The Current Team

Principal Investigator

Positions held

• Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (July 2023-Present)

• Postdoctoral researcher, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Jan 2021-June 2023)

Education

• Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• MS in Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii

• B. Tech in Biotechnology, Kathmandu University, Nepal

Fun Fact

I enjoy reading books, drawing, and hiking!

Dr. Shilva Shrestha

Nuhu Mujaheed

PhD Student

Education

• MS in Environmental Engineering & Technology, Ghent University, Belgium

• BEng in Water Resources, and Environmental Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria

Research Interests

• Medium chain carboxylic production via chain elongation technology

• Bioreactor optimization

• Computational modeling

Fun Fact

I can speak Hausa, Jarawa, and English! I've visited the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Egypt, Spain, Greece, Poland, Italy, UAE, Turkey, and Hungary!

Education

• MSc in Applied Environmental Geoscience, University of Tuebingen, Germany

• BEng in Environmental Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China

Research Interests

• Resource recovery from waste streams via microbial chain elongation

• Biochemical methane potential and anaerobic toxicity assay by co-substrate digestion

• Degradation of DEET in wastewater

Fun Fact

I have a terrible sense of direction!

Xuejiao Lyu

PhD Student

Akhil Mulpuru

Master's Student

Education

• M.S. in Biotechnology with a Concentration in Bioinformatics, Johns Hopkins University (Expected May 2025).

• Completed three years of Doctor of Medicine coursework, Touro University Nevada

• B.S. in Health Management/Pre-Medicine, Saint Louis University

Research Interests

• Protein bioinformatics, computational biology, and gastrointestinal (GI) system research.

• Homology modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, and receptor-ligand interactions

• Development of bioinformatics pipelines for gene and protein analysis

Fun Fact

I practice photography and graphic design and enjoy movies, reading, drawing, and hiking.

Niki Zouzoulas

Undergraduate Student

Niki is a sophomore student studying Molecular & Cellular Biology and Environmental Science.

Research Interests

• Application of synthetic microbial consortia towards environmental remediation and resource recovery.

Fun Fact

I love snorkeling!

Juny Lee

Undergraduate Student

Juny is a 2nd year undergraduate student studying Environmental Engineering and minoring in Psychology.

Research Interests

• Bioenergy

• Wastewater treatment

Fun Fact

I am an avid movie fan!

Charles Zhao

Undergraduate Student

Tianxing Zhao is a 3rd year undergrad majoring in Environmental Science. He's interested in ecological interactions in aquatic environments and integrative methods to solve environmental issues from chemical and biological approaches.

Research Interests

• Application of bioreactors

• Aquatic organism interactions and chemistry

Fun Fact

I've been an aquarium tank builder for 4 years and have built 8 fish tanks!

Christopher J.H. Evans

Undergraduate Student

Chris is a 1st year freshman studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Computer Science.

Research Interests

• Bioreactor optimization

• Transcriptomics of synthetic microbiomes

• Persistence dynamics of HIV in people living with HIV in remission

Fun Fact

I love photography and I have my wall covered with my color-coded photos.

Koraly Roca-Avilés

Undergraduate Student

Koraly Roca-Avilés is a 3rd year undergraduate majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Research Interests

• Repurposing waste into renewable energy sources

• Applications of tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting

Fun Fact

I love art, music and composing original songs!

Alumni

Marisa Tomas

Former Master's Student

Former Undergraduate Student

Adalee Lynch

Former Undergraduate Student

Sunny Li

Former Undergraduate Student

Yurui Zhang

Yitao Zong

Former Master's Student