News
Meeting with Novo Nordisk Foundation project collaborator from Novozymes
Today we (Nisha and I) met with Sune Christensen from Novozymes as part of our Novo Nordisk Foundation project collaboration.
4.21.23
First place poster award - Jenny Ding!!
We're very excited for Jenny Ding (PhD student). She received the first place poster award at our annual Environmental, Water Resources, and Coastal (EWC) Engineering symposium.
3.10.23
Congrats, Dr. Algurainy!!
Yazeed passed his PhD defense and is now Dr. Algurainy!! We're very excited for him.
2.21.23
Visit from White House Science Advisor - Dr. Arati Prabhakar
We had a unique opportunity to showcase our research on biological phosphorus removal during a meeting with Dr. Arati Prabhakar. Dr. Prabhakar is the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Her visit was discussed in a local news outlet here.
2.10.23
First edition of our stakeholder newsletter on biological phosphorus removal is published!
Jessica Deaver (postdoc) published a nice newsletter on the work we are doing to help wastewater treatment facilities better understand and improve their biological phosphorus removal process.
1.17.23
Fall-Winter Newsletter (Jan 2023).pdfNew publication accepted!
Jenny Ding's (PhD student) manuscript on the influence of innoculum on volatile fatty acid production during the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste was accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering!!!
11.28.22
Phosphorus Week in Raleigh
We had a great time at phosphorus week in Raleigh this week! It was great meeting our collaborators from across the country in person and hearing lots of great talks surrounding phosphorus. Can you find Doug, Jessica, and Jenny in the photo?
11.4.22
Presentation at Phosphorus Week
Postdoc Dr. Jessica Deaver gave a great talk at Phosphorus Week in Raleigh on the diversity of metals that she has found in the polyphosphate granules associated with phosphorus accumulating organisms.
11.4.22
Poster Award!
Grad student Jenny Ding won the "People's Choice" poster award at Phosphorus Week! Congrats, Jenny!
11.3.22
Student award!
The Comparative Medicine Institute's Young Scholar Program has awarded Lydia Jordache (PhD student) and PhD student Sen Zhang from Textiles Engineering with funds to co-mentor an undergraduate student researcher for the summer of 2023. Their project will involve the incorporation of enzyme-containing hydrogel polymers for the improvement of growth in bioreactors through increased gas solubility.
11.3.22
Poster presentation
PhD student Lydia Jordache did a great job presenting her poster on methane-consuming microbial cultures that fix nitrogen gas. She presented at the NC State Chemistry of Life symposium on campus.
4.21.22
ACS conference - San Diego
PhD student Yazeed Algurainy gave a fantastic talk at the ACS conference session on electrified water treatment. We also met up with STEPS center team members Brooke Mayer and Faten Hussein (from Marquette) and Jan Genzer (NC State).
3.22.22
New student scholarship award!
Congrats to PhD student Jenny Ding! She will receive a Scholarship Award for her PhD research in solid waste from the Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF). You can read more about it here.
12.14.21
Lunch!
End-of-semester group lunch in our new building. (I'm not very good at selfies)
12.8.21
Moving to new building
We've spent part of November and most of December packing and moving to our new lab. Very excited about the new lab space....but moving is exhausting!
12.1.20
Successful defense by Qiwen Cheng!!
Congratulations to Qiwen Cheng for successfully defending her PhD defense! Fantastic job! Lots of great work on anaerobic microbiology, including electron exchange processes with pyrogenic carbonaceous materials and community analyses of different anaerobic systems.
10.9.20
New publication!
Our paper on the life cycle assessment of salinity gradient energy recovery using reverse electrodialysis has been accepted for publication in Journal of Industrial Ecology. It is part of a nice collaboration with many Drs. DeCarolis and Johnson in my department. You can read all about it here.
9.19.20
Feature in ACS North Carolina TarHelium Newsletter
Dr. Call was interviewed for the researcher spotlight feature of the September 2020 TarHelium newsletter. The TarHelium is a publication of the North Carolina Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS). To read the article click here.
9.13.20
New publication!
Our paper on microbial community characterization of landfills experiencing elevated temperatures has been accepted for publication in ACS ES&T Engineering. This study is the result of a great collaboration with Dr. Barlaz's group. We found some very interesting relationships between methanogen populations and landfill/incubation temperature. You can read all about it here.
9.9.20
New publication!
Our review paper on phosphate removal using lanthanum-containing materials has been accepted for publication in Environment International. It is part of a great collaboration with many researchers from NC State and Denmark. You can read all about it here.
9.2.20
New publication!
Our publication on flow electrode recirculation in capacitive deionization (CDI) has been accepted for publication in Desalination. Very nice work led by Fei Liu and collaboration with Orlando Coronell. You can read all about it here.
6.28.20
Next Generation Electrochemistry (NGenE) panel
Dr. Call participated in the 2020 virtual Next Generation Electrochemistry (NGenE) panel. The panel discussed frontiers in electrochemistry at the water/energy nexus. You can watch a recording of the panel here.
6.23.20
New publication!
Our work on the removal of salt ions in flow-through capacitive deionization (CDI) was accepted for publication in Water Research. We show that electrode orientation can have a profound impact on the symmetry of monovalent ion removals. Great work, Yazeed! You can read all about it here.
6.11.20
Undergraduate student award!
Geoffrey Fylak (undergraduate) received 1 of 12 Outstanding Presentation Awards from over 150 entries at the NCSU Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. His poster was on an electroactive point-of-use filter for PFAS removal from drinking water. Congrats, Geoffrey!!
6.9.20
Graduate student scholarship awarded!
Jenny Ding (PhD student) received the Waste Management Research and Study Scholarship from the Air and Waste Management Association (A&WMA). Congrats, Jenny!!
6.2.20
New publication!
Our collaborative work with Orlando Coronell and Lindsay Dubb's groups at UNC-Chapel Hill on natural variability in power generation from coastal salinity gradients is now accepted for publication in the Blue Energy special issue of Desalination. Congrats to Elvin and Zoe for leading the effort! Click here to read the article.
5.30.20
The Call Lab receives an NSF CAREER Award!
We are extremely excited and humbled to receive official notice that Dr. Call's NSF CAREER proposal entitled Leveraging the multifunctional redox properties of pyrogenic materials to enable biological transformations of aqueous organic contaminants was selected for funding! You can read more about the award here.
3.20.20
NC State well represented at 2019 AEESP conference
A large group of EWC faculty attended the 2019 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors meeting at Arizona State. Shan Zhu (postdoc) gave a great talk on her work using capacitive deionization to remove PFAS from water.
5.15.19
NCSU Environmental, Water Resources, & Coastal Symposium
Our group presented lots of great posters at our annual NCSU Environmental, Water Resources, & Coastal Symposium!
3.1.19
Graduate Student Award
Qiwen Cheng (PhD student) received a 2019 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS). Congrats Qiwen!!
2.5.19
New publication
Our article on electrically driving the microbial conversion of nitrogen gas into ammonium is accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Click here to read the article.
1.1.19
New publication
Our article on amending anaerobic bioreactors with pyrogenic carbonaceous material (PCM) is accepted for publication in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. Click here to read the article.
8.15.18
New publication
Our article on the impact of reference electrode junction potentials on ion exchange membrane permselectivity is published in Environmental Science and Technology. Click here to read the article. These results are from a collaborative study with Orlando Coronell's group at UNC.
3.15.18
New publication
Our article on the impact of solution composition on the resistance of ion exchange membranes is accepted for publication in the Journal of Membrane Science. Click here to read the article. These results are from a collaborative study with Orlando Coronell's group at UNC.
2.27.18
New publication
Our article on the impact of natural organic matter and inorganic ions on power output in reverse electrodialysis (RED) is published in the Journal of Membrane Science. Click here to read the article. These results are from a collaborative study with Orlando Coronell's group at UNC.
8.28.17
Fei wins a poster award at ICOM 2017
Fei won 1 of 20 poster awards out of a total of 250 posters presented at the 2017 International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM) in San Francisco, CA. His poster titled "Effect of natural organic matter and ionic composition on electricity generation from five natural salinity gradients using reverse electrodialysis" was based on our collaborative study with Orlando Coronell's group at UNC.
8.3.17
New student
Yazeed Algurainy joined the group as a new PhD student. He earned his MS at Colorado State University. Welcome Yazeed!
8.1.17
New publication
Our article on flow electrodes coupled with graphite brush current collectors to generate electricity in reverse electrodialysis (RED) is now published in the Journal of Power Sources. Click here to read the article.
4.25.17
Qiwen wins a poster award at the WRRI conference
Qiwen Cheng (PhD candidate) was awarded the first place poster award at the 19 th annual Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) Conference in Raleigh, NC in March 2017. Her poster was titled "Influence of Electrically Conductive Particles on Methane Generation in Swine Wastewater Fed Anaerobic Digesters".
3.16.17
Salinity gradient energy video
Our salinity gradient energy project is featured in a video funded by the UNC Research Opportunities Initiative (ROI). Click here to watch.
9.6.16
ACS conference presentations
Dr. Call and Qiwen presented their work at the American Chemical Society (ACS) conference in Philadelphia. Their talks were "Electricity generation from real salinity gradients in North Carolina using reverse electrodialysis (RED)" and "Electrically conductive particles supporting direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) in anaerobic microbial communities".
8.24.16
New students
We have two new PhD students in our lab. Mark Poole got his MS in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NC State and Elvin Hossen got his MS in Environmental Engineering at NC State. Welcome to Mark and Elvin!
8.15.16
Redesigning CE 373 Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering
Dr. Call and Dr. Fernando Garcia received a grant from Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) to redesign CE 373 Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering.
8.15.16
New publication
Our review paper on direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) is accepted in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. This article will be part of a special issue on Emerging Investigators. Click here to read it.
6.9.16
New publication
Our new paper on initiating biocathode current in microbial electrochemical systems by first enriching them as bioanodes is published in Bioelectrochemistry. Click here to read.
2.23.16
Radio interview
Dr. Call and Dr. Orlando Coronell (ROI project collaborator) are interviewed by a local radio station (Radio in Vivo). Click here to listen.
2.3.16
New postdoc
Dr. Fei Liu (postdoc) joins the Call Lab to work on the salinity gradient energy project. Fei received his PhD at Wageningen University and Wetsus in The Netherlands. Welcome Fei!
10.01.15
New student
Qiwen Cheng (PhD Env Eng) joins the Call Lab. Qiwen received her MS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington. Welcome Qiwen!
8.10.15
Undergraduate research symposium
Komal, Conner, and Joe presented their summer research at the NCSU Undergraduate Research Symposium. Nice job on the posters!
7.29.15
New website for ROI projects
The official UNC ROI website is up and running! To check out our salinity gradient energy project click here.
6.9.15
New students
Chris Boggs (PhD Mech Eng), Connery Murray (BS Env Eng), and Joe Enright (BS Textile Eng) joined the Call Lab for the summer. Welcome!
5.18.15
Salinity gradient energy project in the news
Our ROI project on salinity gradient energy is featured on the East Carolina University (ECU) website. Click here to read it.
4.1.15
New project
A team of researchers co-led by Dr. Call received funding to research reverse electrodialysis (RED) technologies. The project will involve collaborations with UNC-Chapel Hill, the UNC Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), and East Carolina University (ECU). You can read more here.
2.10.15
New student
Juan Fausto Ortiz Medina, a new PhD student, joined the Call Lab. Fausto completed his MS in Environmental Engineering and Science at KAUST. Welcome Fausto!
1.7.15
New project
We received a new grant from the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) to improve methane recovery from anaerobic digesters treating high-strength waste streams using electrically conductive particles. We will collaborate with CCEE colleague Dr. Francis de Los Reyes, an expert on anaerobic digestion.
12.10.14
New project
We received a Research and Innovation Seed Funding (RISF) grant from NC State to study microbial-based energy extraction from methane gas. This project will involve collaboration with Dr. Mike Hyman in the Department of Microbiology at NC State.
11.5.14
New student
Carl Rose joins the Call Lab. Carl is an undergraduate senior in Chemical Engineering at NC State. Welcome Carl!
10.10.14
New publication
Our publication on micro/nano-structured anodes in small-scale MFCs was accepted in Fuel Cells. Click here to read it.
9.1.14
NC State arrival
Dr. Call joins the faculty at NC State!
8.15.14
New publication
Our new paper on a novel Geobacter strain that can tolerate high-salt concentrations in MFCs was accepted for publication in Environmental Microbiology Reports. Click here to read it.
7.16.14
