Our research group works at the interface of microbial biotechnology
and environmental engineering. At this interface, modeling and molecular
techniques are used as tools for the analysis of microbial populations
in engineered and natural treatment systems, allowing us to move away
from the "black box" paradigm common in biological waste treatment.
Environmental
process engineering is approached from a fundamental standpoint- combining
the insights from molecular approaches with innovative process experiments
and modeling. This combined engineering/molecular/ecological approach
is being used to assess issues in biological treatment such as: (1)
growth, life strategies, and interactions of key microbial populations
in treatment systems, (2) development of novel reactor designs and the
coupling of reactor performance to microbial community structure, and
(3) integration of results from molecular assays with treatment process
modeling.
