Translating molecular-scale environmental science into solutions to 21st century water challenges

Please join us for a special seminar  next Friday February 28 presented by Jasquelin Peña, MSA Distinguished Lecturer, University of Lausanne, Switzerland:

3:30 pm in rm 155, Geology

Translating molecular-scale environmental science into solutions to 21st century water challenges

My research is focused on chemical and biogeochemical processes that are relevant to water quality and water security. I use cutting-edge spectroscopic, microscopic and scattering techniques to create fundamental knowledge that addresses major environmental and technological challenges, including the protection and remediation of surface and ground water resources, management of elemental cycles, and improved food and resource provisioning. Currently, I investigate the speciation and coordination chemistry of trace metals (Fe, Mn) and toxicant elements (As, Pb) in natural and synthetic minerals, formation of biogenic minerals, and the kinetics and mechanisms of reactions relevant to contaminant transformations. In this talk, I will illustrate how the combination of molecular-scale environmental science, surface chemistry and mineralogy has allowed my group advance iron electrocoagulation as a field-ready, sustainable and low-cost arsenic removal technology for decentralized water treatment.

BIO

Jasquelin Peña is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She arrived in Lausanne in 2011 as the recipient of a Sandoz Family Foundation Professorship for Up-and-Coming Academics. She obtained her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (2009) and worked in the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab from 2001–2003 and again from 2009–2011. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Yale University. Her goal is to use her expertise in molecular and environmental biogeochemistry to develop solutions to the environmental grand challenges of the 21st century, especially those linked to water quality and water security.