Team

Principle Investigator

Onur Apul

Onur Apul is an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Massachusetts Lowell. He earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Clemson University in 2014. His bachelor's and master's degrees are in Environmental Engineering from Turkey's Middle East Technical University.

Graduate Students

Yigit C. Bozkurt

Yigit is a Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His bachelor's degree is in Environmental Engineering from Turkey's Middle East Technical University with a minor degree in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing. He worked as an environmental engineer for six months at Esli Pollet Water Group. His interest area is nanotechnology and water treatment technology. He is exploring nano-enabled drinking water treatment using microwave irradiation. He enjoys playing the classical guitar and he enjoys doing sport activities during his leisure time.

Arsalan Khalid

I am a Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering at University of Massachusetts Lowell. My dissertation research focuses on exploring adsorption and desorption hysteresis of organic contaminants onto carbon-based nanoparticles. I received my BS degree from NED University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan in Polymer and Petrochemical Engineering and completed my MS degree from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia in Chemical Engineering. My MS thesis title was “Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Polysulfone Nanocomposite Membranes for Water Purification”. During my leisure time, I enjoy playing indoor and outdoor sports, exercising, and meeting new people.

Undergraduate Researcher

Jana Latayan

I am a junior chemical engineering undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I am most interested in bio-environmental chemistry and am currently working on the selective removal of bromine ions from surface waters using capacitive deionization to improve drinking water quality. In my spare time, I enjoy cooking and playing the acoustic guitar.

Ritchie Lafaille

I am a senior civil engineering student at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell with a minor in business administration. Currently, I am working with Dr. Apul on finding new ways to increase the production of biogas from wastewater residual sludge. After graduating, I see myself working in the geo-environmental engineering field and I hope to use my skills to help developing communities and positively impact people’s way of living.