Contaminant Biogeochemistry

My goal is to develop students' technical and communication skills through coursework and research aimed at understanding and managing how contaminants are transported and transformed in engineered and natural systems.  My group is especially interested in chemical and biological contaminant transformations (mercury and sulfur are some of our favorites!) in natural and waste waters under fluctuating redox conditions and near redox interfaces.  Our projects answer scientific questions that we hope will further the development of tools and technologies for managing risk from environmental contaminants.    

I have working relationships with state and federal resource management agencies, industrial and municipal wastewater facilities with an interest in sulfate, mercury, and other contaminant discharges to surface waters.  We also have studied and helped to remediate sediment contamination in urban and remote settings impacted by point and non-point pollution.  

 With appointments in the UMD Civil and Environmental Engineering U of MN Water Resource Science graduate programs, I am always looking for curious, motivated graduate students to join our group and typically have a several undergraduates involved in UROP projects and working in the lab.