Quad City Engineering and Science Council Recognizes Kelly Baerwaldt

Contact:   David Smith, dave.smith8633@sbcglobal.net   Phone: 309-755-8934

At its 51st Annual National Engineers Week Banquet held on February 20th, the Quad City Engineering and Science Council (QCESC) recognized Kelly Baerwaldt with its 2013 Junior Scientist of the Year Award.  The QCESC numbers 36 local engineering and technical societies with a total membership of 5,000 engineers and scientists.  The QCESC also promotes engineering and science to area youth through scholarship and engineering competition programs.

Ms. Baerwaldt is a Fish Biologist and eDNA Program Manager with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) St. Paul District and USACE Monitoring Team Lead for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Aquatic Nuisance Species Barrier Project. She also represents USACE for Asian carp issues on the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee. She has exhibited extraordinary dedication in the effort to prevent Asian Carp from establishing in the Great Lakes.  She is widely recognized as a national expert on the nationally significant Asian Carp threat by government agencies, private industry and the academic world.  She has been instrumental in developing the use of the eDNA technique for identifying the potential presence of invasive fish species by collecting genetic material from water samples and applying it as a regional monitoring tool in the Mississippi River Basin.