The Fourth Annual Professor Desmond Lawler Lecture featured Dr. Lutgarde Raskin from the University of Michigan, a leading expert in environmental biotechnology. Her lecture, titled "Retooling Anaerobic Digestion to Maximize Waste Carbon Conversion in a Circular Bioeconomy," highlighted innovative strategies for enhancing anaerobic digestion processes to support sustainability goals in wastewater treatment.

This annual lecture series serves as a key outreach effort from the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (EWRE) program to the broader environmental engineering community. While previous Lawler Lectures focused primarily on drinking water, this year’s topic was intentionally selected to engage and benefit the wastewater sector of our field.