As an undergraduate studying civil engineering at Virginia Tech, Erika Bailey excelled as a scholar, researcher, student leader and athlete. While making top grades in her courses, she worked twice for the Tennessee Valley Authority-first as a co-op student, assisting in the design of a nuclear power plant control room, and then as an environmental engineer intern, conducting water quality studies and reservoir profiles. In addition, she spent a summer as a National Science Foundation Research Fellow at Northwestern University, where she performed drinking water treatment and microbial research and presented a paper on her research to senior faculty.



Erika held the Charles E. Via Alumni, Gilbert Seay, Alpha Phi and Kiewit scholarships. An active member the American Society of Civil Engineers, she served as president of the Virginia Tech student chapter from 1993 to 1994 and received the Thompson Award as the outstanding senior in the chapter. She also joined the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and in 1994 received the Diversity Committee's student stipend to attend the AWWA Annual Meeting.



Finding time for her favorite sport amid these academic accomplishments, Erika played on the Virginia Tech Varsity Tennis Team. During the 1992-1993 academic year, she won the Best Student Athlete Award and the Metro Conference Outstanding Academic Achievement Award.



After graduating summa cum laude in 1994, Ms. Bailey received a Charles E. Via Fellowship and entered CEE's graduate program in environmental engineering. Working as a research assistant with Dr. Nancy Love, Erika studied biological nutrient removal of an industrial wastewater containing inhibitory compounds. She also worked with the Blacksburg chapter of AWWA's Water for People project, serving as the chapter's co-chair from 1995 to 1996.



Ms. Bailey received her M.S. summa cum laude in 1996 and joined Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., as a project engineer in the national firm's Newport News, Virginia, office. During the past six years with Malcolm Pirnie, she has worked on projects in several fields-biological nutrient removal, industrial wastewater treatment, municipal water and wastewater treatment, and utility management.



Among her numerous career accomplishments is her work as project leader of a two-year biological nutrient removal investigation that won the 1999 American Academy Environmental Engineers Superior Achievement Award. She also led the start up of an industrial wastewater treatment system for a pharmaceutical manufacturer. The system was only the second of its kind in the U.S., and Ms. Bailey and her team brought the system in compliance within two months and trained the operational staff. In recognition of her work at Malcolm Pirnie, she has been nominated twice for the firm's Paul L. Bush Award.



Working as manager of a Water Environment Research Foundation project to determine effective utility practices, Erika coordinated development of the foundation's web-based Effective Practices Toolkit for utilities engineers. She also developed and taught a series of workshops, "Effective Practices Toolkit for Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations and Maintenance."



Since 1997, Ms. Bailey has been active in the Water Environment Federation at both the state and national levels, and she currently serves as annual meeting chair for the Virginia Water Environment Association. She also has presented a number of technical papers on wastewater treatment at state and national conferences.



Erika and her husband, Brian Bailey, a business consultant, now live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Brian also is a Virginia Tech graduate, with a bachelor's degree in restaurant and institutional management and a master's in management science. The couple enjoy hiking, camping, cooking, running and coaching Little League soccer. "In the past couple of years, I have picked up on my old game of tennis," adds Erika, who is playing in some local leagues.