I am a postdoctoral scholar at the Hydrology, Geomorphology, & Plastic Pollution Laboratory,University of California, Riverside where I oversee projects on microplastics and its associated chemicals in environment, employing cutting-edge techniques for their characterization and risk assessment, to inform the development of standard operating procedures (SOP) for the State of California. I had earlier worked at the Coastal Health and Water Quality Laboratory, Texas A&M University, Corpus-Christi, where I oversaw a project supported by Matagorda Bay Mitigation Trust on plastic-mercury and organic contaminants transport in water and fish species at the ALCOA superfund and Formosa plastic pollution site within the Matagorda Bay systems, South Texas. My current research includes the investigation of emerging and persistent organic pollutants of concern such as micro- and nano- plastics (MNPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), per- and poly-fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), mercury, 6-PPD in tire wear particles, and pharmaceutical products. I am particularly interested in their fate, transport, interactions, and impacts on the environmental and human health. I recently developed a novel, simple and efficient method to separate microplastics and evaluate PAHs in particulate organic matter. Also, in collaboration with other researchers, we investigated MNP removal from wastewater using iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) with hydrophobic coatings to magnetize plastic particulates. The project is advancing to a stage of prototype development for this method.
We know in parts, we understand in parts. But of a truth, impossibility does not exist, it is a mere imagination. — OOF.