Environmental Fridays: January 21
Episodes 2 and 3 of Environmental Fridays will be a back-to-back, two-part miniseries featuring nine presenters on "Polluted Drinking Water."
This miniseries is motivated by local events and the nationwide reality of aging water pipelines and infrastructure and attendant chemical and biological pollutants.
This week, Episode 2 deals with the "Occurrence and Science of Polluted Drinking Water." Next week, Episode 3 will focus on "Community Response to Polluted Drinking Water."
Tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. EST join us to listen and discuss the "Occurrence and Science of Polluted Drinking Water" with Andrea Porter (EPA), PhD; Ernest Sarkipato (Michigan EGLE); Terese Olson (University of Michigan), PhD; and Kathryn Perrine (Michigan Technological University), PhD.
Our co-host for this week's Environmental Fridays is Padma Tadi Uppala, chair of the School of Population Health, Nutrition & Wellness.
The Zoom Meeting link is https://andrews.zoom.us/j/93793778291, and the Meeting ID is 937 9377 8291.
Share with others. Everyone is welcome. Environmental Fridays is free to all—students, professionals, community.
Contact Desmond H. Murray, associate professor of chemistray, at murrayd@andrews.edu if you have any questions.
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Bios:
Andrea Porter, PhD, works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Region 5 (Chicago) office. With more than a decade of experience in R5’s Groundwater and Drinking Water Branch as an Environmental Engineer, Andrea works on implementing regulations and supporting State work. Andrea works on the Lead and Copper Rule, as well as in all the microbial and disinfection byproduct drinking water areas.
Ernest Sarkipato (Ernie) earned a bachelor’s degree in civil/environmental engineering from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and began his career with the State of Michigan shortly after. He has worked in a variety of roles and programs including floodplain modeling and insurance, coastal dune ecosystems and erosion, and stream morphology. For the last nine years he has worked in the Drinking Water program with EGLE holding a variety of positions and is currently the Distribution System Engineering Specialist. Some areas of interest are distribution system water quality, distribution system optimization, age of water system infrastructure, and water affordability.
Terese Olson is associate professor of Environmental Engineering and CEE associate chair of Undergraduate Programs Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Olson’s research interests focus on the development of treatment strategies and practices for safe drinking water supply and remediation. She has over 30 years research experience developing processes for emerging contaminant treatment, characterizing disinfection and disinfection by-product formation mechanisms, and evaluating the chemical factors controlling colloid and microbial pathogen filtration processes. Recent research areas of activity have also focused on optimizing chemical conditions in biofiltration processes to reduce the production of opportunistic pathogens in drinking water, the development of plasma-based destruction methods for refractory PFAS compounds in contaminated water, as well as studies of the impact of corrosion episodes and lead service line replacement on water lead levels in Flint’s drinking water distribution systems. Currently Olson is also serving as an advisor to the State of Michigan as the State transitions to implement its newly revised Lead and Copper Rule.
Kathryn A. Perrine is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan Technological University. Perrine earned her BS in chemistry from the University of South Carolina (2004) and PhD from the University of Delaware (2011). She was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Irvine (2011–2015) and visiting scientist at the California Institute of Technology as part of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (2014–2015). In 2021, Perrine served as the American Chemical Society Upper Peninsula Local Section secretary. She is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Vacuum Society, and the Materials Research Society. The Perrine research group focuses on understanding reactions and processes at surfaces and interfaces, from pure metals, oxides, and minerals to heterogeneous materials. The group uses a surface science and catalysis approach to uncovering the physical chemistry of surface corrosion at the gas/solid and liquid/solid interface. The Perrine group also has studied design of meso- and nano-architectured materials using surface functionalization methods for next-generation heterogeneous catalysts and materials. Their goal is to understand the fundamental physical and chemical processes at interfaces to unravel surface mechanisms and transformations of materials, addressing challenges in catalysis and environmental science.
Padma Tadi Uppala is the chair of the School of Population Health, Nutrition & Wellness and professor and director of undergraduate Public Health Programs at Andrews University. Uppala earned a PhD in Tumor Biology in 1991 and an MPH in Lifestyle Medicine in 2016 from Loma Linda University. Uppala is a breast cancer researcher and Environmental Health Scientist. Uppala’s research investigates cancer-preventive properties of active ingredients in garlic, soybeans and tomatoes. She has authored and co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed scientific publications and several presentations in the areas of environmental health, phytochemicals, biomarkers for breast cancer, serum proteomics, and early detection and prevention of the disease through lifestyle modifications. Padma secured several grants totaling over 10 million dollars. She has also received several competitive awards, including the American Association for Cancer Research/HBCU Faculty Scholar Award in Cancer Research in 1998, 1999 and 2002, Deans Award for Doctoral Programs at Loma Linda University, The Thomas and Violet Zapara Excellence in Teaching Award by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Oakwood College President's Award for excellence in research and teaching, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Mission Award and Southern California Witness Project recognition for her community work in breast cancer clinical trial education in the Inland Empire, California.
PR
pr@andrews.edu
