OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Tala Navab-Daneshmand (Lab Director)
Tala is an environmental engineer interested in identifying the fate and transmission pathways of pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria from wastewater systems to environmental reservoirs, and to design engineered systems and interventions to reduce the associated human health risks. She investigates these problems with microbiology, molecular biology, process engineering, and statistics. Tala grew up in Tehran, where she studied and practiced environmental engineering in hydro-energy construction. She then studied bacterial inactivation and regrowth in biosolids land-application after electro-dewatering while obtaining her PhD at McGill University. Afterwards, she went to Zurich for postdoctoral research to examine E. coli ecology in environmental reservoirs in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Ongoing projects at Oregon State are described under the Research tab.
EDUCATION
PhD McGill University Environmental Engineering 2014
MSc Tehran University Environmental Engineering 2004
BSc Amirkabir University of Technology Civil Engineering 2002
APPOINTMENTS
Assistant Professor, Oregon State University 2016 – present
Postdoctoral Fellow, Eawag Aquatic Research, Switzerland 2015 – 16
Postdoctoral Researcher, École de Technologie Supérieure, Canada 2015
Graduate Researcher, McGill University, Canada 2010 – 14
Graduate Researcher, Tehran University, Iran 2002 – 04
Contract Specialist, Water & Power Resources Development, Iran 2007 – 08
Environmental Safety Leader, Tablieh Construction Company, Iran 2005 – 07
Structural Engineer, Tazand Consultant Company, Iran 2002 – 03
Cheng Shi (PhD Student)
Cheng Shi is a PhD student in Biological and Ecological Engineering. His research interests focus on investigating the fate and transport of contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs), evaluating the relationship between the dissemination of antibiotic resistance and the chemical fingerprinting in water systems. He was born and grew up in a small town called Datong in China. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Geochemistry from Nanjing University. His undergraduate thesis project guided him to the path to be an engineer. Cheng participated in the Environmental Engineering program at Louisiana State University and started his research about the fate of manganese(III) in water and the atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen in China. After he graduated from LSU, he participated in BEE program of OSU and started working in the lab since Fall 2019. He hope his research would help people have better understanding of contaminants in water and improve the water quality of developing countries. He loves hiking, camping, swimming, kayaking, and all the other outdoor activities in his free time. He is so excited to join in the Beaver community and looking forward to having a pleasant time here.
John Ste. Marie (PhD Student)
John is a PhD student in environmental engineering and is focusing on investigating the impact of seasonal and geographic changes on the genetic elements associated with antibiotic resistance. Originally from Denver, CO, John got his BS in chemical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY, and is thrilled to be out on the west coast. Ultimately, he wants to use his research to develop technologies to assist in the sustainable and equitable development of underdeveloped regions around the world. Outside of his academic work, John spends his time playing music, climbing, or hiking local trails.
Analyssa E. Hernandez (MS Student)
Analyssa is an MS student in Environmental Engineering. She obtained a BS in Environmental Engineering from Texas A&M University - Kingsville with a minor in Mathematics. She worked for a civil/environmental consulting firm in Texas before deciding to pursue an MS degree in Oregon. Analyssa is focusing on investigating the chemical composition and microbial communities of wastewater in different biological treatments and biosolids.
Kayla Gacosta (Undergraduate Researcher)
Kayla is an Environmental Engineering undergraduate student who grew up in California. She is very passionate about environmental safety and its impacts on human health. Since winter of 2020, she has been working in the lab through the URSA Engage program where she assists in the wastewater treatment project. In the wastewater treatment project, she works with others as they study the prevalence and fate of antibiotic resistant bacteria in wastewater that comes from various plants across Oregon.
Jacquelynn Nguyen (Undergraduate Researcher)
Jacquelynn graduated in June 2022 with a B.S in Environmental Engineering with a Toxicology minor. She joined the lab in Winter 2019 as an URSA Engage student, and she continued to work in the lab under the Johnson Internship in Summer 2019 and Summer 2020-Winter 2020. Jacquelynn participated in the study of antibiotic resistant bacteria in wastewater and biosolids across wastewater treatment plants in Oregon with Marjan Khorshidi Zadeh and SueYee Yiu, and she spent her senior year at OSU extracting DNA from the samples collected from the same project for John Ste. Marie. Outside of the lab, Jacquelynn was the president of the Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering Student Club as well as a mentor in the Society of Women Engineers. Jacquelynn will be pursuing a PhD in Environmental Engineering at University of California-Irvine in Fall 2022 with hopes to expand her knowledge on tracking and treating microbial contaminants in water.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynn-nguyen/
SueYee Yiu (Undergraduate Researcher)
SueYee is a bioengineering undergraduate student from Hawai'i who began working in the Navab lab in winter 2018 through the URSA Engage program. She then continued her work through the SURF fellowship and EBB REU. Currently, SueYee is assisting on the wastewater project, where she is investigating the impact of seasonal/geographical variation and wastewater treatment plant process on the fate and abundance of antibiotic resistant bacteria in WWTPs across Oregon. Outside of lab, she is an officer for the CBEE Club and a Career Assistant at the COE Career Development Center.
LinkedIn: https://www.
Samantha Lesch (Undergraduate Researcher)
Samantha is an undergraduate Biology student with an option in Pre-Medicine from Portland, OR. She is currently working on her undergraduate thesis on determining the antibiotic-resistant bacteria removal capacity of biochar with Lauren Lippman. Samantha is also an officer in the Investigative Diagnosis Society, Blood Drive Association, and Biomedical Engineering Society. She was previously awarded the URSA Engage award and DeLoach Scholarship.
Lauren Lippman (Undergraduate Researcher)
Lauren is studying chemical engineering. She started working in the lab as a Johnson Intern and continued as an Engineering for Bouncing Back REU recipient. Now she is working on her honors thesis on treating stormwater using biochar columns with Samantha Lesch with plans to defend this Spring. Lauren is the project manager for the OSU Chem-E-Car team and the Vice President of Events for the Engineering Student Council. She is passionate about wastewater treatment and sustainability.
Marjan Khorshidi Zadeh (MS Student)
Marjan grew up in Iran, where she got her undergraduate degree at "University of Tehran" in Chemical Engineering. Living in one of the most polluted cities in the world and seeing its effect on the health of her beloved ones, she developed interest in Environmental Engineering. She got her first master degree in Chemical Engineering-Biotechnology focusing on the role of biology in Environmental Engineering settings at "Tarbiat Modares University". There, she worked on treatment of wastegas in biotrickling filter. Currently she is getting her second master degree in Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. Her primary research at OSU focuses on investigation of the impact of seasonal & geographical variation and the wastewater treatment plant process on fate and abundance of Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria (ARB) in Wastewater and biosolid in WWTPs across Oregon. She is hoping her research at OSU will be a step in developing clear and comprehensive regulation regarding Antibiotic resistance in WWTP. Apart from research and academics, she enjoys biking, playing tennis and soccer. She loves to learn new languages and know about different cultures.
Gabriela Garza (Undergraduate Researcher)
Gabi is a Bioengineering and Pre-Med undergraduate. She began working in Navab lab early spring 2017 and continued over the summer through the Johnson Scholars Internship Program. She has worked on a greenhouse study investigation the persistance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in soil amended with biosolids. Gabi continued doing research as a SURF fellow in Summer 2018.
Mari Domingo (Undergraduate Researcher)
Mari graduated in Bioengineering in 2019. She is from Mililani, HI. In the lab, she did research on antibiotic resistant genes in stool samples obtained from women and children in Bangladesh to see if there's a correlation between arsenic contamination and antibiotic resistance. She was an officer for the CBEE club and coach for Oregon State Gymnastics Academy. In the future she hopes to teach in engineering and continue to do research and STEM outreach.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mari-domingo/
Christine Nguyen (MS Student)
Christine is a Master's student from the Environmental Sciences department. She graduated in 2017 from the University of California at Riverside receiving a B.S. in Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Toxicology and Natural Sciences. During her undergraduate Christine worked for Gilead Sciences, a biologics biotech company based in San Diego, CA where she became interested in microbiology and water quality. In her final years at UC Riverside, she researched dynamic alterations in DNA methylation with zebrafish where she developed an interest in public health and transport of contaminants. Through these experiences she is currently interested in microbial contamination, its effects in the environment, and the potential health hazards they pose for humans. Within Navab lab, she is currently researching photolytic inactivation of Cryptosporidium parvum in surface and drinking water. In collaboration with Dr. Goran Jovanovic of Chemical Engineering, this project looks at Cryptosporidium's response to UV radiation and temperature with the use microfluidic channels.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cnguy079/
Catherine Mays (MS Student)
Catherine is a Master's student whose primary research involves studying the impact of seasonal variations, geography, and treatment methods on the abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance in wastewater effluent and biosolids. Due to a generous donation from the Evans Family Foundation, she will also be traveling to Bangladesh in the spring of 2019 to implement a biomass-powered water pasteurizer in the Balukhali Refugee Camp. There she will conduct research on the efficacy of this pasteurizer in humanitarian situations by analyzing microbial presence in water both at the source of collection and point of use.
Catherine discovered her interest in water sanitation and health through her undergraduate research involving the treatment of landfill leachate (a highly toxic industrial wastewater) using sequencing batch reactors, and an internship as a water/wastewater intern at HDR Engineering. During that time she also held a position on the College of Engineering student council and was very involved with Oregon State's Engineering Leadership Academy.
LinkedIn: https://www.
Levi Mansuetti (Undergraduate Researcher)
Levi is a chemical engineering undergraduate from Eastern Oregon who is currently volunteering in Navab's lab. He finds interest in learning about environmental engineering through waste water treatment practices that relate to antibiotic resistances. When he's not busy focusing on his studies or working, he likes to spend time cooking, playing soccer, and testing out his artistic abilities. He is excited about his future volunteering opportunities in wastewater treatment and sustainability.
Genevieve Schutzius (MS Student)
Genevieve Schutzius was an MS Student in Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. She earned her BS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2013. As an undergraduate, she completed coursework related to WASH (water, sanitation, and health) and water resources development in developing communities, including a field course conducted at the Israel Technion Institute of Science and Technology working with the Bedouin people of the Negev Desert. Between degrees, she worked in both the service industry and in air quality regulatory compliance for clients ranging from small oil and gas companies to mega-breweries in Colorado. She was actively involved in fundraising for the water and sanitation non-profit Water For People, and she became inspired by their novel approach to establishing financially and technically sustainable waste and drinking water utilities in the developing world. Most recently, she spent a month in rural Haiti living with a local family and assisting with a footbridge construction, learning the language (Haitian Creole), and observing the community dynamics in a developing area. At OSU, Genevieve was applying both this knowledge and microbial methods to investigate antibiotic misuse and resistance in septic tank sludge and in the environment as a result of sludge dumping in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Click below to hear an audio recording of Genevieve talking on KBVR about her project:
Cody Newel Hugie (Undergraduate Researcher)
Cody is a Chemical Engineering undergraduate and minoring in math. He enjoys learning new lab techniques for research practices and is currently working on a journal review concerning current and future wastewater treatment practices, that relate to antibiotic resistance. When he is not in school or working, his hobbies include traveling, kickboxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Heidi Reed (Undergraduate Researcher)
Heidi Reed is a Chemical Engineering undergraduate student from Keizer, OR. She is involved in the engineering sorority, Phi Sigma Rho, holding a position on the executive broad as well as CBEE club. The summer she has gotten to take part in research as a part of the Johnson Internship program. In her free time, she enjoys anything outdoors: hiking, biking, climbing, running. Also, she loves to cook and bake.
.William Mcallister (Undergraduate Researcher)
William is an Environmental Science undergraduate student specializing in Environmental Water Resources. He started working in the Navab Lab winter 2018 through the URSA Engage Program and continued into Spring working on a project related to the study of enteric antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wastewater treatment facilities across Oregon. Outside of the lab he enjoys snowboarding, fly fishing, and rock climbing.
Tianna Coburn (Undergraduate Researcher)
Tianna is a chemical engineering undergraduate student with an emphasis in microelectronics and materials science. She joined the Navab lab in in January 2018 through the URSA Engage program, and is enthusiastic about working towards the improvement of clean water.
Jessica Erben (Undergraduate Researcher)
Jessica is a pre-environmental engineering undergraduate student. She began working in the Navab lab winter term of 2018 through the URSA Engage program. She is a sophomore representative of the Chemical, Biological, and Environmental engineering club. She enjoys the lab environment and hopes to continue improving her experience and lab techniques through the URSA Engage program.