My research focuses on the interface between hydrology, environmental engineering, and environmental health. I apply my strong foundations in physics, mathematics, computational methods, and engineering towards solving problems pertaining to the movement of water, pollutants, and energy in the environment, and ultimately to human health. Recent and current research projects include the following: effects of bacterial chemotaxis on contaminant degradation; colloid and pathogen transport in subsurface environments and water filters; spreading of antibiotic resistance in poultry-waste impacted soil; multi-fluid flow in porous media; enhanced geothermal systems; and chronic hydrocarbon releases at gas stations.

I am currently expanding my research efforts to address

  1. the environmental health effects of VOC releases to the atmospheric environment that during fuel transfer operations, e.g., at fuel dispensing facilities and gasoline distribution bulk terminals;
  2. the environmental health effects of truck traffic, with focus on disadvantaged neighborhoods;
  3. air quality measurement based on unmanned aerial vehicles; and
  4. health effects of electronic cigarettes.

My research interests require interdisciplinary solution approaches, and in particular collaboration between engineering and public health. If you have a background in environmental fluid mechanics & pollutant transport, environmental epidemiology, risk assessment, or in other relevant disciplines and if you are interested in joining the team, please send me an email.

Collaborators
Dr. Steve Chillrud Dr. Beizhan Yan Dr. Shao-Yiu Hsu Dr. Bruce Marsh
(Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory) (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory) (National Taiwan University) (Johns Hopkins)

Former Group Members

 Dr. Elizabeth Liu (Ph.D. 2009), BP
Dr. Long Wei (Ph.D., 2007), BP
Dr. Roland Glantz (2003-2010)
Emanuele Pellichero (2011)
Dr. Yaqi You (Ph.D., 2012), University of Nevada, Reno
Dr. Shao-Yiu Hsu (Ph.D., 2012), Assistant Professor, National Taiwanl University, Taiwan
Dr. Zhifeng Yan (Ph.D., 2014), Associate Professor, Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University, PRC
Bernat Adria-Mora