Five to six fully funded PhD student positions in a Water-Environment core group-Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Nevada, Reno.

School: University of Nevada

Location: Reno, NV

Job Category: Graduate Assistantships

Description: 

     The University of Nevada, Reno Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering (www.unr.edu/cee) and Chemical and Materials Engineering (www.unr.edu/cme) are seeking to fill five to six fully funded PhD student positions in a Water-Environment core group, starting in Spring or Fall 2017. Ideal candidates will fall into one or more of the three focus areas below.

1) Water Treatment and Environmental Chemistry – Dr. David Hanigan joined the department in Fall of 2016 and will fill one to two PhD positions in the following year. Dr. Hanigan’s expertise is in disinfection by-products and he plans to expand his breadth to include research related to trace organic chemical (antibiotics, synthetic estrogen, flame retardants, etc.) transport and treatment/removal in direct and indirect potable reuse scenarios, treatment of fracking fluids, and CO2 sequestration from the atmosphere. More information can be found at http://www.dhanigan.com. A background in environmental engineering or environmental chemistry is preferred. Prospective applicants should email the materials listed below to DHanigan@UNR.edu.

2) Water Reuse and Environmental Biotechnology – Dr. Krishna Pagilla is seeking to fill two PhD positions starting in Fall 2017 or sooner. Dr. Pagilla’s research is currently focused on water reuse including pilot and near full scale demonstration of indirect potable reuse treatment systems, food-energy-water nexus, and resource recovery from wastewater (nutrients, water, energy). Prospective students with background in biomolecular methods are desired. Interested students should e-mail at pagilla@unr.edu.

3) Membrane-Based Separations – Dr. Sage Hiibel joined the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department in Fall of 2016 and will fill one to two PhD positions in aqueous-phase membrane-based separation processes. Dr. Hiibel’s research group is focused on indirect potable reuse in renewable energy applications, with an emphasis on coupling advanced separation processes with waste product streams (heat, water, by-products) to produce sustainable energy products. Prospective applicants should email the materials listed below to shiibel@unr.edu.

4) Environmental Chemistry and Climate Change-Dr. Yu (Frank) Yang is seeking to fill one PhD position starting in Fall 2017. Dr. Yang’s research is currently focused on the soil carbon stability during redox reactions, biogeochemistry of Tundra soil carbon, fate of nano-particles in plant-soil system, and reductive degradation of emergent contaminants (antimicrobial agents). More information is available at http://www.unr.edu/~yuy. Please email yuy@unr.edu for questions.

Qualifications:

     Candidates that currently hold MS degrees are preferred. Other requirements include GRE > 310 TOEFL > 550 (paper) or 79 (internet) (if nonnative English speaker), GPA > 3.3/4.0. Pre-application materials may be sent to the professor of interest above and should include a cover letter, CV/resume, TOEFL, transcripts, GRE, contact information for three references, and a writing sample. Pre-application materials must be submitted as a single PDF.