How did you become interested in STEM topics?
I grew up in Panama, in a family of very modest means, and while I very much wanted to learn to swim, there was no money for lessons. I decided to teach myself, in a small stream near our home. I practiced swimming, and my siblings sometimes caught fish and crayfish my mother could prepare for our dinners.
When a neighbor upstream began farming, he allowed untreated animal waste to enter the stream, so that it was no longer possible to swim in it or eat the fish from it. That sparked my interest in chemistry and environmental engineering at a young age.
Describe your academic journey and research up until now.
I earned a B.S. in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Panama thanks to a government scholarship; I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. After being out in the work world as a lab technician for a while, I started a master's degree program in Environmental Chemistry at the Federal University of Rio Grande, in Brazil. Upon my return to Panama, I applied successfully to the Fulbright Foreign program for Ph.D. study in the U.S. Thanks to that, I embarked upon a doctoral program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and in July of 2023, I expect to earn my Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering.
My dissertation is titled “Identifying Wastewater Inputs to Urban Streams by Monitoring Dissolved Organic Matter Fluorescence and Contaminants of Emerging Concerns.” In lay terms what that means is taking a chemical approach to identifying pollutants. If, for example, you test spring water and it shows the same chemical signatures for things that can be found in nearby sewage water, like artificial sweeteners, hormones, or antibiotics, then we can pinpoint and mitigate those contaminants. With sewer infrastructure in the U.S. aging rapidly, that’s very important, and work like mine could even affect public policy one day.
How do you feel about participating in the Faculty First Look program?
This has been a great year for me: I started it with a new journal publication and accepted talks at American Chemical Society and Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors conferences; I won a 2023 Graduate Student Award from the American Chemical Society; and I was chosen to take part in Faculty First Look.
I hope to get feedback on my work from faculty members at NYU Tandon who I know are focused on water-related issues and sustainability-focused research issues. Because the program also encompasses writing help, I’d like to work on my vision statement too; I have a definite vision, and I want to get it down in a succinct and compelling way.
What are your ultimate goals?
I taught back in Panama and loved it, so ultimately I’d like to divide my time between the lab, doing socially beneficial research with practical application, and the classroom. I identify as both Latino and a member of the LGBTQ community, and I think it’s important for students from underrepresented groups to see themselves represented in their school’s faculty.
How did you become interested in STEM topics?
My father ran a business that involved filtration systems, and I had always been good at science and math, so when I entered Nanjing Normal University, in my native China, I opted to study chemistry. After earning my undergraduate degree in 2016, I had to carefully consider what my next steps would be, and I decided that I wanted to come to the U.S. I’m am only child, and I knew my parents would be upset at the prospect of me living that far away, but once I was accepted to various programs, I was determined to go. As I expected, they were not fully happy about my decision to attend Stony Brook, but they eventually came around, and they’re very proud of me now. I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2021 and have since written several papers and given multiple conference presentations.
Describe your academic journey and research up until now.
I’m currently a post-doctoral research assistant at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where I study the possibilities of recovering nutrients from urine using a tubular membrane reactor. I’m also working on a USDA-funded project aimed at efficient nutrient recovery from animal manure using hollow-fiber ion exchange membranes.
How do you feel about participating in the Faculty First Look program?
At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, I work in the lab run by Professor Lee Blaney, whose focus is on the intersection of fundamental and applied aspects of analytical, environmental, inorganic, organic, and toxicological chemistry. A few of us in the lab applied to Faculty First Look–unbeknowst to the others. It seemed so lucky when we all got accepted, and I know Professor Blaney feels very proud of all of us. I hope to learn more about the different stages of the job application process, from writing statements to giving a compelling job talk.
What are your ultimate goals?
I was a teaching assistant at Stony Brook, and I’ve lectured in Baltimore County, and I love that aspect of being in academia, I;ve mentored about a dozen students during my journey so far, from high school students exploring STEM to Ph.D. candidates. My ideal job would encompass teaching, mentoring, and research.
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CBEE faculty and students are highlighted for their innovative and impactful work in the areas of 'Climate and Environment' and 'Health and Life Sciences' in the inaugural issue of Inquiring Minds: UMBC Research and Creative Achievement.
Matthew Stromberg, Environmental Engineering PhD student, under the guidance of advisors Dr. Upal Ghosh, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering and Dr. Yonathan Zohar, professor of marine biotechnology.
Matthew Stromberg's work with Dr. Yonathan Zohar, professor of marine biotechnology, on land-based aquaculture is highlighted. Dr. Zohar has been a driving force behind decades of research into land-based aquaculture, which has taken off in the U.S. and abroad in recent years. These operations produce fish for human consumption in land-based facilities that are less susceptible to disease and result in fresher fish for locals. They also remove the risk of releasing waste or farmed fish into the environment and reduce costs and the carbon footprint associated with shipping. Plus, they create jobs and help decrease American reliance on seafood imports.
Dr. Claire Welty, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering, is featured for her leadership role in the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC), a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to address urban environmental challenges. Welty and her UMBC colleagues received $2.3 million of the $24.5 million grant awarded to the BSEC. The project aims to generate solutions to environmental concerns through community engagement and collaboration with organizations in three American cities. The team brings decades of experience in environmental monitoring and has received awards from the U.S. Forest Service and the National Science Foundation to support their work. Welty emphasizes the importance of partnering with local communities to address their needs and concerns and finding effective ways to implement solutions. She describes the project as a giant puzzle to put together and looks forward to seeing how it all unfolds.
The groundbreaking work conducted by Dr. Erin Lavik, professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering and Dr. Nuzhat Maisha, Ph.D. '21, chemical and biochemical engineering and colleagues to develop nanoparticles that can stop internal bleeding is highlighted in the story on page 17.
The article discusses the challenges of controlling bleeding in trauma patients and the need for faster delivery of medication to control the bleeding. The researchers developed a novel approach to modifying the surfaces of nanoparticles used in lifesaving medications to provide infusions that can be delivered more quickly and with a reduced risk of negative reactions.
The article goes into detail about the researchers' findings and how they focused on the core material of the nanoparticles to reduce infusion reactions, which limit the treatments available to patients. The article also discusses how this groundbreaking research lays the groundwork for future testing of preclinical models using nanocapsules to stop internal bleeding.
Read full articles: Inquiring Minds: UMBC Research and Creative Achievement.
]]>Research led by Dr. Govind Rao, Director of Center for Advanced Sensor Technology and professor in the department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering is featured in a recent article posted on leaps.org titled “With This New Technology, Hospitals and Pharmacies Could Make Vaccines and Medicines Onsite, 2023” The story was written based on a preprint of a paper with Shayan Borhani, Chemical Engineering PhD candidate as the first author. Aaron Thole, Chemical Engineering PhD student and Dr. Doug Frey, professor in the department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering are also co-authors. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.19.521044v1).
The article describes a process to develop a compelling pandemic mitigation strategy to promptly suppress viral emergence at the source of an outbreak using proteins such as GRFT which are efficacious in neutralizing a broad range of viruses. This process is shown to produce a product with consistent purity and potency in less than 24 hours using cell-free biomanufacturing.
The collaborators demonstrated GRFT production using two independent cell-free systems, one plant and one microbial. Griffithsin purity and quality were verified using standard regulatory metrics. Efficacy was demonstrated in vitro against SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 and was nearly identical to that of GRFT expressed in vivo. The proposed production process is efficient and can be readily scaled up and deployed anywhere in the world where a viral pathogen might emerge. The current emergence of viral variants has resulted in frequent updating of existing vaccines and loss of efficacy for front-line monoclonal antibody therapies.
Dr. Rao wants to advance technology to the point where any hospital or pharmacy could load up the media containing molecular factories, mix up the necessary amino acids, nucleotides, and enzymes, and harvest the medications in a matter of hours. This will enable on-site and on-demand medication production. Once this approach is thoroughly validated it might revolutionize medicine-making even outside of hospitals and pharmacies and extend beyond urgent situations.
]]>Jahir Antonio Batista Andrade, environmental engineering doctoral candidate,is the 2023 American Chemical Society (ACS) Graduate Student Awardee for the Division of Environmental Chemistry (ENVR).
Batista Andrade is pursuing his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Lee Blaney.Recently, his first publication related to his Ph.D. research was relased in the journal 'Water Research'.
Congratulations on your successes in the early stage of your career in environmental chemistry and engineering.
]]>Oindrila Ghosh, environmental engineering doctoral candidate, is the winner of the Student Paper Competition for the Eleventh International Conference on the Remediation and Management of Contaminated Sediments for her paper, “Design Optimization of Passive Sampling Prototypes with Periodic Vibration for Porewater Measurements of Polychlorinated Biphenyls.” The 2023 Sediments Conference will take place in Austin, Texas from January 9-12, 2023. Oindrila will present her work during the poster presentations.
Oindrila is in her fourth year of her doctoral program under the supervision of Dr. Upal Ghosh. Her research focuses on the fate and transport of persistent organic contaminants in the environment that tend to bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms like fish.
Student paper title: Design Optimization of Passive Sampling Prototypes with Periodic Vibration, for Porewater Measurements of Polychlorinated Biphenyls.
Authors: Oindrila Ghosh, Louis Cheung, Upal Ghosh (University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD), Mehregan Jalalizadeh (Exponent, Los Angeles, California)
ABSTRACT: Polymeric passive sampling has emerged as a promising approach for accurate measurements of bioavailability of hydrophobic organic contaminants. However, in-situ measurements of sediment porewater concentrations are challenged by slower mass transfer through the water boundary layer (WBL) outside the polymer compared to well-stirred laboratory measurements. Using performance reference compounds (PRC) to correct for non-equilibrium conditions is prone to error, especially for more hydrophobic compounds like higher homolog group Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins/furans. Previous research has shown that the mechanical disruption of the WBL outside the polymer surface by introducing periodic vibration on the sampling platform greatly enhances the approach to equilibrium for more hydrophobic contaminants. In this study we aim to optimize the design of these prototypes and vibration frequency for sediment porewater measurements through laboratory experiments and mathematical modeling. The key motivations were to make the sampling devices versatile for more hydrophobic organics and increase the size of the prototypes from the initial proof-of-concept design by increasing the size of the motor and making them more reliable for deployment in the field, all the while keeping them low-cost.
IMAGE CREDIT: Dr. Upal Ghosh
Learn more about Oindrila’s research and art at https://www.oinghosh.com/ and on Linkedin
]]>The latest publication from the Blaney Lab is titled, "Recent advances in Donnan dialysis processes for water/wastewater treatment and resource recovery: A critical review". This review is a collaborative effort by CBEE authors Hui Chen, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michael Rose, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michael Fleming, Environmental Engineering PhD student, Sahar Souizi, Environmental Engineering PhD student, Utsav Shashvatt Ph.D. ‘21, Environmental Engineering , and Lee Blaney, Professor. The paper describes the use of Donnan dialysis as a sustainable method for removing contaminants and recovering resources from water and wastewater.
Donnan dialysis involves the use of an ion-exchange membrane to separate a feed solution containing a target ion from a draw solution with a high concentration of acid, base, or salt. The electrochemical potential gradients of the target and draw ions across the membrane facilitate transport phenomena that can be exploited for contaminant removal or resource recovery.
In the paper, the authors highlight the need for a consistent framework for the design and interpretation of Donnan dialysis systems using the Rd/w concept and evaluate the impacts of solution properties, membrane characteristics, and system configuration on the effectiveness of the process. They also discuss the use of Donnan dialysis for the treatment and recovery of metals, nutrients, and other inorganic and organic chemicals.
The authors also provided recommendations for future studies to fill knowledge gaps and promote new opportunities in the field. Overall, this paper serves as an important resource for those working on Donnan dialysis for clean water and circular economy purposes.
]]>Congratulations to Jahir Antonio Batista Andrade, Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental Engineering, on his first publication related to his Ph.D. research. Batista Andrade, under the supervision of Dr. Lee Blaney, worked with a team of researchers including undergraduate (Erick Diaz, ‘21 Chemical Engineering & Diego Iglesias Vega, ‘23 Chemical Engineering) and graduate students (Ethan Hain, Ph.D. ‘22 Chemical and Biochemical Engineering) as well as postdoctoral researchers (Michael Rose) from Blaney Lab on the research published in the Water Research journal.
The journal article is titled: “Spatiotemporal analysis of fluorescent dissolved organic matter to identify the impacts of failing sewer infrastructure in urban streams”. The findings of this study describe the use of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) to track hotspots of raw wastewater in urban streams. The study analyzed 296 surface water samples from 27 sites in two watersheds over a one-year period and found that the area-normalized ratio of soluble microbial product-like to humic acid-like fluorescence (R4/R5 ≥ 0.85) and the ratio of EEM-PARAFAC components with tryptophan-like and fulvic acid-like fluorescence (C4/C3 ≥ 1.45) could be used to distinguish when and where untreated wastewater is introduced to these streams.
The researchers validated the proposed ratios by detecting contaminants such as sucralose, antibiotics, and UV filters in the samples. They identified three sites impacted by septic systems and ten sites affected by sanitary sewer overflows and/or sewer exfiltration. These hotspots occurred almost every month, with the majority being identified in the spring and early summer.
The study's findings suggest that EEM-PARAFAC-based wastewater indicators could be a quick, easy, cost-effective, and scalable technique for identifying failing sewer infrastructure in low-order streams. This is important as failing infrastructure can introduce raw wastewater into these streams, potentially causing environmental and public health issues.
]]>Dr. Rao, Dr. Frey and graduate students from the Chemical Biochemical & Environmental Engineering Department (CBEE) at UMBC as well as collaborators, released a transcript in bioRxiv, titled: “An approach to rapid distributed manufacturing of broad spectrum anti-viral griffithsin using cell-free systems to mitigate pandemics”.
The study details a way for swiftly and effectively synthesizing a protein with broad-spectrum activity. The protein, known as griffithsin, can now be made using either a plant-based or microbial cell-free technology in less than 24 hours and is effective against viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 in vitro.
The production process is effective and scalable, and its quality and purity have been confirmed using accepted regulatory metrics. Being able to quickly deploy it anywhere in the world to aid in containing viral outbreaks at their source makes it a crucial tool for pandemic mitigation. The development of viral variants has resulted in frequent updates to current vaccines and decreased efficacy of some monoclonal antibody treatments, making proteins like griffithsin a potential asset to the suite of antiviral therapies.
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