Environmental Science: Nano Blog

Dr. Kathryn Riley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Swarthmore College. She received her Ph.D. from Wake Forest University in 2014 and was a National Research Council (NRC) postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from 2015 to 2016. Before her current appointment, she was a Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD) postdoctoral fellow at Swarthmore from 2016-2018. Dr. Riley’s research involves the development of analytical techniques for the characterization of nanomaterials and their dynamic physical and chemical transformations in biological and environmental matrices. Her research group specifically aims to broaden participation in the field by developing techniques that provide new quantitative insights in less time and at a reduced cost when compared to more commonly employed methods. Projects in her group span the analysis of silver nanomaterials, including their dissolution, aggregation, formation of bio-coronas, and release from commercial products. To learn more about Dr. Riley’s research, visit her lab website or follow her on Twitter.

Read Kathryn Riley’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Emerging investigator series: Quantifying silver nanoparticle aggregation kinetics in real-time using particle impact voltammetry coupled with UV-vis spectroscopy” and read more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Quantifying silver nanoparticle aggregation kinetics in real-time using particle impact voltammetry coupled with UV-vis spectroscopy. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My interest in nanomaterials began while I was in graduate school. At the time, I was developing capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based methods for screening DNA aptamer libraries against clinically relevant protein targets and using next generation sequencing (NGS) for identification of candidate aptamers. To support some research questions of our collaborators, I ended up developing CE separation methods for sub-micron and micron-sized plastic particles. I found the work of developing analytical tools to study particles to be incredibly interesting, so I knew that I wanted to dive deeper into the field of nanotechnology during my postdoc at NIST. There, I continued my work applying the separation principles of CE to gain new insights about nanomaterials. Over the past several years, my work with undergraduate students at Swarthmore has sought to add to our analytical toolkit by developing electrochemical methods to probe the reactivity of metal and metal oxide nanomaterials. Looking ahead, we are excited to start applying these tools to increasingly complex nanomaterial chemistries and contribute new insights to the field.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

Of our current projects, there are two that I’m particularly excited about at the moment. The first builds on the electrochemical techniques we have developed in our lab over the past two years to enable in situ quantification of dissolved and nanoparticulate silver released from textiles. Due to the fast time resolution of the measurement, this technique would allow researchers to quantify release kinetics of the two silver forms simultaneously and without the need for sample preparation. The second project involves evaluation of the silver nanoparticle metabolite corona using a model environmental bacterium. Both of these projects allow us to push our instrumental techniques towards analysis of more complex systems, which is challenging, but exciting.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

There are so many! I think one of the biggest challenges is the wide parameter space to be analyzed, including variations in the physicochemical properties of the nanomaterial, changes in its properties as it encounters diverse water, soil, air, and/or biological chemistries, and the varied responses of the environment to the nanomaterial. There are many excellent small-scale benchtop studies and large-scale mesocosm studies, but with so many parameters to explore, what does it all mean and how can we use the rich information gathered from both types of data to predict the behavior of new or unexplored materials?

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Most often the aspects of my work that I find most exciting are also those that are the most challenging. Our lab has spent a lot of time analyzing silver nanomaterials, which can simultaneously dissolve, aggregate, and form bio- and eco-coronas (and form oxides, sulfides, and insoluble chlorides). This complexity presents a significant analytical challenge for our lab and others – how do you ever isolate and study just one of these processes?! Fortunately, as an analytical chemist, these are precisely the challenges that I am most eager to help the community overcome.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

Whether virtually or in-person, I plan to attend the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) conference in October 2020 and the Environmental Nanotechnology Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in June of 2021.

How do you spend your spare time?

As an alumna of Swarthmore and a former student-athlete, I enjoy spending my free time supporting our athletics teams. I volunteer my weekends to help coach our varsity softball team. In the summer, you can find me tending to my vegetable garden or playing in slow pitch softball leagues.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I think I would be an architect or interior designer – I used to spend hours as a child designing homes on graph paper and even when I had the chance to reconfigure my laboratory space at Swarthmore, I pulled out my iPad and drafted a to-scale design of every inch of that space. The builders must have thought I was crazy (if not for that then for overseeing the “building site” on an almost daily basis), but they literally made my lab design come to life!

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I have had the great fortune of having fantastic mentors throughout my trajectory – some who are in my field, some who are not – some who look like me, some who do not. The single most important characteristic that they’ve all had in common is their ability to be solution oriented as I’ve faced challenges in my career, even as those solutions sometimes pushed me outside of my comfort zone. The deep, mutual respect we built in our mentoring relationship allowed for them to give and for me to receive this advice, and I have become a better leader and mentor to my students because of it. Find mentors like those!

Dr. Juan Pablo Giraldo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside. He initiated working on plant nanobiotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an NSF postdoctoral fellow. He received his Ph.D. in plant biology from Harvard University (2011), and B.S. in both biology and physics from University of Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. Since 2015 the Giraldo Lab at UC Riverside works at the interface between plant biology and nanotechnology. Nanomaterials have unique optical, electronic, and chemical properties that have been widely exploited in biomedical research, but their use in plant biology research and agriculture remains largely unexplored. His lab aims to develop nanoparticle-based research tools to study and engineer plant function at levels of organization ranging from organelles to tissues and whole plants. Dr. Giraldo has published 29 peer reviewed articles in leading journals including Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, and Nano Letters.

Read Juan Pablo Giraldo ’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Emerging investigator series: Molecular mechanisms of plant salinity stress tolerance improvement by seed priming with cerium oxide nanoparticles” and read more about him in the interview below:

Lab website: http://www.giraldolab.com

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Molecular mechanisms of plant salinity stress tolerance improvement by seed priming with cerium oxide nanoparticles. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My first article on plant nanobiotechnology (Nature Materials, 2014) focused on interfacing plant photosynthetic organelles (chloroplasts) and organs (leaves) to provide them with novel or augmented functions. Since then, I have recently turned my attention to plant structures that play a role in reproduction such as flowers and seeds. By understanding how nanomaterials impact the development of these reproductive structures, we can learn how to induce long term and beneficial modifications of crop plant function through conserved molecular mechanisms.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

I am most excited about discovering fundamental rules of how nanomaterials interact with plant interfaces and applying this knowledge to develop more efficient agrochemicals, to turn plants into technology that report their health to electronic devices, or to create plants that act as biomolecule factories on demand.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

There are many important questions to be answered in the field of plant nanobiotechnology. In my lab, I am currently focusing on understanding how the plant molecular machinery interacts with and transforms nanomaterials. In turn, how do nanomaterials transform plant biomolecule function and structure? The synergy between plants and nanotechnology has the potential to improve human condition and lead to a more sustainable world.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

The diversity of plant structure and function challenges our ability to create nanotechnology-based tools that can be applied across multiple plant taxa. However, plants share multiple common features that we hope are the gates for designing nanomaterials with broad applicability.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I enjoy Gordon Research Conferences, especially those on nano-enabled agriculture and environmental nanotechnology, that allow for more in person interactions between researchers. I also present my work at ACS and Sustainable Nanotechnology conferences.

How do you spend your spare time?

With my family and friends exploring the outdoors. We love hiking and camping in natural parks. Being in Southern California, we get to enjoy beaches, mountains and deserts all within a 1-hour drive.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I would love to be a nature cinematographer to explore and share the diverse and largely unknown life of all the organisms on this planet.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Break boundaries across disciplines, work on an area of your own, and become a leader in your field.

We are delighted to share with you a selection of high-impact papers by Emerging Investigators in the field of environmental science and engineering. These papers, published across Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, Environmental Science: Nano, and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, showcase the breadth of exciting research being conducted by rising stars in our field.

The latest work from rising stars of environmental science

Emerging investigator series: polymeric nanocarriers for agricultural applications: synthesis, characterization, and environmental and biological interactions
Stacie Louie et al

Emerging investigator series: synthesis of magnesium oxide nanoparticles fabricated on a graphene oxide nanocomposite for CO₂ sequestration at elevated temperatures
C. A. Gunathilake et al

Emerging investigator series: use of behavioural endpoints in the regulation of chemicals
Marlene Ågerstrand et al [OPEN ACCESS]

Emerging investigator series: critical review of photophysical models for the optical and photochemical properties of dissolved organic matter
Garrett McKay

Emerging investigator series: primary emissions, ozone reactivity, and byproduct emissions from building insulation materials
Elliott Gall et al

Emerging investigator series: membrane distillation and high salinity: analysis and implications
Andrea Achilli et al

Emerging investigator series: phosphorus recovery from municipal wastewater by adsorption on steelmaking slag preceding forward osmosis: an integrated process
Biplob Kumar Pramanik et al

Emerging investigator series: carbon electrodes are effective for the detection and reduction of hexavalent chromium in water
Noémie Elgrishi et al [OPEN ACCESS]

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The RSC’s Emerging Investigator Series provides a unique platform for early-career environmental scientists & engineers to showcase their best work to a broad audience. Contact us to apply for consideration in this Series. To be eligible, you will need to have completed your PhD (or equivalent degree) within the last 10 years†, have an independent career and appear as corresponding author on the manuscript.

Across the journals, the Emerging Investigator Series is curated by our Series Editors; David Cwiertny, Jeremy Guest, Long Nghiem, Ligy Philip, Delphine Farmer, Lenny Winkel, Guang-Guo Ying and Peter Vikesland.

Read more of our Emerging Investigator Series papers using the links below.

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Nano Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Emerging Investigator Series

Also, read the latest interviews with our Emerging Investigators to find out more about their work and the important research challenges that they are tackling.

†Appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path

Melanie Kah is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Environment of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She graduated with a MSc in Agronomy and Soil Sciences (University of Nancy, France), before completing her PhD at the University of York (UK). She was then recruited by the UK Food and Environmental Research Agency (FERA) where she assessed the exposure and hazard of a wide range of contaminants within projects commissioned by government and industry. After a couple of years, Melanie returned to academia and moved to the University of Vienna (Austria). This is where she started developing projects looking at the interactions between organic contaminants and natural/engineered nanoparticles, and nanopesticides in particular. Melanie was Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the CSIRO (2018, Australia) before moving to the University of Auckland in 2019.

Read Melanie Kah’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Emerging investigator series: Nanotechnology to develop novel agrochemicals: critical issues to consider in the global agricultural context” and read more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Nanotechnology to develop novel agrochemicals: critical issues to consider in the global agricultural context. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

I am an agronomist by training. I started my research career looking at conventional pesticides and in particular, how they behave in soil. When I started working in a group with a strong focus on nanotechnology-related research, I was immediately attracted by the idea of using nanotechnology to improve our current approaches for crop protection and nutrition. There was not much happening in this field when I started…and it is fantastic to see how much is going on now!

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

I am excited to see the current wealth of enthusiasm and creativity around the applications of nanotechnology in agriculture, it is fascinating! Something I really enjoy is the opportunity to navigate across scientific communities that apply different approaches and have different perceptions. I find interactions with people outside of my own field very inspiring. I am currently exploring how social scientists can help increasing our impact by creating stronger engagement with a range of stakeholders. Transdisciplinary collaboration helps us to include end users at the earliest stages of development, recognise their values and co-design nano-enabled products that they really need and that they trust, and this is very exciting for me.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

This is a question that our paper intends to address. There are many scientific questions that need to be answered to advance the field, including those around the development of more powerful and accessible analytical techniques, or the improvement in our capacity to synthesize nanoparticles with new functionalities, for instance, particles that can respond to specific stimuli.

If we take a step back and consider the current environmental impact of the agri-food sector, we should also recognise that technology is not always the right avenue to improve efficiency and sustainability. Solutions are multi-faceted and highly context dependent. More work is needed to critically assess the performances of nano-enabled solutions (and other technologies) against the gains achieved by improved agronomic practices for instance, and how this plays out in a given social, economic and political context.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Analytical challenges. I tend to work with organic nanoparticles that cannot be easily detected once in the environment and techniques that are used for metal or metal oxide nanomaterials are often unsuitable. We constantly face analytical challenges, especially because I like working with soil, which adds another layer of complexity.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

Definitely, the Gordon Research Conference on Nanoscale Science and Engineering for Agriculture and Food Systems. The meeting was planned for June 2020 but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme was fantastic including very high profile speakers. The meeting is rescheduled to June 2022 and I warmly recommend to attend! More information is available here. This is a great conference to meet a very friendly, multidisciplinary and inspiring community!

How do you spend your spare time?

The last couple months have been mainly home-based as New Zealand has taken very stringent lock down measures to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to invent many new indoor activities to keep our toddler entertained and had a lot of fun! I am now really looking forward to travel again and explore New Zealand with my family, do bush walks and discover the native wildlife.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I love travelling so perhaps a specialised travel agent for adventurers.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Be kind, respectful and inclusive. Find sponsors and be a good sponsor to others when you can.

Quin Miller is a Research Scientist (Chemist) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA, USA. After completing his Geology undergraduate studies at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, Quin worked at PNNL as a geochemistry post-bachelor’s research associate under the mentorship of Senior Research Scientist Todd Schaef. Quin then continued his studies for his Geology PhD at the University of Wyoming under the supervision of Prof. John Kaszuba, conducting dissertation research on the “Geochemistry of Multiphase CO₂-H₂O-Rock Interactions in Nanoconfined Environments.” During his PhD studies, he returned to PNNL on several occasions as a visiting researcher and also spent four months working with Dr. Gernot Rother at Oak Ridge National Lab via the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Research (SCGSR) Fellowship program. After completing his PhD in August 2017, Quin spent two years as a PNNL geochemistry postdoctoral research associate expanding his experimental, analytical, and professional skillsets under the guidance of Todd Schaef and Laboratory Fellow Dr. Kevin Rosso. In 2019, Quin was recognized with an Outstanding Postdoc Award for exceptional contributions to PNNL, with the nomination criteria including productivity, innovation, dedication, hard work, and strong sponsor impact/visibility. Quin was also elected to the Clay Minerals Society Council for the 2020-2022 term, and recently received a 2020 PNNL Outstanding Performance Award for laboratory safety.

Read Quin Miller’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Emerging investigator series: ion diffusivities in nanoconfined interfacial water films contribute to mineral carbonation thresholds” and read more about him in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Ion Diffusivities in Nanoconfined Interfacial Water Films Contribute to Mineral Carbonation Thresholds. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

I was fortunate to find a great mentor early in my research career, Todd Schaef, who emphasized the importance of continuing my education, setting measurable goals, assembling a strong research team, and producing focused, data-driven manuscripts. When I wrote my first research paper during my post-bachelor’s research position, my primary concerns were learning to complete an investigation, navigate the publishing process, and having a finished product to show to graduate programs. As my graduate studies progressed and I worked to pin down the scope of my dissertation, my advisor, Professor John Kaszuba, reminded me that many highly technical pursuits aren’t just missing the forest for the trees, but missing the forest for the leaves. I also credit John for giving me a lot of latitude to explore ideas and for greatly influencing my writing and thinking styles, including a willingness to get excited about both the big idea and the associated minutiae.

These days, I continue to work with collaborators to probe interfacial processes with PNNL’s world-unique high-pressure experimental suite, including in situ X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic spectroscopy. I am also fortunate to be working on a broader range of projects led by Laboratory Fellow Dr. Pete McGrail that include subsurface sensing technology R&D and planned field deployments. I am also able to work more closely with staff from PNNL’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) user facility, including Dr. Mark Bowden. Importantly, as we demonstrate in our present Environmental Science: Nano article, molecular modelling insights from Dr. Sebastien Kerisit are providing vital molecular-scale insight into reaction mechanisms and processes observed via experiment. This type of experimental/theoretical crosscut is a signature strength of PNNL’s Basic Energy Science Geochemistry program that is led by Dr. Kevin Rosso.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

I am most excited about collaboration opportunities and working with investigators with a diversity of backgrounds, ideas, and research interests. It’s exciting to be at the early stages of a career, surrounded by a vibrant mix of established and early-career researchers. I also looks forward to staying diversified enough that I will someday be tackling problems with scientists that have yet to be born and AI collaborators that have not yet come online. In the short term, I will be co-mentoring two students this summer. I am also excited about the continuing development of our laboratory-based in situ X-ray diffraction capability that will enable us to probe an expanded pressure-temperature-composition space and work with a greater variety of samples. Research conducted with this capability will support several PNNL and DOE programs, including those concerned with nucleation and growth of applied functional materials like metal-organic frameworks and atomically-precise heterostructures. Todd Schaef and I are always interested in new collaborations to take advantage of our “24/7” beamtime with our current setup.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

The most important questions concern how to successfully connect disparate spatial and temporal scales, as quantifying ephemeral atomic- to molecular-scale phenomena is vital to understanding coupled societal- and planetary-scale processes whose ebbs and flows will outlast us all. For example, how do we take molecular-scale insights about interfacial mineral carbonation and clay mineral swelling and use this information to not only predict but control the fate and transport of CO₂ in a geologic carbon or hydrocarbon reservoir? Successful bridging between of fundamental and applied science will by absolute necessity involve interdisciplinary collaboration. For instance, a research frontier I am excited to explore concerns coupled geochemical, geophysical, and geomechanical phenomena at the nanoscale, which have outsized yet poorly-understood influences on subsurface energy storage and extraction.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

My biggest challenge is finding time to explore all of the ideas that interest me and choose which ones to pursue in depth! Partly it’s a classic, age-old problem: it’s a lot easier to collect data than to process, interpret, and publish it.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

Given this worldwide health crisis, nothing is set in stone for my conference schedule. I hope everyone can be as healthy, safe, and united as possible during this difficult time. I was scheduled to present at the Spring American Chemical Society Meeting (Philadelphia, PA) on March 25^th, but it has been cancelled due to the global COVID-19 outbreak. I plan to present at the June 15-19 Clay Minerals Society meeting to be held at PNNL (Richland, WA), and the abstract deadline for that meeting is March 15^th. I am also co-chairing a session at the June 21-26 Goldschmidt 2020 geochemistry conference in Honolulu, HI and will also present at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), which will be held in Austin, TX from July 20-22. In August I plan on presenting at the Department of Energy Carbon Storage project review meeting (Pittsburg, PA) and the Fall ACS meeting (San Francisco, CA), finally wrapping up the calendar year with the December 7-11 American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.  I may also be reached via quin<dot>miller<at>pnnl.gov and @quinmiller.

How do you spend your spare time?

I enjoy hiking, skiing, tennis, and reading.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

If I weren’t working as a scientist, I would choose a field that promoted curiosity and inquiry about the natural world and our place in it. I would also enjoy working in an emerging markets startup and getting to interact with movers and shakers from around the globe and assist them in connecting ideas, institutions, and researchers.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Never underestimate the power of small habits.

Chamila Gunathilake is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, at the University of Peradeniya. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He completed his Ph.D. in Nano Science and Engineering at KSU,  OH, USA. His current work focuses on the development of nanoporous and mesoporous carbon silica materials with organic pendant and bridging groups and incorporated metal (aluminum, zirconium, calcium, and magnesium) species for low, ambient, and high-temperature carbon dioxide (CO₂) sorption, phosphorous-hydroxy functionalized mesoporous silica materials for water treatment, and amidoxime-modified ordered mesoporous silica materials for uranium sorption under seawater conditions. He has so far received nine awards including three ACS awards: ACS-(Industrial & Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Symposium Award for the year 2015 (ACS 250) and 2016 (ACS 252) and ACS Environmental Chemistry Student Award for the year 2016 (ACS 251) and Presidential Award for Scientific Publication in 2019. His academic career has resulted in approximately 30 publications and 44 international conference papers holding an H factor of 20 and an I-10 index of 15. (ACS-American Chemical Society)

Read Chamila Gunathilake’s Emerging Investigator Series article “Emerging investigator series: Synthesis of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles Fabricated on Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite for CO2 Sequestration at Elevated Temperatures” and read more about him in the interview below:

Recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on Synthesis of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles Fabricated on Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite for CO₂ Sequestration at Elevated Temperatures. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article? 

My first paper, Mesoporous organosilica–alumina composites and their thermal treatment in nitrogen for carbon dioxide sorption at elevated temperatures, was emerged from grad life. During my graduate research life, I have experienced with various metal-organic frameworks (MOF) synthesis, surface characterization, and assembly of nanoscale materials and methods to integrate nanomaterials with other materials via polymer assisted self-assembly process for environmental and catalytic applications, including high-temperature carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration from power plant, treatment of wastewater streams, uranium extraction from seawater. Grad life is the best moment in my life, and it paved the way to increase my boundaries of thought, where I felt my capacity to do something fascinating is still undiscovered inside. This is the first time I worked with graphene and graphene oxide that blended with magnesium to produce nanocomposites and applied to high-temperature CO₂ sorption. I obtained impressive results that are highly comparable to the materials I have studied in the past that led to thirtieth publications in 2020.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

At the moment, I am interested in designing novel sorbents for polluted water treatment and uranium extraction from seawater. As you know water is essential for life on earth, and consequently, it must be obtained in pure form. Water pollution problems are most serious in large cities in developing countries like my mother country, Sri Lanka. Currenntly, many people are suffering from kidney disease caused by heavy metals and I am trying to find an alternative solution to resolve this issue. Testing specific surface-functionalized mesoporous silica materials for uranium sorption under seawater conditions is another interesting project. Although the concentration of uranium in seawater is only about 3 ppb, a gigantic volume of all oceans (about 1.37 billion Km³) contains about 4.5 billion tons of uranium. I would say, if we can recover only 50 % of this resource, it would be enough to upkeep nuclear reactors worldwide for about 6,500 years. Among many actinide elements, uranium is the major and common fuel for nuclear reactors. Thus, there is a great interest in extracting uranium from seawater and use it as an alternative sustainable energy source. The final goal is to design composite materials with desired porosity, surface area, and functionality by selecting proper metal oxide precursors, organosilanes, and block copolymer templates and by adjusting synthesis conditions for the aforementioned applications

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Uranium extraction from seawater, I believe the most pressing question would be, how can we increase the adsorption capacity and rate of adsorption of uranium with the designed material. Typically to extract 1 Kg of yellow uranium cake, the average submerging time of the sample is six months. Moreover, it is necessary to know how to overcome issues such as handling nanomaterials in seawater and accessing a large amount of seawater for given materials. 

Regarding the application of CO₂ sorption, there has been an issue to apply those materials under practical operating conditions. Thus, I believe the requirement of proper engineering design and studying recycle stability and reusability studies is mandatory.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Any person would love to feel the pristine nature of the environment than a grimy one. We as chemical engineers/ chemists are the major stakeholders responsible for making the planet earth free of venomous debris. So, I firmly believe that it is our responsibility to give back mother nature and its’ glory again. We will be able to rectify at least some percentage of mistakes committed by our own by doing so. I do feel emphasis shown towards the environment should be more and we should be at the forefront of educating the community. I feel that science & engineering helps me to better understand issues regarding carbon dioxide capture, wastewater treatment, uranium extraction, and gives me a chance to make the earth a better place to live. However, getting at the heart of any research question in the Environmental field requires extensive knowledge in other fields. Sometimes, I wish I could have another graduate degree in Environmental, Polymer and Chemical engineering all at once to understand just one piece of the puzzle. Extending into literature outside my comfort zone is always challenging.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I will be in Nano 9, a conference in Poland in September where my graduate advisor holds a co-chair position in Nano 9. 

How do you spend your spare time?

I enjoy spending time with my staff members, friends, and family members. I most of the time willing to help people who essentially need our hand to live. Outside the academic work, I mostly preferred for traveling through nature made aesthetic places. Most of the spare time, I listen to music and play sports. 

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

If I were not in academics, I always thought that I’d like to be a travelling guide who helped tourists to travel throughout my small country. 

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early-career scientists?

At different stages of life, we are working on different efficiencies. In case one stage fails, you can turn your life into a better place in the next stage. So, for early-career scientists, I would recommend collaborating strategically with people from different fields and developing your unique research brand. While working with them, learn a lot about teamwork, learn how to interact with different people and share your skills with them. Participate in national and international oral and poster presentations, present your research, encounter cutting-edge science of different fields, hear the latest information in your areas of professional interest, and network with colleagues.

We are delighted to share with you a selection of high-impact papers by Emerging Investigators in the field of environmental science and engineering. These papers, published in Environmental Science: Nano as well as our sister journals Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, showcase the breadth of exciting research being conducted by rising stars in our field.

The latest work from rising stars of environmental science

Emerging investigator series: towards a framework for establishing the impacts of pharmaceuticals in wastewater irrigation systems on agro-ecosystems and human health
Laura Carter et al

Emerging investigator series: spatial distribution of dissolved organic matter in ice and at air–ice interfaces
Tara Kahan et al

Emerging investigator series: atmospheric cycling of indium in the northeastern United States
Sarah Jane White et al

Emerging investigator series: transformation of common antibiotics during water disinfection with chlorine and formation of antibacterially active products
Olya Keen et al

Emerging investigator series: photocatalysis for MBR effluent post-treatment: assessing the effects of effluent organic matter characteristics
Samuel Snow et al

Emerging investigator series: treatment and recycling of heavy metals from nanosludge
Jing Zhang et al

Emerging investigator series: characterization of silver and silver nanoparticle interactions with zinc finger peptides
Korin Wheeler et al

Emerging investigator series: protein adsorption and transformation on catalytic and food-grade TiO₂ nanoparticles in the presence of dissolved organic carbon
Kyle Doudrick et al

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The RSC’s Emerging Investigator Series provides a unique platform for early-career environmental scientists & engineers to showcase their best work to a broad audience. Contact us to apply for consideration in this Series. To be eligible, you will need to have completed your PhD (or equivalent degree) within the last 10 years†, have an independent career and appear as corresponding author on the manuscript.

Across the environmental science journals, the Emerging Investigator Series is curated by our Series Editors; David Cwiertny, Jeremy Guest, Long Nghiem, Ligy Philip, Delphine Farmer, Lenny Winkel, Guang-Guo Ying and Peter Vikesland.

Read more of our Emerging Investigator Series papers using the links below.

Environmental Science: Nano Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Emerging Investigator Series

Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Emerging Investigator Series

Also, read the latest interviews with our Emerging Investigators to find out more about their work and the important research challenges that they are tackling.

We hope you enjoy reading these papers from future leaders in the field of environmental science.

†Appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path