Amy Pruden, professor of civil and environmental engineering and associate dean and director of interdisciplinary graduate education in the Graduate School at Virginia Tech, is the 2014 recipient of the Paul L. Busch Award which includes a $100,000 research grant.

A well-recognized researcher in her field, Pruden is instrumental in developing a new way of thinking about controlling aquatic pathogens and expanding the use of recycled water. She has an international reputation in applied microbial ecology, environmental remediation, and environmental reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance.

Her accomplishments in these areas led to the 2014 Busch Award from the Water Environment Research Foundation’s Endowment for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research. The foundation cited her outstanding efforts that have contributed significantly to water quality research and its practical application in the environment. The grant with the award is given to support work that will bring new benefits to the water quality community and the water-using public they serve.

 

Amy Pruden with award poster
The Paul L. Busch Award recognizes an outstanding individual whose ongoing efforts contribute significantly to water quality research and its practical application in the environment.

Pruden said the funding from the award will be used "to help the water industry achieve an innovative and practical approach to achieving water sustainability while also addressing consumers' concerns about the real and growing problem of antibiotic resistance."

Pruden was already among a team of Virginia Tech researchers investigating the challenges presented by four often deadly pathogens that have been documented in household or hospital tap water. They proposed fighting or displacing these opportunistic pathogens with harmless microbes -- a probiotic approach for cleaning up plumbing.

Read the full story at VT News.