The following are six ESE PhD students who are holding their defense in April. We have a high number of students graduating this spring, so additional details are attached in their individual flyers. If you'd like a copy that hasn't been compressed to fit in the listserv, please let me know. It should be a very busy and impressive April!
Rasul Diop - PhD Defense
The Chemistry of Air-Cooled Blast Furnace Slag (ACBFS) Related to Environmental Exposure Associated with Reuse
Major Professor: Dr. Chad Jafvert
Tuesday, April 1st at 9:00 AM | Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering
Ruth Bower-Sword - PhD Defense
Passive acoustic monitoring for primate population assessments: A case study on the endangered eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)
Major Professor: Dr. Bryan Pijanowski
Tuesday, April 1st at 10:00 AM | MRGN 206 and Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Samantha Lima - PhD Defense
Using soundscapes to study the coupled human and natural system in Arkhangai, Mongolia
Major Professor: Dr. Bryan Pijanowski
Thursday, April 3rd at 8:00 AM | DLR 221 and Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Mary Strickland - PhD Defense
Barriers to & Opportunities for Climate Change Adaptations in Rhode Island
Major Professor: Dr. Zhao Ma
Friday, April 4th at 9:00 AM | Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Lynda Peter - PhD Defense
Occurrence, Fate and Transport of Perand Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Agricultural Systems
Major Professor: Dr. Linda Lee
Thursday, April 10th at 1:00 PM | Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Department of Agronomy
Francisco Rivas - PhD Defense
New tools in Bioacoustics and Soundscape Ecology
Major Professor: Dr. Bryan Pijanowski
Friday, April 11th at 2:00 PM | PFEN 120 and Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Amy
Amy Ledman
She/Her/Hers
Lead Graduate Program Specialist Ecological Sciences and Engineering
Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs
Schedule a meeting: calendly.com/aledman<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalendly.…>
Below and attached you will find the information regarding Elijah Openiyi's dissertation defense on June 16th!
Elijah Openiyi - PhD Defense
Mitigation of PFAS in Agricultural Fields Using Sorbent Materials
Major Professor: Dr. Linda S Lee
Monday, June 16th at 11:00 AM | Lily 2-425 and Zoom<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurdue-ed…>
Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Department of Agronomy
Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a special class of man-made chemicals that are ubiquitous, recalcitrant, and toxic. PFAS get into agricultural soil primarily through wet/dry deposition, irrigation with PFAS-contaminated water, and land application of biosolids. While biosolids are a great source of slow-release nutrients that plants love, the tendency for the bioaccumulation and biomagnification along the food chain of PFAS raises a concern for the sustainable land application of biosolids and continued operation of farms with soils that are already contaminated with PFAS. In this study, we employed immobilization strategies via a series of batch sorption experiments, a column study, a greenhouse study, and a field study by using four sorbent materials (pyrolyzed biosolids, ACH-WTR, wood-ash and wood-biochar) for the mitigation of PFAS in PFAS contaminated agricultural soils and land applied biosolids.
Overall results showed that that sorption of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), including PFHxS and PFOS, increased with increasing ACH-WTR concentrations in batch sorption experiments. In a six-month long column study, leachates from ACH-WTR-amended columns contained 32% less total PFAS compared to those from biosolids-only control columns, with PFOS mobility specifically reduced by 68%. Likewise, amending PFAS-contaminated soils with 6 wt% wood-ash decreased total PFAS uptake in grass leaves by 83% and significantly enhanced plant growth in the 1-year long, multiple harvest greenhouse study. Correspondingly, soil-to-plant translocation factors (TFs) were significantly lower (P < 0.01) in the 3 wt% and 6 wt% wood-ash treatments than in the control for most PFAS. First-year field results indicate that both wood-ash and wood-biochar amendments can reduce PFAS uptake into grass leaves, with wood-ash exhibiting greater effectiveness. However, interpretation of the field-scale efficacy will require data from the second-year harvest, as PFAS uptake by plants is influenced by both initial contaminant concentrations and the duration of root-zone exposure.
Amy Ledman
She/Her/Hers
Lead Graduate Program Specialist Ecological Sciences and Engineering
Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs
Ernest C. Young Hall, Rm B84
155 S. Grant St.
West Lafayette, IN 47907
o: 765-494-5865 f: 765-496-6271
Schedule a meeting: calendly.com/aledman<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalendly.…>
[cid:image001.png@01DBD645.7E9A23C0]<https://www.purdue.edu/?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=…>
