THE WATER INNOVATION & REUSE LAB
Department of Civil Construction & Environmental Engineering
San Diego State University

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 source waters, streams, and groundwater.
WIRLab is led by Dr. Natalie Mladenov, Associate Professor and William E. Leonhard Jr. Chair in the Department of Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering at SDSU.
Please contact Dr. Mladenov (at nmladenov @ sdsu.edu) or stop by E404 for a tour (once we're back in person!).
Donate to support
our research
The virtual WIRLAB team
meeting on Zoom, Spring 2020
The WIRLAB team, Spring 2019.
San Diego River Contamination Study

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Check out Lauren and Fed's WIRLab
outreach video!
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Stephanie and Lauren install
outside-in ultrafiltration membrane
for water reuse.

WIRLAB NEWS

Join WIRLab as a MS student or undergraduate volunteer. TWO POSITIONS NOW AVAILABLE STARTING SUMMER/FALL 2021. Click here for more information.

Stay informed:  #BlackInSTEM      #BlackInTheIvory
-Important resources on anti-black racism here.
-Excellent actions described on becoming an anti-racist university.
-Links to increasing transparency in recruiting, how allies can support racial justice, pledge to support SDSU's African American Community.
March 2021
Congratulations are in order!
- Rachel Astete-Vasquez was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
- Denise Garcia was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
- Rachel Astete-Vasquez was awarded the President's Award at the SDSU Student Research Symposium and will go on to present her research at the CSU-wide Research Symposium.
- Alma Rocha was awarded the Provost's Award at the SDSU Student Research Symposium.
- Alma Rocha received 1st place for her poster on SARS-CoV-2 in natural waters at the American Water Works Association CA-NV Conference.
January 2021
Kristen Snyder and other members of WIRLab and the Hoh Lab report on the release of the 488 persistent and potentially toxic water soluble compounds from the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill near Santa Barbara, which is more than 3 times as many as were released from a nearby natural oil seep. Our study has just been published open access in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
December 2020
Congratulations!!!
Federick Pinongcos received the Robert L. Wiegel Scholarship for Coastal Studies from the San Diego Foundation for his research on San Diego River pollution during storm events.
November 2020
WIRLab Director Mladenov is part of a team selected to study microfibers and micro-tire wear particles, their chemical inputs and toxicity in coastal waters, for the COAST State Science Information Needs Program.
October 2020
Congratulations!!!
Kristen Snyder (MS 2019) was recognized at the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Awards Banquet for receiving the MS Thesis Award, one of only two awards for an outstanding Environmental Engineering/Science thesis.

SDSU, ROCK THE VOTE!!!
September 2020
Congratulations to these WIRLab members!
- WIRLab alum, Cari Campbell is recognized in the CA-NV AWWA Spotlight
- MS student Alma Rocha awarded the Leonard Endowment Scholarship.
- JDP student Rachel Astete Vasquez awarded the Global Policy & Strategy Science Policy Fellowship at UCSD
- MS students Alma Rocha and Fed Pinongcos received the McMahon Chi Epsilon Scholarship
July 2020
- MS student Fed Pinongcos successfully defends his MS thesis on sources of microbial contamination in the San Diego - River during storm events. Congratulations Fed!
- MS student Alma Rocha awarded the 2020 SDSU Master's Research Scholarship!

WIRLab's San Diego River Contamination Study, conducted in collaboration with the Safe Water Lab, Disturbance Hydrology Lab, and Public Health at SDSU, reveals that leaky sewers have a major influence on stormwater quality in the San Diego River and that waste associated with homeless encampments is less of a contributor, but not negligible. For more information, please see the Executive Report, which summarizes our findings, and the Final Report, which includes detailed results.
NEWS ARCHIVES...

OPEN POSITIONS

Now recruiting for these two open positions Under-represented minorities in Engineering are strongly encouraged to apply:
Important information on diversity in engineering from the National Action Council on Minorities in Engineering:
"...more work is needed to diversify the engineering pathway.
  • African Americans constituted 14.8 percent of the college-age population (18 to 24 years old), but earned only 3.8 percent of engineering degrees.
  • American Indian/Alaska Natives constituted 0.9 percent of the college-age population, yet earned only 0.3 percent of engineering degrees.
  • Latinos earned 9.6 percent of engineering degrees despite making up 21.4 percent of the college-age population.
  • In 2013, under-represented minorities (URMs) constituted 12.1 percent of employed engineers, which paled in comparison to their representation in the overall population (31.5 percent).
  • URMs constituted only 6.6 percent of engineering faculty, which continued a troubling trend of minute minority representation in academic settings.
...The solution to America’s competitiveness problem is to activate the hidden workforce of young men and women who have traditionally been underrepresented in STEM careers—African Americans, American Indians, and Latinos. "