Dissertation research
Co-metabolic biodegradation of 1,4-dioxane
Investigating how propane, 1-propanol, and 2-propanol shape propanotrophic communities and their capacity to remove 1,4-dioxane.
- Enrichment cultures
- qPCR & metagenomics
- GC–MS / GC–FID
Environmental engineering · Michigan State University
Microbial processes for cleaner water.
I combine controlled experiments, chemical measurements, and molecular analysis to understand how microbial communities transform groundwater contaminants.
Environmental microbiology & bioremediation
Harnessing microbial communities to protect groundwater.
My research combines enrichment cultures, molecular tools, and contaminant analysis to understand—and improve—co-metabolic biodegradation of persistent groundwater pollutants.
R·02
Microbial ecology
Organisms and enzymes behind biodegradation
Identifying key organisms, propane monooxygenase genes, and community responses associated with contaminant transformation.
R·03
Applied remediation
Bioaugmentation and mixed contaminants
Evaluating sustained aerobic degradation in systems with TCE, cis-DCE, and 1,1-DCE, and exploring the potential of enriched cultures for mixed-contaminant remediation.
R·04
Emerging collaboration · study in development
PFAS and microbial transformation
Developing a collaboration to test selected PFAS compounds with enrichment cultures. Analytical methods and experimental conditions are being finalized; transformation outcomes have not yet been established.
02 / Current directions
Research interests and work in progress
Bioremediation and microbial ecology
Cometabolic biodegradation and bioaugmentation of 1,4-dioxane and chlorinated solvents; functional genes, metagenomics and transcriptomics in environmental microbiology.
Emerging contaminants
Developing experiments on microbial transformation of selected PFAS compounds. Analytical methods and study conditions are being finalized; results are forthcoming.
Water systems
Hydrologic and water-quality modeling, uncertainty, contaminant fate and Great Lakes water-resource sustainability.
Manuscript in preparation
Sustained 1,4-dioxane cometabolism in cultures from diverse sources, comparing propane and alcohol growth substrates with metagenomic and transcriptomic insights. This work is in progress.
03 / Water systems
Hydrologic modeling and environmental data
My background in water resources and hydrological modeling complements my experimental research. It includes contaminant-plume modeling and large-lake water-balance work using L2SWBM, including Lake Victoria research with Andrew Gronewold at the University of Michigan.