Kaoru Ikuma, Ph.D. (she/her)
Associate Professor
Cerwick Faculty Fellow
Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
Iowa State University
Office and mailing address:
328 Town Engineering Building
813 Bissell Rd
Ames, IA 50011
Phone: (515) 294-7660
Email: kikuma [at] iastate [dot] edu
Ikuma lab group picture (May 2025)
Sadaf Mehrabi
Postdoctoral researcher (Ph.D. from Western University, ON)
January 2023 - present
Main project: EPA water reuse
Email: smehrabi [at] iastate [dot] edu
Alejandra Chavez
Ph.D. student (Environmental Science)
Fall 2021 - present
Main project: Predicting the fate and transport of antibiotic resistance genes in streams
Email: archavez [at] iastate [dot] edu
Zachary Burton
Ph.D. student (Microbiology)
Summer 2022 - present
Main project: Microbial biofilm influences on corrosion outcomes
Email: zburton [at] iastate [dot] edu
Kaitlin Garretson
Ph.D. student (Microbiology)
Summer 2022 - present
Main project: Bacterial outcomes of disinfection
Email: kmg1198 [at] iastate [dot] edu
Daniel Montgomery
Ph.D. student (Microbiology)
Fall 2023 - present
Main project: TBD
Email: dfm [at] iastate [dot] edu
Logan Didier
Ph.D. student (Civil Engineering with Environmental specialization)
Spring 2025 - present
Main project: 3D printing of biofilms for wastewater applications
Email: ldidier [at] iastate [dot] edu
Karol Lopez
MS student (Civil Engineering with Environmental specialization), co-advised with Dr. Chris Rehmann
Spring 2024 - present
Main project: Predicting fate and transport of antibiotic resistance in streams
Email: lkarol [at] iastate [dot] edu
Emily Rehmann
MS student (Civil Engineering with Environmental specialization)
Fall 2024 - present
Main project: Cyanotoxins in natural aquatic systems
Email: erehmann [at] iastate [dot] edu
Jessica Rehmann
MS student (Civil Engineering with Environmental specialization)
Fall 2024 - present
Main project: Biofiltration for drinking water treatment
Email: jrehmann [at] iastate [dot] edu
Julia Hostetler
Environmental Engineering major
Summer 2024 - present
Audrey Campbell
Environmental Engineering major
Fall 2025 - present
Kayla Worachek
Civil Engineering major
Summer 2025 - present
Grace Willham
Environmental Science major
Summer 2025 - present
Past postdocs
Masrur Mahedi - currently an assistant professor at Utah Valley University
Narendra Kumar Patel - currently a hydraulic modeler at Arcadis
Past graduate students
Logan Didier (MS 2025) - currently a Ph.D. student
Derek Ten Pas (MS 2024) - currently a water/wastewater engineer at Bolton & Menk
Henry Croll (Ph.D. 2024) - currently a Wasterwater Data Scientist and Process Engineer at HDR
Rayla Pinto-Vilar (Ph.D. 2021) - currently a Technology Portfolio Manager at the University of Minnesota
Sahar Daer (Ph.D. 2021) - currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Queensland, Australia
Patrick Brown (Ph.D. 2019) - currently an environmental engineer at the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority
Yifei Ma (MS 2021) - currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh
Meesha Legg (MS 2021) - currently an environmental engineer at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Parker Dulin (MS 2019) - currently an associate scientist at Omega Bio-tek
Xuewei Liang (MS 2017) - currently a laboratory manager at the Water Institute at Saint Louis University
Past undergraduate researchers
40+ students so far!