2022

 

Oct 3rd - Nishanthi published her work on "Fate, transformation and toxicological implications of environmental diclofenac: Role of mineralogy and solar flux." Congratulations Nishanthi!!!

 

Ellepola, N.; Viera, T.; Patidar, P. L.; Rubasinghege, G. Fate, Transformation and Toxicological Implications of Environmental Diclofenac: Role of Mineralogy and Solar Flux, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2022, 246, 114138.

 

Sep 25th - Sonya Torres, a Chemistry major (junior), joined the research group. Welcome Sonya!!!

 

Sep 1st - NIOSH approved two year funding for Dr. Rubasinghege for their investigation on  "Respirable Mine Dust and Crystalline Silica Dust Characteristics and Toxicity In Metal/Nonmetal Mines." This is collaborative research among NMT and Penn State. Congratulations!!!

 

Aug 22nd - Milton Das presented his research on “Atmospheric Processing and Bioavailable Iron Production from Coal Fly Ash: Effect of TiO2 in Iron Leaching” at the ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL.

 

July 18th - Eshani and Milton published their work on "The fate of inhaled uranium-containing particles upon clearance to gastrointestinal tract" in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts." Congrats!!!

 

Hettiarachchi, E.; Das, M.; Cadol, D.; Frey, B.A.; Rubasinghege, G.; The Fate of Inhaled Uranium-containing Particles Upon Clearance to Gastrointestinal Tract. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 2022, 24(8): 1257-1266.

 

July 18th - Milton published his work on "Characterization and Toxicity Analysis of Lab-Created Respirable Coal Mine Dust from the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains Regions" in Minerals. This is a product of the collaborative project with Dr. Pedram Roghanchi (NMT) and Dr. Katherine E Zychowski (UNM). Great Job everyone!!!

 

Salinas, V.; Das, M.; Jacquez, Q.; Camacho, A.; Zychowski, K.; Hovingh, M.; Medina, A.; Rubasinghege, G.; Rezaee, M.; Baltrusaitis, J.; Fairley, N.; Roghanchi, P. Characterization and Toxicity Analysis of Lab-Created Respirable Coal Mine Dust from the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains Regions,  Minerals, 2022, 12(7): 898.

 

June 24th - Nishanthi and Gayan published their work on "Heterogeneous Photocatalysis of Amoxicillin under Natural Conditions and High-Intensity Light: Fate, Transformation, and Mineralogical Impacts" in Environments.

 

Ellepola, N.; Rubasinghege, G. Heterogeneous Photocatalysis of Amoxicillin under Natural Conditions and High-Intensity Light: Fate, Transformation, and Mineralogical Impacts. Environments, 2022,  9, DOI: 10.3390/environments9070077.

 

April 22nd - Omar Ordonez from our group successfully defended his Senior thesis project on “Atmospheric Processing and Bioavailable Iron Production from Coal Fly Ash: Effect of TiO2 in Iron Leaching." Congratulations Omar!!!

 

April 21st - DoD Sandia funding was approved for one more year to continue our work on "Rechargeable Battery Abuse Research: Flammable Environment Studies II." This is a collaborative project with Dr Michael Hargather, NMT.

 

April 1st – Nishanthi Ellepola successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis titled “Mineralogy-controlled Photochemistry of Environmental Pharmaceuticals: Ecological and Human Health Implications." Congratulations Nishanthi!!!

 

Jan14th - Amadini Mendis Jayasinghe accepted a Postdoctoral Researcher Position at Los Alamos National Laboratory,NM. Wish you all the best Amadini for your future endeavors...!!!

 

Jan 4th - Rifat Khan, 1st year Chemistry graduate student, joined the research group. Welcome Rifat!!!

 

 

2021

 

Dec 15th - Dr. Richard Reynolds, presented our work on "Iron Oxide Minerals in Atmospheric Dust: Types, Amounts, Sizes, Occurrences, and their Effects on the Earth System" at the 2021 AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA.

 

Dec 13th - Kaitlynn Macias joined the research group to work on the Coal Dust project. She is a Chemistry major (sophomore). Welcome Kaitlynn!!!

 

Dec 8th - Victor Schiller, a Chemistry major (sophomore), joined the research group. Welcome Victor!!!

 

Nov 19th - Omar Ordonez successfully presented his literature seminar on "Ocean Fertilization by Airborne Fly Ash: The Role of Engineered Nanoparticles."

 

Nov 12th - Milton Das presented his research on “Respirable Mine Dust: Human Health Impacts and Possible Determinants of Diseases in Mining Communities” at the Department of Chemistry, New Mexico Tech.

 

Nov 5th - Jason LeBoeuf, a Chemistry major (jonior), joined the research group. Welcome Jason!!!

 

Oct 29th - Amadini Mendis Jayasinghe successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis titled “Survey of a Marine Biogeochemical Model Hierarchy: Global Dissolved Organic Carbon." Congratulations Amadini!!!

 

Oct 15th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Uranium containing dust and human health” at GSA Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon.

 

Oct 14th - Miton Das & Gayan Rubasinghege published their collaborative research on Inorganic Chemistry.

 

Salvador, F.; Miller, V.; Shimada, K.; Wang, C-H.; Wright, J.; Das, M.; Chen, Y-P.; Chen, Y-S.; Sheehan, C.; Xu, W.; Rubasinghege, G.; Gao, W-Y, Mechanochemistry of Group 4 Element-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks, Inorganic Chemistry, 2021, 60 (21), 16079-16084 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c02704

 

Sep 1st - NIOSH approved three year funding for Dr. Pedram and Dr. Rubasinghege to investigate "Integration of RCMD and RCS Physicochemistry and Toxicity Outcomes in an Occupational Risk Assessment Model." This is collaborative research among NMT UNM and UPenn. Congratulations to all the PIs and Co-PIs!!!

 

Aug 23rd - Milton Chandra Das presented his research on “Mineralogy Controlled Dissolution and Toxicological Assessment of Uranium Dust in Simulated Gastrointestinal Fluids” at the ACS Fall meeting (Oral, Virtual), Georgia, Atlanta.

 

Aug 22nd - Dr. Rubasinghege delivered a talk on “Synergistic Effects of Airborne nano Titanium mixed with Iron-bearing Mineral-Dust on the Growth of a Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana" - American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Georgia, Atlanta.

 

May 15th - Amadini Jayasinghe started her summer internship in Los Alamos National Lab. Wish you all the best...!!!

 

March 20th - DoD Sandia funding was approved for the proposed work on "Rechargeable Battery Abuse Research: Flammable Environment Studies II." This is a collaborative project with Dr Michael Hargather, NMT.

 

Feb 5th -  Amadini Jayasinghe presented her terminal seminar on “Reduced Modeling of Functional Organic Chemistry in Arctic Rivers”

 

Jan 6th - Eshani Hettiarachchi & Gayan Rubasinghege published their research in ACS ES&T

 

Hettiarachchi, E.; Ivanov, S.; Kieft, T.; Goldstein, H. L.; Moskowitz, B. M.; Reynolds, R. L.; Rubasinghege, G. Atmospheric Processing of Iron-Bearing Mineral Dust Aerosol and Its Effect on Growth of a Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2021, 55 (2), 871–881. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c06995

 

2020

 

Dec 18th - Amadini Jayasinghe presented her research on “Dissolved Organic Carbon in Arctic Rivers: Reduced Model with Functional Groups” at AGU Fall Meeting, Virtual

 

Dec 10th - Dr. Rubasinghege and Milton Das started a new collaborative project with Dr. Pedram Roghanchi (Department of Mineral Engineering, NMT) with a specific focus on the health impacts of inhaled coal dust.

 

Oct 20th - Amadini Jayasinghe and Scott Elliott published their research on Atmosphere.

 

Jayasinghe, A.; Elliott, S.; Piliouras, A.; Clement Kinney, J.; Gibson, G.; Jeffery, N.; Hoffman, F.; Kumar, J.; Wingenter, O. Modeling Functional Organic Chemistry in Arctic Rivers: An Idealized Siberian System. Atmosphere 2020, 11, 1090.

 

Oct 15th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Uranium Inhalation and Health Implications” at GSA Connects online Annual Meeting ...!!!

 

Oct 13th - Amadini Jayasinghe presented her research on “Reduced model for the functional behavior of arctic riverine organic carbon” at DOE Regional and Global Model Analysis (RGMA) Principal Investigators (PI) Meeting, Los Alamos National Lab, Virtual

 

Oct 07th - Jordyn Wemhoner joins our research group...Welcome Jordyn...!!!

 

Oct 2nd - Amadini Jayasinghe presented her research on “Arctic River-Delta-Coastal Chemistry in the DOE Hierarchy of Models” at Center for Space and Earth Science (CSES) – Earth System Focus Area Virtual Symposium, Los Alamos National Lab.

 

July 20th - Eshani Hettiarachchi & Gayan Rubasinghege published their collaborative research on Chemistry, A Europian Journal

 

Thapa, S.; Meng, L.; Hettiarachchi, E.; Bader, Y. K.; Dickie, D. A.; Rubasinghege, G.; Ivanov, S. A.; Vreeland, E. C.; Qin, Y. Charge-Separated and Lewis Paired Metal-Organic Framework for Anion Exchange and CO2 Chemical Fixation. Chem. - A Eur. J. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202002823

 

July 20th - Amadini Jayasinghe presented her research on “Dissolved Organic Carbon in Arctic Rivers: Reduced Model with Functional Groups”, The Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling (COSIM) Meeting, Los Alamos National Lab, Virtual

 

July 15th - Eshani Hettiarachchi accepted a Postdoctoral Researcher Position at University of California, San Diego. Wish you all the best Eshani for your future endeavors...!!!

 

June 20th - Amadini Jayasinghe presented her research on “Dissolved Organic Carbon in Arctic Rivers: Reduced Model with Functional Groups”, Reducing Uncertainties in Biogeochemical Interactions through Synthesis and Computation Science (RUBISCO) Focus Area Biogeochemistry Science Friday Meeting, Oak Ridge National Lab, Virtual

 

May 16th – Eshani Hettiarachchi won the NMT Founders Award 2020. “A Founders’ Award was created to honor the persons responsible for establishing the New Mexico School of Mines in Socorro in 1889, especially J. J. Baca and Ethan Eaton. The award is presented to the recipient of an advanced degree who has made an outstanding contribution to Tech through scholarship, research, and involvement in campus affairs.” Congratulations Eshani...!!!

 

May 15th - Amadini Jayasinghe started her summer internship in Los Alamos National Lab for the second continuous year. Wish you all the success...!!!

 

May 7th - Milton Chandra Das successfully completed his Ph.D. candidacy examination. Congratulations and good luck with future research work!!!

 

May 7th – Milton Chandra Das successfully presented his candidacy proposal on “Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Immobilized Cellulases on Magnetic Metal-Organic Frameworks (MMOF) for the Biofuel Production” at the Chemistry Department Seminar Series, New Mexico Tech. Congratulations!!!

 

April 23rd – Eshani Hettiarachchi received the Chemistry Department Award for the Graduate Research Excellence - 2020. Congratulations!!!

 

April 14th - Nishanthi Ellepola discussed a poster on “Impacts of Environmental Minerals on Diclofenac Degradation” at the Student Research Symposium, NMT

 

April 1st – Eshani Hettiarachchi successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis titled “Study of heterogeneous chemistry and photochemistry of atmospheric aerosols: Impact of mineralogy on ocean fertilization, human health and the greenhouse gas mitigation." Congratulations Eshani!!!

 

March 31st - NIH-INBRE grant was successfully renewed for the year year of funding.

 

March 15th - Eshani Hettiarachchi was featured as a student researcher in NMT Graduate School Program 2020.

 

March 07th - Nishanthi Ellepola successfully completed her Ph.D. candidacy exam. Congratulations Nishanthi!!!

 

February 15th - Amadini Jayasinghe had a training on ILAMB (International Land Model Benchmarking) and IOMB (International Ocean Model Benchmarking) packages in Oak Ridge National Lab.

 

February 06th - Eshani Hettiarachchi wrote an article to GSA’s Geo Health Magazine

 

Hettiarachchi, E.; Mineralogy Controlled Leaching of Inhaled Uranium and Health Implications, Geo Health Newsletter, Geological Society of America, Spring 2020.

 https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/GEOSOCIETY/430d389e-070d-4854-840c-68a867ce1a52/UploadedImages/Newsletters_GHD/2020_Newsletter.pdf

 

January 07th - Eshani Hettiarachchi & Gayan Rubasinghege published their research on ACS: Earth Space & Chemistry.

 

Hettiarachchi, E.; Rubasinghege, G. Mechanistic Study on Iron Solubility in Atmospheric Mineral Dust Aerosol: Roles of Titanium, Dissolved Oxygen, and Solar Flux in Solutions Containing Different Acid Anions. ACS Earth Sp. Chem. 2020.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00280

 

 

2019

 

December 11th – Gayan Rubasinghege presented our latest work on "Fate, Transformation and Toxicological Implications of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the Critical Zone" at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) National Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

 

December 10th – Our work on photo-degradation products of environmental ibuprofen: ecological and human health implications is highlighted in the EOS Earth & Space Science Magazine - "Drugs in Our Water Can Leave Even More Toxic By-Products."

 

December 2nd – Eshani Hettiarachchi and Gayan Rubasinghege published their new paper titles “Mechanistic Study on Iron Solubility in Atmospheric Mineral Dust Aerosol: Roles of Titanium, Dissolved Oxygen, and Solar Flux in Solutions Containing Different Acid Anions.”

 

November 20th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Study of Heterogeneous Chemistry & Photochemistry of Atmospheric Aerosols: Impact of Mineralogy on Ocean Fertilization, Human Health, and the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation” at the Department of Chemistry, New Mexico Tech.

 

November 15th - Amadini Jayasinghe presented her PhD candidacy proposal on “A Study of Methane and Ethylene Release from Polyethylene Microplastics: Role of Trace Metals”

 

October 27th - Our recent work on “A Toxicological Study on Photo-degradation Products of Environmental Ibuprofen: Ecological and Human Health Implications” was published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. Congratulations Nishanthi for your first publication!!!

 

October 18th - Dr. Rubasinghege was invited as a guest seminar speaker at the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, New Mexico State University, Las Cruises, NM. He presented our work on “Mineral Dust and Its Impact on Global Process: Role of Surface Chemistry in Climate, Ocean and Human Health”.

 

September 25th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Airborne Uranium Leaching in Bodily Fluids and Health Implications” at the Geological Society of America (GSA) Meeting, Phoenix, AZ as one of the invited speakers.

 

September 23rd - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Mineralogy Dependent Atmospheric Processing of Mineral Dust Aerosol and their Impact on the Growth of Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana” at the CINT (Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies) Annual Meeting, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos, NM.

 

September 1st - Dr. Rubasinghege received a sub award from the Department of Energy (DOE) through Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) for his collaborative research on “Arctic River-Delta-Coastal Chemistry in the DOE Hierarchy of Models” with Dr. Scott Elliott at LANL.

 

August 30th - Dr. Rubasinghege was invited as a guest seminar speaker at the Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. His talk was on “Dust, Health and Climate: Roles of Surface Chemistry and Heterogeneous Processes in Environmental Processes”.

 

August 29th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Mineralogy Dependent Atmospheric Processing of Mineral Dust Aerosol and their Impact on the Growth of Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana” at the ACS National Meeting, San Diego.

 

August 27th - Nishanthi Ellepola presented her work on “Toxicological Study on Photo-degradation Products of Environmental Ibuprofen: Ecological and Human Health Implications” at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Fall meeting, San Diego, CA.

 

August 26th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Mineralogy Dependent Bio-available Fe Production in Atmospheric Waters” at the Sci-Mix Poster Session of ACS National Meeting, San Diego.

 

August 26th - Dr. Rubasinghege presented research work on “Surface Chemistry of Airborne Mineral Dust Aerosols: Environmental and Health Implications” at the special Symposium in Honor of Dr. Vicki Grassian  in the 258th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, San Diego, CA.

 

August 25th - Dr. Rubasinghege delivered plenary talk on “Fate of pharmaceuticals in Wastewater: Roles of Environmental Factors and Toxicological Implications" in the session on "Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater" - 258th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, San Diego, CA.

 

August 25th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Impact of Ti Containing Nanoparticles on Ocean Fe Fertilization: Laboratory Investigation of the Growth of Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana” at the ACS National Meeting, San Diego.

 

August 25th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Synthesis of Ilmenite nanoparticles and their impact on growth of diatoms” at ACS Fall Meeting, San Diego.

 

July 29th - Amadini Jayasinghe participated in “DOE CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6) Hackathon Analysis Workplace and presented under the project “Biogeochemistry feedbacks and processes” in Los Alamos National Lab.

 

June 15th - Eshani Hettiarachchi & Gayan Rubasinghege published their research on Atmospheric Environment.

 

Hettiarachchi, E.; Reynolds, R. L.; Goldstein, H. L.; Moskowitz, B.; Rubasinghege, G. Bioavailable iron production in airborne mineral dust: Controls by chemical composition and solar flux Atmos. Environ. 2019, 205, 90-102. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.02.037

 

June 1st - Amadini Jayasinghe started her summer internship in Los Alamos National Lab. Wish you all the best...!!!

 

May 15th - Eshani Hettiarachchi & Gayan Rubasinghege presented their research on “Mineralogy Dependent Atmospheric Processing of Mineral Dust Aerosol and their Impact on the Growth of Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana” at the CINT (Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies) triennial review, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos, NM.

 

May 11th - Eshani Hettiarachchi won the Langmuir Award 2019 for the Outstanding Published Research Paper at the Commencement, New Mexico Tech for her paper titled “Mineralogy Controlled Dissolution of Uranium from Airborne Dust in Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) and Possible Health Implications.”

 

April 15th - 15. Amadini Jayasinghe and Scott Elliott published their research on Atmosphere.

 

Elliott, S.; Menzo, Z.; Jayasinghe, A.; Allen, H.C.; Ogunro, O.; Gibson, G.; Hoffman, F.; Wingenter, O. Biogeochemical Equation of State for the Sea-Air Interface. Atmosphere 2019, 10, 230.

 

April 12th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Mineralogy Dependent Atmospheric Processing of Mineral Dust Aerosol and their Impact on the Growth of Marine Diatom, Cyclotella meneghiniana” at the Rio Grande Branch – American Society for Microbiology Meeting, Spring 2019

 

April 11th - Nishanthi Ellepola won the second place of 3 minute research speech competition at Student Research Symposium, NMT

 

April 11th - Nishanthi Ellepola discussed a poster on her work of Pharmaceuticals in the Environment at the Student Research Symposium, NMT.

 

April 11th - Eshani Hettiarachchi won the 1st place at the 3 min Speech Competition of the Student Research Symposium, New Mexico Tech for presenting her research on “Mitigating CO2 Emissions using Specifically Designed Metal Organic Frameworks.”

 

April 10th - Nishanthi Ellepola presented her work on "Ecotoxicological and Biotoxicological Effects of Ibuprofen Degraded Products" at the Student Research Symposium, NMT.

 

April 10th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Mineralogy Dependent Bio-available Fe Production in Atmospheric Waters” at the Student Research Symposium, New Mexico Tech.

 

April 10th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Mitigating CO2 Emissions using Specifically Designed Metal Organic Frameworks” at the Student Research Symposium, New Mexico Tech.

 

March 1st - Our recent work on “Bioavailable iron production in airborne mineral dust: Controls by chemical composition and solar flux” was published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. Congratulations Eshani!!!

 

February 22nd - Nishanthi Ellepola presented her work on "Ecotoxicological and Biotoxicological Effects of Ibuprofen Degraded Products" at the Graduate Seminar in Department of Chemistry, NMT.

 

2018

 

December 05th - Our recent work on "Mineralogy Controlled Dissolution of Uranium from Airborne Dust in Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) and Possible Health Implications" was published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. Congratulations Eshani for one more publication.

 

October 30th - Our recent work on "A Charge-separated Diamondoid Metal–organic Framework" was published in Chemical Communication. Congratulations Eshani for your new publication. This is a collaboration with Dr. Yang Qin at the Department of Chemistry, UNM.

 

October 28th - Eshani presented her research on "Mineralogy Driven Dissolution of Inhaled Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) and Possible Toxicity" at the New Mexico Academy of Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

October 5th - Eshani presented her latest work on "Charge Separated Metal Organic Frameworks for Selective Gas Adsorption" at the Chemistry Department Seminar, New Mexico Tech.

 

August 30th - Our recent work on "Fate, Transformation, and Toxicological Impacts of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Surface Waters" was published in Environmental Health Insights. Congratulations Sabino for your second publication.

 

August 21st - Eshani presented her latest work on "Mineralogy Dependent Dissolution of Inhaled Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids in Uranium Mine Lands" at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Fall Meeting, Boston, MA.

 

August 20th - Gayan Rubasinghege presented our latest work on "Stability and Biological Activities of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Open Water Bodies: Roles of Environmental Factors" at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Fall Meeting, Boston, MA.

 

July 31st - Eshani Hettiarachchi discuss a poster on "Effect of Mineralogy in Leaching of Inhaled Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids" at the New Mexico INBRE conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

July 31st - Nishanthi Ellepola presented her work on "Ecotoxicological and Biotoxicological effects of Ibuprofen Secondary Products" at the New Mexico INBRE conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

July 31st - Dr. Rubasinghege discuss our latest work on "Fate, Transformation and Toxicological Impacts of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Surface Waters" at the New Mexico INBRE conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

June 4th - Our recent work on "Iron dissolution and speciation in atmospheric mineral dust: Metal-metal synergistic and antagonistic effects" was published in Atmospheric Environment. Congratulations Eshani for your third publication.

 

June 1st - Sabino Maldonado-Toress was awarded a summer research internship at the Harvard-Amgen Scholars Program. Congratulations Sabino...!!!

 

May 16th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research work on "Mineralogy Dependent Dissolution of Inhaled Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids in Uranium Mine Lands” in the Geological Society of America (GSA) Meeting at Flagstaff, AZ.

 

May 12th - Andrew Chan (Petroleum Engineering)  and Matthew Davenport (Chemical Engineering) graduated with their Bachelor's Degree. Matt already accepted for a PhD program in in the Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas. Congratulations to both of you...and wish you all the best with future endeavors...!!!

 

May 8th - Eshani Hettiarachchi addressed the "Metals Super Fund Research" at University of New Mexico group to shared her recent work on "Uranium Mineralogy and Dissolution of Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids: Experimental Investigations and Geochemical Modeling."

 

April 18th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research on “Dissolution of Inhaled Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids” at the Student Research Symposium, New Mexico Tech.

 

Nishanthi Ellepola delivered a talk on "Environmental Impact of Pharmaceuticals" at the Student Research Symposium, New Mexico Tech.

 

March 31st - NIH-INBRE grant was successfully renewed for the year year of funding.

 

March 27th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented her research work on "Mineralogy Dependent Dissolution of Inhaled Uranium in Simulated Lung Fluids in Uranium Mine Lands, New Mexico” in the Annual workshop on Making Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Profitable at New Mexico Tech.

 

January 20th - Center for Integrated Nanotechnology (CINT) approved  our user proposal. A new collaboration was established with Dr. Sergei A. Ivanov to investigate the link between biological activity of ocean diatoms and atmospheric processing of Fe-containing nanoparticles.

 

January 12th - Our latest work on “Bioavailable iron production in atmospheric aerosol dust” was published in Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Congratulations Eshani for your first publication!!!

 

January 10th - A new collaboration was established with Dr. Pabitra Chaudhry (Chemical Engineering, NMT) to investigate the feasibility of energy conversion from methane to methanol.

 

January 1st - Milton Das, a first year graduate student, joined the research group. Welcome to the group Milton!!!

 

2017

 

December 15th - Gayan Rubasinghege presented our latest work on "Abiotic Degradation and Toxicological Impacts of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in Surface Waters: Roles of Mineral Sediments and Solar Radiation" at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2017, New Orleans, LA.

 

December 13th - Our work on "Abiotic degradation and environmental toxicity of ibuprofen: Roles of mineral particles and solar radiation" was published in Water Research. Congratulations to all the authors!!! The link to this article is https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.12.016.

 

December 12th - Eshani Hettiarachchi successfully presented her research work on "Effect of Mineralogy on the Dissolution and Speciation of Iron Containing Mineral Oxides in Atmospheric Aerosol Dust” at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2017, New Orleans, LA.

 

October 6th - Eshani Hettiarachchi passed her candidacy examination. Congratulations and good luck with future research work!!!

 

October 6th - Eshani Hettiarachchi successfully presented her proposal on “Cellulose and Its Derivatives: A Source of Energy & Probable Disease Carrier” at the Chemistry Department Seminar Series, New Mexico Tech. Congratulations!!!

 

July 20th - Hom Nath Rijal successfully defended his Master thesis  on “Abiotic Degradation of Ibuprofen and Clofibric Acid and Their Toxicological Impacts: Role of Solar Flux and Clay Particles". Congratulations Hom!!!

 

July 2nd - Shaylene Paul, an EPSCoR STEMAP student, joined the group to work on a summer project. This is a new  collaborative effort with Dr. Daniel Cadol (Hydrology, NMT) and Bonnie Frey (Bureau of geology, NMT).

 

July 1st - Sabino Maldonado-Torres successfully was selected to a summer internship in the Biomedical Research Program at Yale University. Congratulations Sabino!!!

 

June 23rd - Gayan Rubasinghege presented research on "Abiotic Degradation and Toxicological Impacts of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs): Roles of Mineral Particles and Solar Flux" at the RAIN Conference, Big Sky, Montana.

 

June 15th - A new collaboration was established with Dr. Rodolfo Tello-Aburto (Chemistry, NMT) to investigate toxicological impacts of degradation products of selected PPCPs.

 

June 1st - Nishanthi Ellepolla, 1st year Chemistry graduate student, joined the research group. Welcome Nishanthi!!!

 

May 5th - Sarah Bockisch successfully defended her Senior thesis project on “Heavy Metal Release from Mineral Dust in Simulated Lung Fluids and Health Implications”. Congratulations Sarah!!!

 

April 19th - Eshani Hettiarachchi presented (both poster and oral) her research on “Atmospheric Processing of Mineral Dust Aerosol; A Bioavailable Source of Iron” at the Student Research Symposium, New Mexico Tech.

 

March 31st - NIH-INBRE grant was successfully renewed for the year year of funding.

 

March 31st - Eshani Hettiarachchi successfully delivered a talk on “Atmospheric Processing of Mineral Dust Aerosol; A Bioavailable Source of Iron” at the Chemistry Department Seminar Series, New Mexico Tech.

 

March 18th - Dr. Rubasinghege presented the latest findings on "Abiotic Degradation and Environmental Toxicity of Selected Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products: Roles of Mineral Particles and Solar Flux” at the NM-INBRE Conference, Santa Fe, NM.

 

March 18th - Sabino Maldonado won the first place for his oral presentation on “The Environmental Fate of Ibuprofen and Its Toxicity on the Environment’s Microbiome” at the NM-INBRE Conference, Santa Fe, NM. Congratulations Sabino!!!

 

March 18th - Andrew Chan successfully presented his work on “Controlled Degradation of BPA in the Presence of Kaolinite and the Toxicological Implications of Secondary Products” at the NM-INBRE Conference, Santa Fe, NM.

 

March 18th - Sarah Bockisch successfully presented her work on “Heavy Metal Release from Mineral Dust in Simulated Lung Fluids and Health Implications” at the NM-INBRE Conference, Santa Fe, NM.

 

2016

 

December 8th - Dr. Rubasinghege talked about “Toxicological Impacts of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products on Water Quality: Environmental Fate, Transformation and Health Effects” in the session “Anthropogenic Impacts on Water Pollution and Water Quality in Rivers” at the American Geophysical Union (AGU), San Francisco, CA.

 

December 5th - Sarah Bockisch successfully presented her literature seminar on "Heavy Metal Release from Mineral Dust in Simulated Lung Fluids and Health Implications"

 

November 10th - Dr. Rubasinghege presented at the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) conference in Orlando, FL. He talked about “Toxicological Implications of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products on Aquatic Life and Human Health: Roles of Soil Particles and Solar Flux in PPCP Degradation in Open Water Bodies.”

 

October 19th - A new collaboration was established with Dr. Yang Qin (Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, UNM) to investigate selective adsorption of natural grades on novel Cu based metal organic framework (Cu-MOFs).

 

September 1st - Sarah Bockisch joined the research group as a senior thesis student. Sarah, welcome to the group!!!

 

August 5th -Sabino Maldonado presented his summer research at the at a joint poster symposium hosted by the Undergraduate Pipeline Network (UPN) at the University of New Mexico. He won the FIRST place. Congratulations!!!

 

June 8th - Dr. Rubasinghege delivered an invited seminar on “Atmospheric Feed of Bioavailable Iron to Ocean Life: Processing of Ion Containing Mineral Dust under low pH Atmospheric Conditions” at the Department of Chemistry, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

 

June 1st - Sabino Maldonado-Torres was selected for the NM-INBRE Summer Experience (NISE) in summer 2016. Congratulations Sabino!!!

 

May 10th - Eshani Hettiarachchi, a first year graduate student, joined the research group. Welcome Eshani to the Environmental Chemistry Research!!!

 

May 5th - Zane Arias successfully defended his senior thesis project on "Heterogeneous Chemistry and Photochemistry of Nitrates and Halogens on Arctic Sea Ice" at the Chemistry Seminar Series, NEw Mexico Tech.

 

April 19th - Andrew Chan successfully presented on "Toxicological implications of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) on aquatic life and human health" at the Student Research Symposium in New Mexico Tech.

 

April 1st - NIH-NM-INBRE approved three year funding for Dr. Rubasinghege to investigate "Abiotic degradation and long-term health effects of pharmaceutical and personal care products in open water bodies."

 

March 17th - Dr. Rubasinghege presented our latest work on  “Environmental Fate, Transformation and Long-term Health Effects of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs)” at the NM-INBRE Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

March 17th - Hom Nath Rijal successfully presented his research on "Toxicological implications of ppcps on aquatic life and human health: Roles of soil particles and solar flux in PPCPss degradation in open water bodies" at the NM-INBRE Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

February 2nd - A new research collaboration was established with with Dr. Richard Reynolds and Harland Goldstein (USGS, CO), and Dr. Bruce Moskowitz (University of Minnesota) to investigate new aspects of bioavailable Fe production in atmospheric mineral dust.

 

2015

 

December 16th - Dr. Rubasinghege gave a talk on “Atmospheric Processing of Iron-Containing Mineral Dust Aerosol: A Major Source of Bioavailable Iron to Ocean Life” in the session “Long-Range Transport of Dust and Pollution in the Past, Present, and Future” at the American Geophysical Union (AGU), San Francisco, CA.

 

December 5th - Zane Arias successfully presented his senior thesis literature seminar at the Chemistry Department seminar series, New Mexico Tech.

 

November 19th - Dr. Rubasinghege delivered an invited seminar on “Atmospheric Feed of Bioavailable Iron to Ocean Life: Processing of Ion Containing Mineral Dust under low pH Atmospheric Conditions” at the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Tech.

 

October 5th - Mathew Davenport joined the group as volunteer research student. Welcome Mathew to the group!!!

 

September 1st - Dr. Rubasinghege received funding from NIH-NM-INBRE for a focus project to investigate "Abiotic degradation and long-term health effects of pharmaceutical and personal care products in open water bodies" .

 

August 17th - Zane Arias joins the research group to complete his senior thesis requirement. He will be investigating halogen reactions on Arctic ice crystals.

 

August 2nd - Dr. Rubasinghege presented most recent findings at the Gorden Research Conference (GRC)-Atmospheric in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire.

 

June 1st - Omar Hurub rejoined the Chemistry graduate program as a Master's student and continued his research as a key member in our group.

 

May 20th - Hom Nath Rijal, a first year graduate student, joined the group. Welcome Hom!!!

 

May 5th - Omar Hurub successfully defended his senior thesis project and graduated with bachelor's degree in chemistry.

 

April 20th - Omar Hurub presented his work on “Atmospheric Processing of Ion Containing Minerals: Influence of pH, Mineralogy, Particle Size, and Solar Flux on Dissolution at Low pH Environments” at the 4th Annual Student Research Symposium in New Mexico Tech  and received highly positive comments for this work. Congratulations Omar!!!

 

April 7th - Group attended the NM EPSCoR All Hands Meeting at New Mexico Tech. It was science with fun!!!

 

March 30th - Dr. Rubasinghege attended a workshop at the Atmospheric Chemistry Center for Observational Research and Data (ACCORD) at National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO.

 

March 15th - Sabino Maldonadop-Torres joined the group as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Sabino!!!

 

March 5th - New research collaboration was established with Dr. Menake Piyasena (NMT) and Dr. Snezna Rogelj to investigate "Abiotic degradation and long -term health effects of pharmaceutical and personal care products in open water bodies"

 

February 1st - Andrew Chen joined the group as volunteer research students. Welcome Andrew!!!

 

2014

 

November 21st - Omar Hurub successfully presented his research proposal at the departmental seminar. Congratulations Omar!!!

 

September 10th - Establishment of new dark room in the Environmental Chemistry laboratory!!!. Thank you all for all your hard work.

 

September 5th - Sean Standford and Chase Kicker joined the group as volunteer research students. Welcome Sean and Chase.

 

September 1st - Omar Hurub joins the research group as the first undergraduate student. Welcome Omar to the environmental research.

 

August 25th - Establishment of the New Environmental Chemistry Research Group at New Mexico Tech!!!