Graduate student earns NJWEA’s Fontenelli Award
May 14, 2007

Matthew J. DeNafo, of Braddock, a Rowan University civil and environmental engineering graduate student, recently earned the Louis Fontenelli Award from the New Jersey Water Environment Association (NJWEA). He received the $1,750 scholarship at a NJWEA conference held May 2 in Atlantic City.

DeNafo’s scholarship came as the result of research concerning the use of ferns to remove arsenic from water. His supervisor was Dr. Kauser Jahan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering.

The Louis Fontenelli Award is given to master’s degree program students whose research emphasis is on environmental protection or water pollution control. This award is one of 10 scholarships, ranging from $500 to $1,500 each, funded by NJWEA’s Raymond Manganelli Scholarship Awards Program, according to the NJWEA.

The NJWEA is a member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). Formed in 1928, the WEF is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with 32,000 individual members and 80 affiliated member associations representing an additional 50,000 water quality professionals throughout the world, according to the WEF Web site.