CEE faculty member Dr. Nancy Love chaired the twenty year anniversary of this conference, which was held at The Rackham Graduate School Auditorium and the Michigan League. Other participants from CEE included Dr. Lutgarde Raskin, who was a member of the program committee and one of five keynote speakers at the meeting. Six CEE graduate students: Tara Clancy, Adam Smith, Lauren Stadler, Jeseth Delgado-Vela, Antone Jain and Fei Xunchang, served as graduate student assistants to the program committee. The program committee was rounded out by consultant, Jennifer Huntington, with assistance from U-M Conference Services.

Approximately 175 conference attendees, including Dr. Glen Daigger who is the current President of IWA, gathered for three days to discuss, share and learn about state-of-the-art research and applications of microbial ecology to: nitrogen transformations during water and wastewater treatment; activated sludge systems; drinking water systems; phosphorus removal and recovery; biofilm systems; anaerobic systems; emerging and trace contaminants; natural environments; and molecular and microbial methods.