THE WATER INNOVATION & REUSE LAB
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION, & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
Fate and transport of emerging contaminants
Surface water biogeochemical processes
Decentralized water reuse
WIRLab is led by Dr. Natalie Mladenov, Professor and William E. Leonhard Jr. Endowed Chair
Please contact Dr. Mladenov (at nmladenov@ sdsu.edu) or stop by E404 for a tour.
At WIRLab, we support diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI!
Surface water biogeochemical processes
Decentralized water reuse
WIRLab is led by Dr. Natalie Mladenov, Professor and William E. Leonhard Jr. Endowed Chair
Please contact Dr. Mladenov (at nmladenov@ sdsu.edu) or stop by E404 for a tour.
At WIRLab, we support diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI!
Kumeyaay Land Acknowledgement
For millennia, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. This land has nourished, healed, protected and embraced them for many generations in a relationship of balance and harmony. As members of the San Diego State University community, we acknowledge this legacy. We promote this balance and harmony. We find inspiration from this land, the land of the Kumeyaay.
For millennia, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. This land has nourished, healed, protected and embraced them for many generations in a relationship of balance and harmony. As members of the San Diego State University community, we acknowledge this legacy. We promote this balance and harmony. We find inspiration from this land, the land of the Kumeyaay.
WIRLAB NEWS
Click here to access real-time monitoring of
Alvarado Creek water quality. |
May 2024
- Our new paper on tracking disturbance in anaerobic baffled reactors is out! - Sarah Poletti receives the COAST Dr. Kenneth H. Coale Graduate Scholar Award! - Alexandra Grant receives the American Water Works Association HDR One Water Institute Scholarship and the Early Career Fellow and Leadership Facilitator Award with the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science (CDLS) through UCLA. - Lily Astete Vasquez receives American Public Works Association (APWA) Scholarship! Apr 2024
- WIRLab is seeking undergraduates to work on removal of emerging contaminants from water reuse systems using anammox bacteria. Click here to apply. - WIRLab is seeking a graduate student to lead NSF-funded research on tire wear particle pollution. Click here to apply. - WIRLab alum, Kelly Hollman, receives the Brewster Snow Award for her MS research while at SDSU! This award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES) recognizes one US environmental engineering graduate student for their significant accomplishments. Congratulations Kelly! - Mladenov co-authors new study on chemicals of emerging concern in experimental membrane systems for decentralized water reuse. This summarizes many years of work in WIRLab on aerobic MBR and anaerobic MBR parallel reactors for wastewater treatment!!! Mar 2024
- WIRLab members present at the SDSU Student Symposium (S3): Lily Astete Vasquez and Beatriz Velasquez, Ella Knight, Glorya Escobar, Alex Grant, Trinity Magdalena-Weary, Alexi Olney, Ryan Spaulding, Selin Childs, and Shiloh Bolden. - Trinity receives the Presidential Award at S3 and is invited to represent SDSU at the CSU-wide symposium; and Ella, Glorya, Alex, Alexi, Ryan, and Shiloh receive awards too! - WIRLab hosts Dr. Joseph Wasswa, SoE Postdoctoral fellow from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in his seminar on "Unraveling Chemical Environmental Fate: Bridging Analytical Expertise and Predictive Chemistry for Sustainable Solutions" - Mladenov interviewed on Fox 5 News about the new One Water Living Learning Laboratory. Jan 2024
- WIRLab joins with the CCEE Dept, College of Engineering, and DRI to host Dr. Bill Cooper, UC Irvine emeritus professor, seminar on Photochemistry of DOM in natural waters. Oct 2023
- Lily attends WEFTEC 2023 conference as an Inflow STEMPath Scholar. - Mladenov and Oropeza (Tijuana) win Re:Border STEM Think Tank Award. Sep 2023
- Shiloh Bolden selected as a new NIH MARC scholar to lead ABR polishing with anammox study. Aug 2023
- WIRLab members, Hollman, Mladenov and Pinongcos' tire particle research with School of Public Health in the news on KPBS! - Lily's research on sanitation practices in onsite systems hits the SDSU NewsCenter. See the story here! Jul 2023
- New paper on tire tread particles just out! Mladenov, Hollman, and Pinongcos co-author. - Mladenov joins Marine Debris Leadership Academy. - Summer Undergraduate Research Program supports WIRLab members, Alexi Olney and Trinity Magdalena in marine debris research. Jun 2023
- Dr. Kenisha Shipley named SDSU's Postdoc in the Spotlight! - Water Across Borders Bi-National workshop in Tijuana, co-led by Mladenov and Biggs, is in the news with SDSU NewsCenter. - Natalie, Kenisha, and Lily present at the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Conference in Boston, MA. - WIRLab alum Alma Rocha receives the Outstanding MS Thesis Award at AEESP 2023! May 2023
- Lily's first-authored paper "Waste evolution in onsite sanitation systems: varied waste introduction methods and periods of operation" just accepted in Scientific Reports! - Congratulations! Lily and Poly in the news for winning second place in the Chinyeh Hostler Social Venture Challenge for their Septic Mixer pitch. |
WIRLab trains and mentors undergraduate and graduate students from diverse groups to take on environmental challenges in water scarce environments by conducting research on sustainable water and sanitation technologies and biogeochemical processes in natural and engineered systems. Current projects investigate the transformation and persistence of emerging chemicals in anaerobic and aerobic decentralized water reuse systems, sources of anthropogenic contaminants in urban rivers, water quality response to stream restoration, the fate of microplastics in the environment, and rapid fluorescence-based tracking of organic contaminants in surface water and groundwater.