(4kz) Bio-Based Separation of Precious Metals As a Teaching-Focused Faculty Member

Searching for teaching-focused future opportunities: tenure-track faculty member at primarily undergraduate university, lecturing professor at an R1 or R2 university, or postdoctoral research associate in engineering education.

Current Research & Teaching:

The demand and price of rare earth elements (REEs) have escalated drastically due to REE use in several high-tech products. There is a wide range of technologies that require REEs as a vital component. However, the concentrated deposits of REEs are limited globally and therefore, there is a need to recycle REEs from electronic and other waste streams to fulfill the demand. Among many proposed recycling routes, bio-based recycling strategies have several advantages as they show higher selectivity, use fewer toxic chemicals, have high regeneration, fast kinetics and are cost-efficient. My doctoral research focuses on investigating peptide-based materials for separation and recovery of REEs from industrial waste streams with very dilute REE concentrations.

Over the past 3 years as a PhD student, I have gained significant experience in teaching and mentoring. I have taught lectures on protein engineering with my advisor and taught senior lab as a teaching assistant. I have mentored three undergraduate researchers within our research group with one as a co-author on my recent paper. I participated in beer brewing competition in 2023 at AIChE national meeting and won the most efficient beer award as a team. I am the first author of a recently accepted pedagogy research article titled “A Synergistic Approach to Outreach and Teaching: Combining Service Learning at the College Level with a Summer Hands-on Outreach Program in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for High School Girls” in the Journal of Chemical Education. In this work, we demonstrated how the self-efficacy (belief about one’s abilities) of students ranging from high school to graduate level is improved through science and engineering hands-on activities. An integrated service-learning module in a protein engineering class, where students were tasked with developing outreach activities, helped undergraduate and graduate students view engineering and community service as linked. Undergraduate and graduate students also felt it was more important to use engineering to provide a useful service to the community after the class with the service-learning component. Overall, the combination of high-school community outreach with service learning at the undergraduate and graduate level has a synergistic positive impact on self-efficacy and social responsibility.

Future Research & Teaching Interests:

The industrialization and technological advancements have resulted in a massive increase in heavy metal-related contaminations in the environment causing serious human and environmental health issues. [1-3] The heavy metals are toxic and many of them are carcinogenic. [4] Even at very low concentrations, the exposure can affect humans, plants, animals, and the soil.[5] Industrial wastewater contains several heavy metals such as iron, mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, and copper. [3]. In my proposed research, I will focus on the separation and recovery of these metals using peptide-based materials. I will use my current knowledge and design novel affinity peptides with high selectivity for the efficient separation and recovery to reduce the environmental burden and human health due to the undesired exposure.

In the classroom, I am excited to teach the chemical engineering core courses and develop new electives in the areas of protein engineering, molecular modeling, and simulation. I am interested in teaching chemical engineering labs and senior design projects. I will guide and mentor the students in their professional development. I plan to use active learning methodologies that encourage students to participate in-class activities. I will emphasize the importance of the practical relevance of the theoretical concepts by integrating hands-on project-based learning, independent projects, and virtual plant operation software. I will encourage undergraduate students to participate in research projects. Professional ethics and social responsibilities will be included in the lectures to develop well-rounded chemical engineers. I would also be excited to serve the department as the advisor of student clubs and guide the students with regional and national competitions.

Reference

1. Rodríguez Martín, J.A., et al., Impact of 70 years urban growth associated with heavy metal pollution. Environmental Pollution, 2015. 196: p. 156-163.
2. Rajendran, S., et al., A critical review on various remediation approaches for heavy metal contaminants removal from contaminated soils. Chemosphere, 2022. 287: p. 132369.
3. Rajendran, S., et al., A critical review on various remediation approaches for heavy metal contaminants removal from contaminated soils. Chemosphere, 2022. 287: p. 132369.
4. Yin, K., et al., Microorganism remediation strategies towards heavy metals. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2019. 360: p. 1553-1563.
5. Elizabeth Rani, C., V. Balaji Ayyadurai, and K. Kavitha, Bioremediation of heavy metals and toxic chemicals from Muttukadu Lake, Chennai by biosurfactant and biomass treatment strategies. Bioremediation and Green Technologies: Sustainable Approaches to Mitigate Environmental Impacts, 2021: p. 67-85.