Dr. Nirupam Aich is giving an invited seminar at the Rowan University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series on Thursday, April 3rd, 2025. At this highly honorific seminar, Dr. Aich will discuss his group's research accomplishments on designing advanced materials for water treatment and PFAS remediation.
Title: Advancing Sustainable Nanotechnology Solutions for Emerging Water Pollution from Forever Chemicals PFAS
Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an expansive class of over 15000 compounds that have become global health concern. The strong C-F bond in some of these compounds and presence of both, hydrophobic carbon chain and hydrophilic terminal functional group cause PFAS to be persistent and bio-accumulative, earning the name, 'Forever Chemicals'. Unfortunately, major PFAS treatment and destruction using the conventional water and wastewater treatment processes has not been highly effective and require novel treatment technologies. My research group focuses on the sustainable design, scalable synthesis, and innovative application of novel and multifunctional nanomaterials and nano-systems for water quality engineering while keeping their potential public health impacts to a minimum. I will present my group's research efforts on the PFAS treatment through the rational and safer-design of novel carbon-metallic nanohybrids (i.e., single nano-entity which is a combination of at least two different nanomaterials), while determining how and to what extent the hybridization of nanomaterials alters their potential environmental and human health risk. Understanding the risk benefit relationship will allow us to design safer multifunctional nanohybrids for water and PFAS treatment. I will also discuss how we can leverage advanced manufacturing and membrane processes to design sustainable and scalable technologies for PFAS treatment.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Nirupam Aich is the Richard L. McNeel Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. His research group, Aich Laboratory for Environmental Nanotechnology and Sustainability (#AichLENS), is developing safer-by-design advanced materials and processes for water treatment and reuse as well as remediation of emerging water contaminants including PFAS. Dr. Aich obtained his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015, M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Carolina in 2012, and B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2009. He published total >80 scholarly articles including >60 journal articles which garnered more than 2100 citations. His research has been supported by several federal agencies including NSF, NIH, USDA, USEPA, DOD/SERDP, and USGS. Dr. Aich received the NSF CAREER Award in 2022, American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists (AAEES) 40 under 40 Recognition in 2023, and Emerging Investigator Award from the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) in 2019. He is a fellow of UNL Research Leaders Program, National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI), and Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI). He serves as an early career advisory board member in the editorial board of the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters and guest editor for Journal of Water Process Engineering and Industrial Chemistry & Engineering Research.