Dr. Apul and Dean Humphrey visited Haley & Ward to have a meeting regarding the re-branding of endowed laboratory that houses Apul Research Group. The endowment, which is previously branded as CES will become Haley & Ward. Thank you for the generous support for our labs.
Dr. Apul published a collaborative journal article in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science with Garcia-Segura group of Arizona State University. This study is entitled: "Elucidating CO2 nanobubble interfacial reactivity and impacts on water chemistry" and reveals the first evidence of buffering capacity when CO2 bubbles are 'pulverized' to submicron sizes. Congratulations Gabriel!
Girl Scouts of Maine visited our campus to learn about microplastic pollution. Prof. Ross and her research group supported the event and all students participated in 'bubble estuary microplastic hunt', 'hydraulic wave tank microplastic observation' and 'crayon drawing event'. All activities were sponsored by Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. Our students had a blast with this activity. Hope to see girl scouts again on campus next year!
Recent alumnus Ritchie Lafaille published his first peer-reviewed article in Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. His article is entitled: "Repeatable Use Assessment of Silicon Carbide as Permanent Susceptor Bed in Ex Situ Microwave Remediation of Petroleum-Impacted Soils". This article was a collaboration between Chevron and Arizona State University researchers. Kudos Ritchie.
Ashton Collins and Amatullah Ahmad presented a poster at the 95th ACS Colloid and Surface Science Symposium. The poster was entitled: Determination of organic matter leaching from microplastics during ultraviolet weathering. The work was a collaboration between Dr. Perreault of Arizona State University and Dr. Ateia of Northwestern.
Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost and Office of the Vice President for Research of University of Maine selected Dr. Apul for the first cohort of the EMPOWER mentoring program. Dr. Apul is paired with Dr. Sharmila Mukhopadhyay, the Director of Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies. The cohort will start the 1- year program in August 1st, 2021.
Apul Research Group recently got an article accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. The article entitled "Effect of superfine pulverization of powdered activated carbon on adsorption of carbamazepine in natural source waters" investigates the role of submicron pulverization of activated carbons on their adsorptive properties. Congratulations Semra for the accomplishment.
Dr. Apul and Dr. Garcia-Segura of Arizona State University received a new research grant to study water treatment in microgravity environments. The work will be supported by Maine Space Grant Consortium, an initiative of Maine NASA EPSCoR Program.
PhD student Busra Sonmez got her critical review paper accepted in Environmental Science and Technology. The article is titled: "Thermal Regeneration of Spent Granular Activated Carbon Presents an Opportunity to Break the Forever PFAS Cycle". This collaborative paper was a joint effort between James Reuther of University of Massachusetts Lowell, Arjun Venkatesan and Yi Zhang of Stony Brook University and Navid Saleh of University of Texas at Austin. The efforts were lead by Dr. Apul of University of Maine. Great work Busra. Kudos.
Dr. Apul presented as an invited seminar speaker virtually at University of Florida's Department of Environmental and Global Health Seminar Series. The presentation was entitled: "Nanotechnology and Responsible Water Treatment". The coordination of the seminar was conducted by Dr. Tara Sabo-Attwood. Many thanks to her and the engaging and welcoming audience.
