Earlier this month, I attended the "Great Plains PFAS Initiative Symposium & Workshop" at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where I had the opportunity to connect professionals from academia and industry. We discussed the importance of building a collaborative initiative to address this major challenge. 

I am grateful to my advisor, Nirupam Aich for giving me the opportunity to be part of this great effort. 

As President of the Graduate Bangladeshi Student Association (GBSA), I had the opportunity to lead and organize a range of cultural and social programs aimed at building a strong and inclusive community. During my term (August 2023-July 2024), we successfully organized events such as Bangladeshi Night (cultural event), Game Night, Movie Night, International Mother Language Day (IMLD) celebration, and Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year) celebration.These events brought together students from diverse backgrounds to celebrate our culture and heritage. This experience enhanced my leadership, event planning, and organizational skills, while fostering teamwork and cross-cultural collaboration.

I am deeply honored to receive the prestigious UB Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Award for our recent publication in the Journal of Hazardous Materials on PFAS treatment using rGO-nZVI nanohybrid. This was the only project from the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences selected for this honor.

I was recognized along with my coauthors by University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi and Provost Scott Weber at the UB Celebration of Academic Excellence event on May 2nd. 

Check out our new paper in the Chemical Engineering Journal Advances! 

Link:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666821124000310 

Here, 

(i) We investigated the potential of corn stover-derived pyrolyzed hydrochar for phosphate removal from water

(ii) Pyrolyzed hydrochars were synthesized at different pyrolysis temperatures and were characterized to understand their properties and phosphate removal capacity. 

(iii) Our findings suggest the effectiveness of hydrochars as adsorbents, with pyrolysis temperature influencing their properties and adsorption capacity. 

(iv) We also examined the hydrochar's regeneration and reuse potential, offering insights for practical applications. We hope the research will contribute to sustainable water treatment and biomass utilization.

I am happy to share that I have earned the first position in the University at Buffalo, School of Engineering and Applied Science (UB-SEAS) first Lighting Talk Competition!

15 graduate students competed in the competition, presenting topics ranging from aerospace parts to algorithmic coding solutions in two-minute oral presentations along with a single PowerPoint slide to a panel of three judges 

I presented my PhD research which is synthesizing a nanomaterial that could remove carcinogenic forever chemicals from water. Details of the event can be found here: https://engineering.buffalo.edu/home/news/seas.host.html/content/shared/engineering/home/articles/news-articles/2024/seas-first-lightning-talk-competition.detail.html 

Want to learn more about nanomaterial-based PFAS treatment? 

Check out our new paper in the Journal of Hazardous Materials!

Paper Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389424004916 

Here, we show the efficacy of graphene-iron nanohybrids in removing and degrading the two prominent PFAS compounds, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), from water. We also explore how various water chemistry parameters, such as PFAS concentration, oxidant, pH, ionic strength, and natural organic matter, impact the treatment process. 

I am honored to receive the prestigious Student Poster Award at the AEESP Research and Education Conference in Boston, MA, in June 2023. The conference had over 300 poster presentations, including 241 presented by students.  Among them, only 8 were awarded. I presented our National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program (NIHS-SRP) funded work on PFAS treatment using graphene-iron nanohybrids. Details of this award can be found here: https://aeesp2023.sites.northeastern.edu/home/student-poster-awards/ 

Also, this news was featured in the UB-RENEW newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/897ce7050d0e/currents-the-renew-institute-newsletter-summerfall-2023 

My final three mintute thesis (3 MT)  presentation on PFAS is now available online. I talked briefly about the source of exposure, health effects, and an advanced remediation technique we have been developing in our lab.

I would like to thank my advisor Nirupam Aich for giving me this wonderful opportunity to work on this critical water quality issue. Thanks to University at Buffalo graduate school for their excellent mentoring that helped me immensely to prepare myself for the 3 MT final presentation. 

I’m excited to share that I am one of the finalists for the University at Buffalo Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for 2023. I will be competing against 9 other amazing doctoral candidates on March 3, 2023, at 3 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Screening Room. Come cheer me on! Follow the link to see all the finalists here: https://www.buffalo.edu/three-minute-thesis.html 

I recently presented my work titled "Treatment of PFAS using Redox Active rGO-nZVI Nanohybrid: Influence of Water Chemistry And Oxidant Concentration" at the 11th Sustainable Nanotechnology Conference (SNO) at Austin in Texas from 11 November to 13 November. I also received the "SNO Student Award" at the conference. 

My MS work on phosphorus removal using different adsorbent materials has been published. This project (funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation) aimed to assess the efficacy of different adsorbents for Biofiltration or Bioswale Stormwater Management Controls through different physicochemical processes to find out the right combination of the media type and design conditions to optimize phosphorus removal from stormwater. 

Based on our experimental findings, we proposed to modify the conventional stormwater bio-systems by incorporating high-performing but readily available adsorptive materials and changing the current sand-compost ratio for optimal phosphorus removal without losing some of the other pollution removal benefits of traditional stormwater bio-systems. 

Paper link: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/JSWBAY.0001004 

It was a wonderful gathering at the conference at The 2022 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Research and Education Conference at Washington University in St. Louis. I presented my work titled "Influence of Water Chemistry and Oxidant Concentration on the Degradation of Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) using rGO-nZVI nanohybrid". Looking forward to attending the next gathering at Northeastern University in 2023! 

I am deeply honored to receive the Robert P. Apmann Memorial Award which recognizes the most outstanding 1st-year graduate student in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering within the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. I would like to thank my advisor Nirupam Aich, PhD, this achievement would not be possible without his continuous guidance.