Tackling Selenium Pollution: Sarkar's Dowd Fellowship Research
PhD student Preom Sarkar’s research project for the Dowd Fellowship combines her interests in microbiology and environmental remediation by identifying relevant selenium oxyanion-reducing bacteria in hopes of removing selenium from coal wastewater. Small changes in the concentrations of selenium in the environment can cause detrimental ecological consequences. Anthropogenic selenium pollution is due to coal combustion, contributing to about one-fifth of U.S. electricity generation.
Sarkar, who Professor Greg Lowry advises, is focused on improving biological treatment processes for flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater. The EPA has placed limits on the amount of selenium that can be discharged from this wastewater; however, as Sarkar notes, more than half of operating treatment systems for coal plants do not meet discharge limits. Optimizing biological treatment to target selenium in FGD wastewater is crucial for the health of the environment.
The Dowd Engineering Seed Fund for Graduate Student Fellowships was established over 20 years ago by Philip Dowd (MSE ’63) and his wife Marsha to support doctoral students' pioneering research for a year, prioritizing underexplored fields. Recipients of the 2023 fellowship, covering full doctoral expenses, aim to revolutionize fields like healthcare, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence with their ambitious projects.
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