Category Archives: PROTECT Team

Puerto Rico is finally starting to recover from Hurricane Maria, but the huge storm may continue to influence the cave and karst systems for generations. A group of PROTECT researchers met in Puerto Rico in July to collect sediment samples from a cave and spring to start addressing this question. Caves can trap and store […]

In May 2018, PROTECT Project 4 researcher Dorothy Vesper was elected as a Geological Society of America Fellow. New GSA Fellows are nominated by existing Fellows in recognition of their contributions to the field of geoscience, and are elected during the spring GSA Council meeting. Dr. Vesper was nominated by Madeline Schreiber of Virginia Tech […]

Current and past members of PROTECT attended the 15th “Sinkholes Meeting” (15th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst) in Shephardstown, WV, during April 2018. The Sinkholes Meeting is one of the oldest interdisciplinary conferences focused on karst and the associated issues. The conference proceedings includes blind, peer-reviewed manuscripts for publication. […]

We are delighted to welcome Professors Eduardo Mateus and Alexandra Ribeiro as visiting scholars from the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research (CENSE),  Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA) in Portugal. They will be working with Professor Akram Alshawabkeh and the PROTECT Center for the next few months on advanced […]

A recent publication by the PROTECT Team revealed interesting findings on how drainage features impact groundwater flow in karst aquifers in Northern Puerto Rico. In karst terrains, subsurface conduit networks with unknown characteristics, and surface features (such as springs, rivers, lagoons and wetlands) act as drains for the karst aquifers, thus impacting regional groundwater flow […]

On March 28, 2017, the University of Michigan hosted a panel of distinguished speakers who provided expert perspectives about changes made to the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). They discussed the recent amendment to the law, The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (“Lautenberg Act”), which requires the Environmental Protection […]

PROTECT Project 4 has continued working to understand the ways in which contaminants move in karst aquifers, an effort that has taken the form of laboratory and field experiments as well as historical record evaluations. This year, laboratory models have shown that the transport of dissolved Trichloroethylene (TCE), a harmful chemical compound commonly used as […]

PROTECT Project 1 Leader Prof. John Meeker of the University of Michigan has joined the Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) for The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATDSR). These partner organizations function under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and worked together to […]

On December 5th, a poster session was held during the Superfund Research Program (SRP) Annual Grantee Meeting in Durham, North Carolina. The session featured a competition for exemplary trainee posters in the categories of “environmental sciences and engineering” and “health sciences.” PROTECT trainee, Elana Elkin of Project 2, won first place in the health sciences […]

On December 7th, 2016, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) released their Superfund Research Program (SRP) Research Brief, a monthly newsletter which shares “innovative research outcomes from projects supported by the NIEHS SRP.” The brief was titled “The Porous Extraction Paddle – A Non-Targeted Sampling Device to Detect Contaminants in Urine,” and described […]

PROTECT Project 1 collaborator and former trainee, Kelly Ferguson, Ph.D., was featured in Environmental Factor published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for a seminar she gave in early October at Duke University. During this seminar, Ferguson discussed some of her research which has revealed that exposure to phthalates, a group of […]

Featured in the September 1st issue of Eos: Earth and Space Science News was the PROTECT-sponsored conference “Karst, Groundwater Contamination, & Public Health: Moving Beyond Case Studies,” an event held in late January in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In addition to being sponsored by PROTECT, the conference was supported by the non-profit organization Karst Waters […]

This summer, PROTECT Principal Investigator and co-Director Akram Alshawabkeh hosted two local high school seniors as part of the Young Scholars Program (YSP) organized by Northeastern University’s Center for STEM Education.  The program was created to provide opportunities for hands-on research to high school juniors and seniors in the Boston area. Alshawabkeh’s hosted scholars, Amrita […]

Dr. Ingrid Padilla, Project 4 Leader, has been appointed a member of the Navy Research Advisory Committee (NRAC), a civilian scientific advisory group that provides objective scientific analyses to the U.S. Navy. The NRAC advises and provides recommendations to the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, […]

PROTECT is proud to announce that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has awarded to a University of Michigan team led by John Meeker (Project 1 Leader) $9.5M to establish a large-scale interdisciplinary research hub at the University of Michigan (U-M) for the new Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource (CHEAR) Program. Known as […]

Dr. Ingrid Padilla, PROTECT Project 4 Leader, has received the 2014 Distinguished Professor Award in Civil Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico. The award honors her outstanding teaching, research, and service contribution to the institution. At PROTECT, Dr. Padilla investigates the fate and transport processes that control the temporal and spatial distribution of contaminants in […]

The 2014 Freedom Industrial chemical spill affected the drinking water supply of 300,000 people in Charleston, West Virginia metropolitan area.  In the wake of the spill, one of the most pressing concerns was understanding the impact of the chemical spill, as the main contaminant associated with the spill – 4-methyl-1-cyclohexanemethanol (4-MCHM) – has little to […]

PROTECT is proud to announce that Marvic Carmona de Jesus has been awarded a K.C. Donnelly externship!  Mr. Carmona is a graduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, working towards his Masters of Science in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering.  His adviser, Prof. Ingrid Padilla, leads PROTECT’s […]

Dr. Jie Peng, Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Hohai University in Nanjing, China, recently completed his tenure as a visiting scholar with the PROTECT Center at Northeastern University. Under the guidance of Professor Akram Alshawabkeh (Project 5), Dr. Peng assisted in developing and conducting experiments on the fate and transport of contaminants in soil […]

Akram Alshawabkeh (PROTECT Program Co-Director/Project 5 Leader), along with Mishac Yegian, Ece Esellar-Bayat, and Seda Goyker, has been awarded the 2014 ASCE Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award for the group’s research on liquefaction mitigation by Induced Partial Saturation (IPS). The award, based on nominations put forward by the Geo-Institute of ASCE, recognizes a paper contributing to geotechnical engineering. This is […]

Mary Penny, a Civil Engineering undergraduate at Northeastern University, and one of our PROTECT trainees, is starting a co-op opportunity with Environmental Partners Group, Inc. in Quincy, MA where she will conduct field testing for a drinking water supply. Mary has been working for Project 5 under the supervision of post-doctoral associate Lily Rajic and […]

Ljiljana “Lily” Rajic is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dr. Akram Alshawabkeh’s lab. She is working on advancing the electrochemical oxidation and reduction of trichloroethylene (TCE) in flow-through systems as part of Project 5, which is developing sustainable and environmentally-friendly technologies for remediation of contaminated groundwater. Before coming to Northeastern, Lily received her doctorate in […]

PROTECT trainee Norma Torres (UPRM, Project 4) has won a scholarship from the Puerto Rico Society of Engineers, the first ever of its kind for an environmental engineer. She will formally receive the award during a ceremony on November 24, 2013. Congratulations Norma!

Our congratulations to PROTECT Trainee David Cantonwine, who recently joined Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a Perinatal Epidemiologist with the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, as well as Harvard Medical School as a Senior Lecturer. At BWH/HMS, Dr. Cantonwine will study predictors and underlying causes of preeclampsia (these will include environmental influences as well), […]

Project 2 Postdoctoral Associate Kelly Hogan was awarded a two-year fellowship in the University of Michigan Postdoctoral Translational Scholars Program (PTSP), a program of the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research.  All scholars are required to conduct a translational research program as part of their fellowship.  Congratulations Kelly!!

PROTECT PI and co-Director Akram Alshawabkeh hosted local high school students and a teacher as part of Northeastern Center for STEM Education’s summer programming.  The month-long program gives opportunities for hands-on research.  This year, Dr. Alshawabkeh hosted Rocco Cieri, a teacher from Medford High School, as part of the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program, […]

Project 3 Leader John Meeker has been appointed as the University of Michigan School of Public Health’s Associate Dean for Research.  Congratulations John!!

Norma Torres Torres, a Masters student working on PROTECT Project 4, has won a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for the 2013-2014 academic year.  Congratulations Norma!!

Congratulations to Project 3 trainee/researcher Luis Rivera, who defended his PhD in Environmental Health at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health on April 30th, 2012!  Originally from San Juan Puerto Rico, Luis received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, before going on to complete a Master’s Degree […]

Project 2 Graduate Student Cassie Korte (PhD Candidate, University of Michigan) won two poster awards this spring. The first presentation was awarded as part of the Society of Toxicology Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Specialty Section at the Annual Society of Toxicology Meeting in March. Cassie’s poster won first place. The second presentation, “Oxidative insult activates […]

Project 5 Postdocs Dr. Chris Butscher and Dr. Xuhui Mao have both recently secured professorships in their respective home countries of Germany and China.  Dr. Mao is at Wuhan University, where he received both his Bachelor’s Degree and PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering.  Dr. Butscher will be at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.  Best of […]

PROTECT Project 2 Trainee Cassie Korte has won a poster award at the Graduate Academic Conference at Michigan State University

PROTECT Trainee (Project 2) Lauren Tetz successfully defended her thesis on April 16, 2012.  Our congratulations to the newly-minted Dr. Tetz!  Read more about her thesis topic below. MONO-2-ETHYLHEXYL PHTHALATE STIMULATES CELLULAR RESPONSES RELEVANT TO PARTURITION ABSTRACT: Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is an environmental pollutant used universally as a plasticizer in polyvinyl consumer products.  Exposure to DEHP increases […]

Amanda Laskoskie, a PROTECT Trainee pursuing her Master’s at West Virginia University, was recently awarded with the 2012 Karst Waters Institute’s William L. Wilson Scholarship in Karst Science Award.  The award was presented to her advisor, Dr. Dorothy Vesper, on Amanda’s behalf at a public ceremony in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday, March 3, 2012, at the […]

PROTECT PI and Project 5 Leader Prof. Akram Alshawabkeh has been appointed as a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the profession.  Our congratulations!

In recognition of his scholarship, technical and professional leadership, teaching, university citizenship, positive example, and strong contribution to the reputation, impact,and success of the College and University, Professor Akram N. Alshawabkeh has been appointed as the George A. Snell Professor of Engineering. Read the full appointment letter here.

Project 1 Leader Prof. John Meeker has been appointed Associate Chair of the UMichigan School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences.  From the entire PROTECT team – our congratulations to John! Excerpts from the announcement below: Professor Meeker has had a stellar career, receiving his doctoral degree in Environmental Health Sciences from the Harvard […]

PROTECT co-Director Akram Alshawabkeh is co-PI of a new National Science Foundation grant to develop a cost-effective method to prevent ground failure during earthquakes.  Ground failure is a major cause of destruction to buildings constructed on water-saturated sandy soils. The award for $1.2M from the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) […]

PROTECT graduate student Celys Irizarry was awarded with the KC Donnelly Externship. This award is given by the National Institutes of Health Sciences Superfund Research Program to promote transdisciplinary and translational research among early investigators and improve the quality of the educational and training environment. Celys is currently working on her master’s degree in Environmental […]