice which comprises 7 committees and task forces including the Utility Management Committee and the Envision and Resiliency Task Forces. She is leader of the Wastewater Treatment group under the Envision Task Force which she created to educate WEF members on Envision and to develop Envision guidance specific to wastewater systems (wastewater treatment and reuse, collection systems, stormwater/watersheds, and biosolids) to assist members as they incorporate the use of Envision into projects.