Featured Faculty Highlights
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Dr. Mary Jo Kirisits Ph.D. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2000 |
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| Professor Mary Jo Kirisits has received a $400,000 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to study "Environmental Impacts of Nanomaterials in Engineered Water Systems: Biological and Physical Effects on Microorganisms." Professor Kirisits and her students will focus on biofilms and mixed microbial communities in this research. The study will provide a fundamental understanding of the unintentional role that nanomaterials play in shaping the microbial communities of engineered processes, including those associated with drinking water, wastewater and water reuse - perhaps demonstrating that the presence of nanomaterials changes the balance among benign, beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms in these systems. |
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Dr. Kerry Kinney Ph.D. University of California, Davis, 1996 |
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| Dr. Kerry Kinney was recently promoted to full Professor. Over the last several years, Kerry's research program has evolved from a primary emphasis on treatment process design for air pollution control applications to encompass a variety of fields including molecular biology investigations of environmental systems, indoor air quality assessments and industrial wastewater treatment. The common thread throughout this research has been her interest in investigating microorganisms in engineered and natural environments and, wherever possible, utilizing these microorganisms to remediate contamination or to create a useful product. In her work, she collaborates with a wide range of researchers from environmental engineering, chemical engineering, molecular biology and biology. This interdisciplinary approach has provided her with the opportunity to address a wide variety of environmental research problems including her recent work on biofuel production from algae. |
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Daene McKinney Ph.D. Cornell University, 1990 |
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| Daene McKinney researches planning and management of water resources. He is especially interested in integrated management considering engineering, economic, environmental and political considerations in transboundary basins, developing and applying numerical methods for simulation, optimization, the uncertainty analysis of water resources planning and management problems, and the development of laboratory and field experimental techniques for the characterization and remediation of aquifer and groundwater contamination. Professor McKinney is a member of the Committee to Review the IJC Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Study of the National Academies of Science, National Research Council, Water Science and Technology Board. He also serves as the editor of the Journal of Water Resource Planning and Management and is an author of the recently published book Bridges Over Water: Understanding Transboundary Water Conflict, Negotiation, and Cooperation. |
