Roving Blue, Inc. Announces Key Additions to their Advisory Board

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Feb. 23, 2016 - PRLog -- Lena, Wisconsin – February 23, 2016

Roving Blue, Inc., a Lena, Wisconsin startup that manufactures a briefcase-sized portable water purification system is pleased to announce the addition of two key professionals, John Katers, Ph.D., and Ryan Holzem, Ph.D., to Roving Blue’s Advisory Board.  Both gentlemen bring a vast amount of experience in Applied Sciences in the water industry to the board.  Moving forward, they will assist Roving Blue with issues such as arsenic, lead, nitrates and other water related contaminants.

About John Katers:

John F. Katers, Professor and Chair of Natural and Applied Sciences (Engineering) at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB), teaches courses on pollution control, pollution prevention, waste management, renewable energy and resource management.  His research has been in these same areas, where he has been able to consistently obtain external funding for his research, supporting more than thirty master thesis projects and numerous other undergraduate research projects.  Most notably, Katers has worked with anaerobic digestion and solids separation systems for dairy farms, where Wisconsin is a national leader, and on solid waste and recycling issues in Wisconsin, with Katers serving as the Chair of the Brown County Solid Waste Board.  Katers is also the Director the University’s Environmental Management and Business Institute (EMBI) and Chair of the on-line Masters in Sustainable Management.  More recently, he was named as the Frederick E. Baer Professor in Business at UWGB.

Katers has been at UWGB since 1995, initially working for the University of Wisconsin Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center as a Recycling Specialist before joining the Natural and Applied Sciences faculty in 1999.  He holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Business Administration and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from UWGB and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Marquette University.  Katers has received numerous awards, including the UWGB Founders Award for Community Outreach, the UWGB Student Nominated Teaching Award, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Green Bay Southwest High School.  EMBI was also honored with a UWGB Founders Award for Collaborative Achievement and Katers was named a Wisconsin Idea Fellow by the University of Wisconsin System in recognition of his outstanding public service and outreach to business and industry.  Finally, in 2013 Katers was awarded a Fulbright Specialist position in 2013 that allowed him to travel to Santiago, Chile, to work collaboratively on sustainability issues with faculty at the Universidad del Desarrollo, where he also just led a student travel course in August.

About Ryan Holzem:

Ryan M. Holzem is currently an assistant professor in the new Environmental Engineering Technology Program at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB). Ryan completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering with emphases in transportation and environmental engineering. He then went on to UW – Madison to earn his Masters of Science degree in Environmental Engineering. Following graduation from UW-Madison, Ryan went to work for CH2M as an environmental engineer, specializing in drinking water treatment. There he worked on stormwater and drinking water projects. Ryan then returned to academia and earned his Ph.D. from Duke University in Environmental Engineering. At Duke, Ryan examined emerging contaminants found in human biosolids on soil microorganisms following the land application of the biosolids. After Duke, Ryan worked as an Environmental Engineer at Donohue and Associates out of Sheboygan, WI for a year prior to joining UWGB in 2015.

At UWGB, Ryan has been involved with the startup of the new Engineering Technology program, which offers students B.S. degrees in Electrical, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering Technology. Ryan’s responsibilities have included teaching courses in engineering drawing, surveying, water and wastewater, fluids, and project management, as well as, preparing the program for ABET accreditation. Ryan’s research at UWGB has expanded upon his academic and professional experience and focuses on biological, chemical, and physical processes of drinking water and wastewater treatment. He is especially interested in processes and technologies associated with nutrient and energy recovery, such as anaerobic digestion, biosolids management and disposal, and phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium recovery. Ryan has already obtained external funding that supports the work of several undergraduate researchers on projects dealing with anaerobic digestion and manure dewatering and water treatment for large dairy farms, manure stabilization in lagoons using a biological additive, pretreatment options for the anaerobic digestion of an invasive grass species, and chloride reduction practices in meat processing facilities. In addition, Ryan serves on the Brown County Solid Waste Board.

About Roving Blue, Inc.:

The Roving Blue SWP is a lightweight, portable water purification system that produces purified drinking water from fresh water sources such as ponds, streams and ditches. It represents a significant advancement over microfiltration and UV systems due to its employment of dissolved ozone gas (more powerful than chlorine) for highly effective microbiological control. Advanced filtration + ozone gas is how many water bottling companies produce their bottled water.

Photos and Hi-Def videos of our military interactions are available upon request.

Contact Information:

Yana DeMyer, CEO

Roving Blue, Inc.

yana@rovingblue.com