Group Members

Marcela Jaramillo

Marcela Jaramillo graduated with honors with B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biology from Saint Thomas University. She is a fifth year graduate student of the Environmental Chemistry PhD Program. Currently, she is investigating the reaction pathways and products of the photooxidative degradation of pollutants as an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional water purification strategies.

Phuong Pham

Anahita Esmaeilian

Anahita received a M.S. degree in Marine Chemistry from Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Prior to joining the program, she worked on the environmentally friendly extraction of protein from Salmon fish in Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. She is a third-year graduate student of the Environmental Chemistry Ph.D. program. She is a member of the Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment (CREST), Water Environment Federation (WEF), and American Water Works Association (AWWA). Currently, she is working on using environmentally friendly humic acid coated magnetic iron nanoparticles to remove problematic toxins such as cationic dyes, glyphosate, etc from water and wastewater, and studying dimensional analysis to determine the amount of removed toxins as a function of various effecting factors.

N.L. Dilani Perera

Dilani Perera graduated with honors with a degree in Chemical Biology from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is a third year graduate student of the Chemistry PhD program. Currently, she is working on developing a therapeutic approach to remediate problematic emerging PFAS from human globular proteins.

Mariah Doughman

Mariah Doughman graduated with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from St. Norbert College. She is a third year graduate student of the Environmental Chemistry PhD Program. Currently, she is investigating Cyclodextrin:Fluorophore based systems for the detection of legacy and emerging perfluoroalkyl substances and the evaluation of competing attenuation processes for mobile contaminants in Hanford sediments.

Claude-Bernard Paultre

Claude-Bernard Paultre received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Université d'Etat d'Haiti and a M.S. degree in Organic Chemistry from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1. Prior to joining the program, he worked on drug development and quality control of water and pharmaceuticals. He is a second year graduate student of the Chemistry PhD Program. His current research is focused on the synthesis of cyclodextrin derivatives for water treatment and medicinal chemistry purposes.

Dr. Xuexiang He

Xuexiang He received a PhD degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the group with an expertise in water decontamination by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Her current major project involves ultrasound-based systems for the degradation and mineralization of legacy and emerging perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).