Environmental engineer wins SEAS Graduate Student Poster Competition

2018 SEAS graduate student poster competition winners.

Winners of the 2018 SEAS Graduate Student Poster Competition. From left, Liesl Folks, SEAS dean; Abdul Hassaballah, first place; Mohammad Ali Attarzadeh, second place; Viktor Sukhotskiy, third place; Shambhu Upadhyaya, SEAS associate dean of research and graduate education.

by Jane Stoyle Welch

Published May 1, 2018 This content is archived.

Abdulrahman Hassaballah, a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, won first place for his research poster in the annual SEAS Graduate Student Poster Competition.

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An environmental engineer, Hassaballah’s research explores new disinfection technologies for water resource recovery facilities. The poster was titled “Inactivation of E.Coli, Enterococcus spp. and somatic coliphage in secondary wastewater by peracetic acid (PAA), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and ultraviolet (UV) light.” His advisor is assistant professor Lauren Sassoubre.

“Peracetic acid is not popular or well-known in wastewater industries. Its biggest advantage is that it is less harmful to aquatic life.” Hassaballah says. “I’m trying to see how PAA compares with traditionally used chlorine at removing pathogens or microorganisms that can indicate whether our water is polluted. This research will help managers make more informed decisions on how we treat our wastewater.”

The second place award went to Viktor Sukhotskiy, Department of Electrical Engineering, for his poster, “Magnetohydrodynamic Drop-on-Demand Liquid Metal 3D Printing: Device Modelling and Characterization.” His advisor is Professor Edward Furlani.

Mohammad Ali Attarzadeh, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, earned third place for his poster, “One-way Elastic Wave Propagation: Breaking Mechanical Reciprocity in 2D Systems.” His advisor is assistant professor Mostafa Nouh.

Graduate students from across the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences presented their research posters to faculty, staff, fellow students, and members of the community during the annual Graduate Student Poster Competition, which was held on April 11. Thirteen students from across the school participated in the event. Judges included faculty from all eight of the school’s departments.

The awards were presented at a reception in Davis Hall following the competition.