Emerging Contaminants Research LAB 

News and UPDATES

April 2025 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan participated as a distinguished panel speaker at the the Center for Translational Research at NJIT Workshop on PFAS Decontamination.

• Our group was selected to participate at the NSF National I-Corps program for the project: "Translational Potential of an Innovative Pre-treatment for Enhanced PFAS remediation with Granular Activated Carbon". Post-doc Sudheera Yaparatne will serve as the Entrepreneurial Lead (IM), PI Venkatesan as the Technical Lead (TL) and supported by our Industry Mentor (IM) Stewart Abrams (Langan). 

January 2025 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan was quoted in NY Times article: "The E.P.A. Promotes Toxic Fertilizer. 3M Told It of Risks Years Ago.": https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/climate/epa-pfas-fertilizer-3m-forever-chemicals.html

• Dr. Venkatesan was featured in NJ PBS: Hazard NJ Podcast: "Nothing is Forever”: https://www.njspotlightnews.org/podcast/hazard-nj-season-2-episode-4-nothing-is-forever/

December 2024 - 

• PhD student Bishnu Pandey presented a poster titled “Extraction and Removal of PFAS from Impacted Water and Soil Using Air Bubbles” at the 2024 DoD Energy & Environment Innovation Symposium in Washington, D.C.

November 2024 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 40 Under 40 Recognition Program from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists!

June 2024 - 

• PhD students Bishnu Pandey and Farhaneh Maghsoudi attended the 2024 National PFAS Conference in Ann Arbor, MI, where Bishnu presented a poster titled “Removal of PFAS from Contaminated Water Using Air Bubbles.”

April 2024 - 

• Our project in collaboration with Dr. William Pennock's group at NJIT was selected for funding by the Bureau of Reclamation Desalination and Water Purification Research Program! "Enhanced Coagulation for the Removal of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances using Hydrophobic Ion Pairing Approach" - https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/news-release/4803

• Dr. Venkatesan was invited to present his research at the Department of Environmental & Sustainable Engineering at SUNY Albany on "Sequestration and destructive treatment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)"

• Graduate students Bishnu Pandey and Farhaneh Maghsoudi volunteered at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department’s College Day, where they introduced admitted undergraduate students to the ECRL group’s research.

• PhD students Bishnu Pandey and Farhaneh Maghsoudi presented their research on PFAS remediation at the 2024 Dana Knox Research Showcase, NJIT (Poster presentations)

March 2024 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan was invited to present his research and moderate a session at the Center for PFAS and Cancer (CPAC) Joint Virtual Symposium, Georgetown University: "Challenges in the treatment of short-chain PFAS"

• Dr. Venkatesan was invited to present his research at the Levich Institute, City College of New York (CUNY) on "Sequestration and destructive treatment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)"

• Dr. Venkatesan was invited to present at the Department of Biological Sciences, Seton Hall University  on "Occurrence and mitigation of 1,4-dioxane in the Long Island water cycle "

February 2024 - 

• Congratulations to our team led by Dr. Sudheera Yaparatne for winning the I-Corps Northeast Hub Regional program mini grant for the project: "Innovative Pre-treatment for Enhanced PFAS Remediation with Granular Activated Carbon"

August 2023 - 

• Arjun Research Lab moved to New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and we have a new name now - Emerging Contaminants Research Lab (ECRL) 

April 2023 - 

• Congratulations to PhD candidate Kaushik Londhe for securing the second prize in the 3-minute thesis competition (3MT): "Can radiation solve our drinking water problem?": https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/your-lifes-work-in-180-seconds-the-3mt-challenge/ 

February 2023 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan was quoted in a Newsday article "Airplane wastewater testing could help track COVID, other diseases, CDC says: https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/wastewater-testing-airplanes-cdc-v7bgbja8 

January 2023 - 

• Congratulations to graduate student Kaushik Londhe for receiving an honorable mention in the ACS Environmental Chemistry Graduate Student Award! 

December 2022 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan's project was selected for funding from the Bureau of Reclamation Desalination and Water Purification Research Pitch to Pilot program: "Enhancing the Removal of Hydrophilic Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) by Granular Activated Carbon using Hydrophobic Ion-pairing as Pre-treatment": https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/news-release/4381 

August 2022 - 

• Chemical decapitation renders PFAS harmless: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/chemical-decapitation-renders-pfas-harmless/4016119.article 

July 2022 - 

• Our proposal in collaboration with Dr. Onur Apul (University of Maine, Orono) and Dr. Navid Saleh (University of Texas at Austin) was selected for funding by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation: "PFAS Release from Spent Granular Activate Carbons in Solid Waste Management Facilities"

• Dr. Venkatesan was quoted in a National Geographic article on wastewater-based epidemiology: "One of the best tools for predicting COVID-19 outbreaks? Sewage": https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/one-of-the-best-tools-for-predicting-covid-19-outbreaks-sewage 

May 2022 - 

• The human health observatory in our sewers: https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-human-health-observatory-in-our-sewers/4015461.article

• Dr. Venkatesan presented at the "Global PFAS Testing Symposium": https://webinar.sepscience.com/form/global-pfas-testing-virtual-symposium-advances-in-testing-occurrence

April 2022 - 

• Congratulations Kaushik Londhe! Graduate student Kaushik received a honorable mention for his poster presentation titled "Application of electron beam for the degradation of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water" at the Civil Engineering's first Graduate Student Research Symposium poster competition.

March 2022 - 

• Novel Treatments for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS)-Impacted Matrices: https://www.serdp-estcp.org/News-and-Events/Blog/Novel-Treatments-for-Per-and-Polyfluoroalkyl-Substance-PFAS-Impacted-Matrices

February 2022 - 

• Stony Brook Students and Faculty Pioneer International Virtual Exchange: https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/stony-brook-students-and-faculty-pioneer-international-virtual-exchange/

January 2022 - 

• Worldwide wastewater analysis reveals rise of designer drugs during lockdowns: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/worldwide-wastewater-analysis-reveals-rise-of-designer-drugs-during-lockdowns/4015118.article

December 2021 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan was invited by the NYS Department of Health to present at the Drinking Water Quality Council Meeting on PFAS treatability (17:30): https://totalwebcasting.com/view/?func=VOFF&id=nysdoh&date=2021-12-22&seq=1 

December 2021 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan's proposal was funded by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) to study the remediation of PFAS-contaminated water and soil!

"Extraction and Removal of PFAS from Impacted Water and Soil using Air Bubbles": https://www.serdp-estcp.org/Program-Areas/Environmental-Restoration/Contaminated-Groundwater/ER22-3438 

July 2021 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan's proposal was funded by the National Science Foundation to study PFAS treatment!

"ERASE-PFAS: Understanding the surface-active properties of PFAS for enhanced removal by bubbling-assisted water treatment processes": https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/ccwts-nsf-supported-research-will-improve-drinking-water-quality-environmental-health/

May 2021 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan served as a panelist at the New York State Water and Wastewater Virtual Legislative Forum to discuss and answer questions regarding emerging contaminants such as PFAS and 1,4-dioxane.

  • Link to the recording of the legislative forum: https://vimeo.com/547690362

February 2021 - 

Our Center recently held a press event to highlight new research findings on 1,4-dioxane contamination and the use of low-cost nitrogen removing biofilter (NRB) for onsite wastewater treatment. 

• Link to the press event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktrjhph6SRs&feature=youtu.be

Media coverage

• Newsday - Study: Low Cost Water Filtration Could Reduce Likely Human Carcinogen

• WSHU - Long Island Clean Water Center Hopes Biofilters are the Answer to Remove Harmful Chemical in Water

• Innovateli - https://www.innovateli.com/clean-water-center-eyes-natural-anti-pollutant-shield/

December 2020 - 

• Graduate student Kaushik Londhe presented his very first scientific poster at the 2020 SERDP & ESTCP Symposium on "Application of electron beam for the degradation of 1,4-dioxane and perfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6_GbaMPzzQ&list=TLPQMDMxMjIwMjBA4aFYDfn4hw&index=3

October 2020 - 

• Drs. Venkatesan and Gobler from the Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University are exploring the use of wastewater-based epidemiology to track the prevalence of ongoing COVID-19 in Long Island, NY communities:

  • • • https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/wastewater-systems-research-covid-19-1.50031360

      • https://sagharborexpress.com/stony-brook-scientists-tracking-covid-spread-with-sewage-sampling/

April 2020 - 

• A special issue collection of peer-reviewed articles on the current state of biosolids, co-edited by Dr. Venkatesan, is now available in the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/current-opinion-in-environmental-science-and-health/vol/14/suppl/C

March 2020 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan's webinar in collaboration with Agilent Technologies on "Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Water: Challenges and Mitigating Strategies in Detection and Treatment" is available at http://www.chromatographyonline.com/lcgc_w/mitigating_strategies

October 2019 - 

• Dr. Venkatesan was interviewed for an article in the Royal Society in Chemistry magazine: "Chemistry World", on how wastewater analysis could be used as a novel tool to understand population demographics: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/sewage-sampling-reveals-how-rich-and-poor-live/4010406.article 

• Dr. Venkatesan was interviewed about water quality issues in Long Island, NY: "Water Authority Exploring Second Contamination Suit, Lawyer Says": https://greatneckrecord.com/water-authority-exploring-second-contamination-suit-lawyer-says/

September 2019 - Turning the Tide - National Septic Week: Dr. Venkatesan served as a panelist in the event to talk and answer questions about contaminants of emerging concern: "challenges going forward – what we know and what we still don’t know"

July 2019 - Dr. Venkatesan was interviewed about Long Island water quality and emerging contaminants by Anton Media Group - "Long Island’s Water Problem" (in three parts):

https://longislandweekly.com/long-islands-water-problem-part-one/

https://longislandweekly.com/long-islands-water-problem-part-two/

https://longislandweekly.com/long-islands-water-problem-part-three/

May 2019 - Dr. Venkatesan was recently interviewed about concerns related to perfluorochemicals by The Southampton Press - "Fire Foams Move Away From PFOS/PFOA, But Questions Linger":

http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/East-End/594184/Fire-Foams-Move-Away-From-PFOSPFOA-But-Questions-Linger

August 2018 - Dr. Venkatesan was invited by the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation to give a talk about perflurochemical contamination in Long Island drinking water - "Perfluorochemicals (PFCs): Background and Available Treatment Technologies." The Creeks, East Hampton, NY.

November 2017 - 

• • Science Policy Forum: Long Island Drinking Water.  Dr. Venkatesan served as a panelist to discuss water quality issues in Long Island, NY. 

    • Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_6YG5FTaq8

    • Article: http://scienceadvocacyli.org/events/science-policy/long-island-drinking-water/

  • Ongoing collaborations to address drinking water issues in Long Island, NY: 

    • http://www.liherald.com/malverne/stories/water-commissioners-address-chemical-water-issues-at-meeting,98027

    • https://www.scwa.com/scwa_collaborates_with_nys_ccwt/

May 2016 - Dr. Venkatesan's research was featured in Environmental Health Perspectives journal: Arnold C. 2016. Pipe dreams: tapping into the health information in our sewers. Environ Health Perspect 124:A86–A91; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.124-A86

July, 2015 - Dr. Venkatesan's research was covered in the Florida Specifier: newsletter. "Study: Phosphate recovery at wastewater treatment plants could supplement mining operations."