Team:Rice/Exploratory Research
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
Our exploratory research both in-person with experts and reading through the literature shaped our understanding of the water water treatment process and hexavalent chromium contamination.
Dr. Matthews
The Baker Institute of Public Policyis a public policy think tank and a fantastic resource on Rice University's campus where students can research everything policy-related from foreign affairs to medicine. We visited the Baker Institute to speak with Dr. Kirsten Matthews. We compiled a list of questions and concerns we had about Cr(VI) and our proposed bacterial solution, including "What is the general process of attaining public and government approval for biotechnology?" and "Who would regulate this kind of technology? As a result of our discussion with Dr. Matthews, we gained many insights about the broad spectrum of fields and human activities our project impacts.
Dr. Stadler
Dr. Lauren Stadler is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. Her research focuses on advancing water reuse and energy recovery from wastewater using a multi-disciplinary approach that combines microbial ecology, environmental chemistry, and sustainability assessment.
Dr. Stadler was able to answer our questions about how water treatment plants work both in general and in Houston specifically. As we presented our ideas to her she helped us to think through potential challenges that could arise with the introduction of our bacteria into a treatment plant. These discussions shaped our design and helped to make it something that will actually be valuable to stakeholders.
Petko Ivanov
Petko Ivanov is a biosafety specialist with Rice Environmental Health and Safety. We were able to work with him to identify the best practices for working with chromate safely.
Dr. Pennington
Dr. Christopher Pennington was our contact from the Shared Equipment Authority at Rice. We consulted him to learn more about the current methods used to measure levels of Cr(VI).
