UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A rainy day in the borough of Juniata Terrace can be a big deal, but the issues that plague the borough are securing the help of students enrolled in a capstone course in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, who are eager to apply their knowledge to help improve residents’ quality of life.
This 100-year-old community in Mifflin County is home to nearly 600 people and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2024. Because of its location near a steep hill and its aging stormwater system, rain events can lead to flooded streets or even several inches of sediment-filled runoff, flooding roadway intersections and creating a hazardous situation for residents.
The borough consists of 250 brick row houses built in the 1920s as residences for employees of the former American Viscose Co., which operated a rayon manufacturing plant in nearby Lewistown.
One of the students is Ethan Baldwin, a senior who will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering in May. He is working collaboratively with two other senior engineering students, Alyssa Pritchard and Justin Liu, to design and develop solutions that they say could reduce Juniata Terrace’s water runoff by as much as 60%.
The team’s work is part of a class taught by Jeffrey Catchmark, professor of agricultural and biological engineering in the college.
The students and their professor are working in cooperation with the Sustainable Communities Collaborative at Penn State to explore and design practical solutions for the community.
Baldwin, of Newport, Rhode Island, has been interested in climate change and other environmental issues for as long as he can remember.
He said part of the issue is the result of heavy rain events that are becoming more common. The other issue is the steep hillside that was clearcut several years ago, leaving little vegetation to retain stormwater.
Combined with the community’s outdated stormwater infrastructure, this quickly leads to washouts and flooding. But after collecting data from the site and conducting computer modeling, Baldwin said he is confident he and his team have found a viable solution: Restore natural vegetation and create a diversion swale, diverting water away from the borough.
His design involves placing logs along the hillside to act as mini-dams, slowing the bulk of the water and sediment, he explained. Additionally, the plan calls for trees and other deep-rooting plants that will establish over time and provide a system of total ground cover.
“Our system is fundamental, based on the fact we want to capture and treat water at the source where it lands rather than quickly conveying it downstream,” Baldwin said. “We’re really trying to restore a balanced water cycle in the area.”
Catchmark said the first part of the class focuses on topics such as teambuilding, conflict management, product development, innovation and intellectual property. In the second phase, students create designs and solutions that can potentially solve the problems at hand.
While it’s up to the borough to decide how the students’ work will be used, Catchmark said he’s impressed with what the students are doing.
“I really enjoy their enthusiasm for the history of Juniata Terrace and their passion for helping that community solve their natural resource problems through sustainable engineering,” he said. “Their project not only focuses on the big-level environmental issues, but also things such as where they can put pollinators, the aesthetic value and how they can help the community flourish.”
Ilona Ballreich leads the Sustainable Communities Collaborative. She said Juniata Terrace is one of 30 communities the program has partnered with over the years and is one of 25 projects active this year. She said she is most impressed with Baldwin’s enthusiasm and foresight.
“Ethan has been an outstanding student — he can already envision what the restored community will look like,” she said. “These projects challenge students’ strategic and creative thinking skills, and you can really see that in Ethan.”
Baldwin admitted that finding a solution and communicating it to the stakeholders takes time. The council for Juniata Terrace must balance the students’ ideas with the cost, as well as other daily concerns of running a community.
Baldwin said he and his classmates are committed to leaving the borough with workable plans, and he continues to work closely with Mayor John Wagner and the borough’s professional engineer, Brian Book, of CP Engineers.
“What they’ve done for us in this short amount of time is phenomenal,” said Wagner. “I can’t wait to see what they come up with going forward.”
Book said he is particularly impressed with the students’ focus on sustainability and finding ways to slow and retain water as much as possible.
“In the 1920s, when this borough was built, the focus was on channeling the stormwater and sending it downstream,” said Book. “What the students did was to look at the borough holistically, targeting the root causes of the runoff and long-term solutions for the watershed.”
Baldwin said the project was a good learning experience for the students, with decisions that will hold real consequence for the community.
“The decisions we made for our capstone project will have lasting effects on people's lives, and we won't fully understand those until much later,” he said. “That's true of most environmental engineering work, and that has made me more serious about the responsibility that comes with this profession — to work diligently, be honest about uncertainty and fully review all solutions.”