Detailed List of Research Projects for Summer 2003

Dr. Elizabeth Butler
Environmental Transformation Reactions. Students will work on one of two projects related to environmental transformation reactions. The first project involves measuring the rates and products of degradation of chlorinated organic pollutants by iron metal under a variety of experimental conditions. The goal of these experiments is to identify the conditions under which hazardous pollutants are transformed to harmless products by iron metal. The second project involves measuring the rates of oxidation of common wastewater constituents such as alcohols, carboxylic acids, ammonia, and amines, by titanium dioxide photocatalytic oxidation, an advanced water treatment process.

Dr. Tohren Kibbey
Environmental Interactions in Contaminated Unsaturated Soils. Many contaminated sites contain complex mixtures of organic pollutants, which may include oils, solvents and detergents. Understanding how mixed contaminants interact with soils can be important for designing treatment strategies, and for understanding how contaminants will influence the physical properties of the soil. REU students will measure interactions between organic liquids and natural soils, studying the interaction of organic liquids on soil physical and chemical behavior.

Dr. Randall Kolar
Environmental Modeling. Students will develop, analyze, or apply physics-based numerical models of environmental systems, ranging from surface water hydraulics to subsurface contaminant transport and fate. If possible, students will be paired with other REU students who are conducting physical experiments, so that the resulting data can be used for model calibration and verification. Past projects have included modeling the water quality of wetland ecosystems, adding new physics (e.g., vegetative resistance to shallow water flows) to existing models, testing of complex numerical codes that simulate the hydrodynamic behavior of lakes and estuaries, benchmarking codes on high performance computing platforms, and optimizing a code and file I/O for maximum efficiency.

Dr. Gerald Miller
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics. Students will investigate unsaturated soil mechanics via field and laboratory experiments. Students will work toward developing improved methods for interpreting lab and field test results taking account of the influence of moisture content and matric suction. Experimental work will include advanced elemental testing of unsaturated soils in the Unsaturated Soil Mechanics Laboratory (USML), as well as tests on physical models of geotechnical systems (e.g. foundations, in situ testing devices). Students will have an opportunity to work with others who are using experimental results to develop constitutive models and calibrate numerical codes for unsaturated soil engineering.

Dr. K. K. (Muralee) Muraleetharan
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. Students will study the behavior of geotechnical engineering structures such as dams, embankments, and waterfront structures subjected to earthquake loads using analytical, numerical, and experimental methods. Students will get an opportunity to analyze some real world structures, such as the Port of Los Angeles' Pier 400 for seismic loads, using high performance finite element computer codes and develop visualization tools to animate the results obtained from these analyses.

Dr. Robert W. Nairn
Ecological Biogeochemistry and Wetlands Science. Students will examine the ecology and biogeochemistry of natural and constructed ecosystems, including wetlands, streams, lakes and riparian areas. Students will work in a team environment with Dr. Strevett's group. Emphasis will be placed on investigations of surface water quality, and links with biological integrity, elemental cycling of natural and anthropogenic materials, ecological restoration and ecological engineering.

Dr. Mark A. Nanny
Humate-Enhanced Remediation of Petroleum Contaminated Soils. Humates are geo-organic materials that enhance hydrocarbon adsorption and facilitate biodegradation. REU students will be involved in laboratory and pilot-scale field tests to determine: 1) if hydrocarbons strongly-bound to humates are bioavailable, 2) to determine if humate-induced remediation of diesel fuel and gasoline contaminated soils is a viable and feasible remediation strategy, and 3) to transfer knowledge gained from laboratory tests to pilot-scale ex-situ experiments testing the effectiveness of humate-induced remediation for soils contaminated with crude oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline.

Dr. Deborah Nelson
Occupational Health Risk Assessment. In October 2002, the World Health Organization published the results of the Comparative Risk Assessment – Global Burden of Disease. A risk model based on employment by industry, industry exposure data, occupational turnover, labor force participation rates, risk management criteria, and relative risks of exposure was developed for the project. Worldwide, occupational exposures accounted for 1 – 2% of illness, injuries, and fatalities. This model will be used to determine the burden of occupational disease and injury in the U.S. for high-risk industries by age, gender, ethnic group, and geographic area.

Dr. David Sabatini
Surfactant-based Environmental Technologies / Novel Sorbents. Students will help develop novel surfactant-based systems for environmental remediation, for replacing organic solvents and/or for developing new sorbents. This work will involve laboratory studies of various surfactant-contaminant systems and characterization techniques to assess system performance. This research will provide innovative approaches for remediating and/or protecting the environment and human health from contamination by organic compounds.

Dr. Keith Strevett
Applied Environmental Microbiology. Students will use environmental microbiology techniques to examine the microbial integrity and biogeochemistry of contaminated ecosystems. Ecosystem scale studies for sustainable environments will require a team effort. Students will work in a team environment with other REU participants and graduate students. Emphasis will be placed on investigations of water quality impacts (both surface and groundwater), and links with agrochemical cycling of natural and anthropogenic materials, pathogen transport, microbial ecology, natural attenuation and ecological engineering.

Dr. Baxter Vieux
Water Resources Management. Sudents will work on water management issues dealing with water quality and quantity. Evaluation of water resources is aided by the use of simulation models, data analysis, and geographical information systems (GIS). Remote sensing data and GIS maps are useful for simulating water resources. Data that can be used are digital elevation models; precipitation rates from NEXRAD radar; and soil maps. In a related area, water quality from nonpoint sources of pollution can be studied by REU in conjunction with Dr. Kolar.

Dr. Musharraf Zaman
Recycled Pavement Materials. Students will explore innovative ways for recycling of asphalt millings so as to minimize environmental impact and avoid disposal of such materials in landfills. Concurrently, REU students will examine common performance-related problems such as stripping, rutting and thermal cracking, and explore ways to characterize them and overcome them. Engineering properties of rejuvenated asphalt mixes, such as strength, permeability, and stability will be evaluated in the laboratory. Use of contaminated materials (aggregates, soils) in making asphalt products will be explored.