Mladenov Water Innovation and Reuse Lab
  • Home
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Teaching
  • People
    • Prospective Students
  • Contact
  • Student Project Tijuana River Reuse
Donate to WIRLab to support students & research!
Boro River, Okavango Delta, Botswana. Credit: N. Mladenov

THE WATER INNOVATION & REUSE LAB
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION, & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
​SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY

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.
Fate and transport of emerging contaminants

Surface water biogeochemical processes

Decentralized water reuse
At WIRLab, we support all students, regardless of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin, who are interested in research. 
Picture


​Tijuana River studies .
Research on real-time water quality sensors, estuary water quality, transboundary pollution.
Picture

Research on sewer leaks and other human pollution in the San Diego River.
- Video of findings
- Project website
Picture





​Click here for real-time monitoring of
Alvarado Creek water quality.
Picture

​Why is research awesome? Check out Lauren and Fed's 
outreach video!

WIRLAB NEWS

Apr 2025
- Lily Astete Vasquez, WIRLab PhD student, successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations Lily!
- WIRLab undergrad researcher Shiloh Bolden is awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Shiloh!
- Kiara Gambuzza just 
awarded the 2025-2026 Master’s Research Scholarship. Congratulations Kiara!
- Mladenov gives key note on Water Reuse and Tijuana River Pollution at the SDSU Sustainability Summit.
Mar 2025
- Congratulations, Dr. Shipley and Sarah Poletti, on your presentations at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring conference. Dr. Mladenov also presented!
- 
Alexandra Grant and Jesse Hurtado receive first and second place student poster awards at the AEHS conference in San Diego. Congratulations!
- Great showing at the SDSU Student Symposium (S3) by Shiloh Bolden, Alexandra Grant, Jesse Hurtado, Giselle Lemus, & Mia Pollasky. Congratulations Jesse and Mia on your S3 awards!
- Paper led by undergraduate student Polina Popova on anammox enrichment reactors just published. Congratulations Poly!
Feb 2025
- Cutting or pausing federal grant funding is detrimental to ​USA competitiveness in science and engineering. 
​
***Share your opinions by calling representatives in Congress. This is an effective way to take action. Phone numbers linked here for representatives in the US Senate and the US House. We all have a voice.***
Jan 2025
Happy New Year!
​- WIRLab is recruiting MS students for Fall 2025. Click here for more information.
- Our new paper on the fate of tire wear particle-derived chemicals in the environment just published in Water Research!  What a rewarding collaboration with Hoh, Sant, and Harper labs!
Dec 2024
​- Postdoc Dr. Kenisha Shipley and grad student Alex Grant present their research at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in Washington DC.
- Poletti successfully defends her MS thesis proposal on chemical leaching from smoked and unsmoked cigarette filters.
- Mladenov's ENVE 647 student teams design water reuse systems for Tijuana River
Nov 2024
- Fondriest Environmental Monitor reports on our collaborative Tijuana River Estuary pollution monitoring with the Biggs Lab.
- MS student Sarah Poletti received a TRDRP fellowship!
​- November 19 is World Toilet Day! WIRLab celebrates and draws attention to the global lack of sanitation.
Picture
Oct 2024
- SDSU NewsCenter highlights Mladenov and Biggs sensor platform research in the Tijuana River Estuary.
- MS student Sarah Poletti receives David G. Fleet Scholarship!
- SDSU water-themed faculty host Water Day on Oct 18. Mladenov gives research updates. Grant, and Poletti present in the poster session.
- Bolden and Astete Vasquez present at the National Onsite Water Reuse Mega-Conference in Spokane. Astete Vasquez wins graduate student poster award.

Sep 2024
- WIRLab collaborates on binational coastal resilience project with San Diego Coastkeeper,  Proyecto Fronterizo de Educacion Ambiental, and Tijuana Tecnologico; it is one of 8 new projects funded by San Diego Foundation.
Aug 2024
- MS student Alex Grant in the news (Fox5Newscast) for her field research on Tijuana River and Estuary pollution.
- CBS8 reports on our WIRLab-BiggsLab sensor platform research to track cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River.

Jul 2024
- Mladenov et al. paper just out on sensors for early warning of pollution in the Tijuana River Estuary! What a great collaboration with the Biggs Lab, EPA, and TRNERR!
- Undergraduate Naiomi Phifer presents research on water quality sensors, and Marzia Dost shares her findings on cigarette filter pollution at the SDSU MESA Summer Undergraduate Research Academy poster session.
NEWS ARCHIVES...
WIRLab trains and mentors undergraduate and graduate students from all 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.

WIRLab is led by Dr. Natalie Mladenov, PhD., P.E. 
and supported by an endowment from William E. Leonhard Jr.

Please contact Dr. Mladenov (at nmladenov@ sdsu.edu) or stop by E404 for a tour.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Teaching
  • People
    • Prospective Students
  • Contact
  • Student Project Tijuana River Reuse