Faculty - College of Engineering
Chet Rock
Contact Information
Phone:
207-581-2218
Email/Web:
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Address:
College of Engineering
205 Advanced Manufacturing Center
Orono, ME 04469
Dr. Rock is the Associate Dean for Academics and Finance, College of Engineering, the University of Maine. Since 1979, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental engineering and conducted research in the areas of onsite wastewater treatment, restoration of eutrophic lakes, feasibility of constructed wetlands in cold climates, and utilization of waste materials. His duties include oversight responsibility for all College of Engineering academic programs. As the College fiscal manager, he prepares and manages college and department budgets of approximately $8 million. Prior to joining the University of Maine, Dr. Rock spent seven years in state and federal regulatory agencies and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Maine.
Education
Ph.D. Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, 1974; M.S. Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 1971; B.S. Civil Engineering, Washington State University, 1968
Research interests
Dr. Rock's research has focused on the ecological effects of wastes on water quality, including work on the use of constructed wetlands to treat pollutants and the effectiveness of buffer strips, both natural and constructed, to reduce pollutants before entering the receiving water. His recent work has emphasized onsite wastewater research, including both septic tank design and drainfield design. His research team investigated an innovative drainfield design using peat as the drainfield media and the feasibility of treating septic tank effluent in an artificial media drainfield. The process led to reduced nitrate via recirculation of septic tank effluent.
Dr. Rock has also served as principal investigator on a series of septic tank design studies funded by the National Precast Concrete Association. In these studies, compartmentalization was extensively researched in a full-scale study using septic tanks with and without compartments and modified baffles. The modified baffles did not result in improved treatment, whereas the two-compartment tank out performed the one compartment control tank. The difference increased as the system matured, suggesting that such studies need to be long-term to accurately reflect performance.
He recently completed a technical review of California's proposed rule for onsite wastewater treatment systems for the California State Water Resources Control Board and serving on the technical advisory panel for the "Primary Treatment in Onsite Systems: Factors that Influence Performance," a major investigation of onsite wastewater treatment funded by the Water Environment Research Foundation.
Publications
- Rock, C. A. and J. Boyer. 1996. Influence of Design on Septic Tank Effluent Quality, pp. 45-62. In Seabloom (ed), Proceedings of the 8th Northwest Onsite Wastewater Treatment Short Course, Seattle, WA
- Bouchard, R., M. J. Higgins, M. J., and C. A. Rock. 1995. Using constructed wetlands in watershed management. Lake and Reservoir Management, 11(1): 29-36.
- Woodard, S. E. and C. A. Rock. 1995. Control of residential stormwater by natural buffer strips. Lake and Reservoir Management, 11(1): 37-45.
- B. J. Holmes, B. J. Doll, C. A. Rock, G. D. Bubenzer, R. A. Kostinec, and L. R. Massie. 1995. Experiences with two constructed wetlands for treating milking center wastewater in a cold climate. pp. 223-230. In Steele (Ed), Animal Waste and the Land-Water Interface. Lewis Publishers.
- Higgins, M. J., Rock, C. A., Bouchard, R. and R. Wengrzynek. 1993. Controlling Agricultural Runoff by the Use of Constructed Wetlands. pp. 359-368 In: Moshiri (Ed), Constructed Wetlands for Water Quality Improvement. Lewis Publishers.
- Rock, C. A., S. Irrinki, and P. S. Pinkham. 1992. Elimination of Groundwater Contamination by Septic Tank Effluent. In Bogardi (Ed), Nitrate Contamination: Exposure, Consequence, and Control, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
- McLellan, J. K. and C. A. Rock. 1988. Pretreating landfill leachate with peat to remove metals. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 37(1/2):203-215.
- Gray, M. N, C. A. Rock, and R. G. Pepin. 1988. Pretreating landfill leachate with biomass boiler ash. J. Env. Engrg. 1(2):465-470.
- McLellan, J.K. and C.A. Rock. 1986. The application of peat in environmental pollution control: A review. J Int. Peat Society 1(1):1-14.
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