Shekinah Adaghe, PhD Student

Shekinah is a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a research focus on the aggregation and disaggregation of micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic environments.

Deanna Delgado, PhD Student

 Deanna is evaluating electrically conductive CNF membranes for advanced water treatment. Membranes are one of the most effective ways to remove emerging contaminants like nano- 

and microplastics and PFAS, but they can foul easily and often require high pressures, making them expensive and energy-intensive to operate. By applying an electrical potential to conductive CNF membranes, we can reduce fouling, improve contaminant rejection, and lower the pressure and energy required for filtration. 

John Parios, MS Student  

John is studying the degradation behaviors associated with exposing various types of fishing line to the sun. Over the next 6 months, he will be exposing line samples to natural sunlight 

and likening their cumulative UV exposure to changes in tensile strength, mass loss, and oxidation. 

Alexander Rodriguez, MS Student

Alexander is a MS student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, whose research focuses on developing and validating a defensible methodology for environmental plastics characterization to improve comparability across heterogeneous samples. 

Dayna Stone, Undergraduate Researcher 

Dayna is a second-year student studying environmental engineering. She is passionate about the environment, and hopes to pursue a career in water resources engineering. Her research will focus on particle disaggregation due to shear stresses. 

Joshua Thompson, Undergraduate Researcher

Joshua joined the team in May 2026. In the lab, he is working on column tests for micro and nano plastic transport in saturated porous media. Joshua is currently in his third year of undergrad studying Environmental Engineering. 

Nabiha Tanzim Tonima, MS Student, May 2026

Master’s graduate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a strong foundation in Civil Engineering and a focus on sustainable environment and water systems. Her work sits at the intersection of water treatment, stormwater management, and water resources engineering, where she aims to design solutions that are both technically sound and socially impactful.