Opportunities

Dr. Coronell welcomes the applications of hard-working and creative students interested in performing research in physico-chemical processes in environmental engineering at the undergraduate, master’s, PhD or post-doctoral level.  Opportunities vary each year.  If you are interested in applying, please send an email to Dr. Coronell (coronell@unc.edu) together with your complete resume and main research interests.  Special consideration is given to applicants with interest in: (a) membrane processes and materials, and (b) removal of contaminants by redox processes.

Announcements

May 2013: Josh Powell successfully defends his Masters Technical Report.  Josh studied the degradation of polyamide membranes by free chlorine.  Congratulations Josh!

April 2013: Josh Powell receives the George C. Bunker Award, which is given annually by the ESE Department to an MSEE candidate who shows the most outstanding scholarship and professional promise.  Josh’s work focuses on characterizing the degradation of polyamide membranes by free chlorine.  Congratulations Josh!

April 2013: Alex Gorzalski successfully defends his Masters Technical Report.  Alex studied the fouling and optimum cleaning strategies of nanofiltration membranes used to treat groundwaters from North Carolina.  Congratulations Alex!

March 2013: Our research group is awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project “GOALI: Application of an Innovative Anti-Biofilm Technology for Overcoming Biofouling on Water Purification Membranes”.  This work will be performed in collaboration with our industry partner, Agile Sciences.

March 2013: Alex Gorzalski gives an oral presentation at the 2013 WRRI Annual Conference and NCWRA Symposium in North Carolina State University.  The title of the talk was “Identification of Foulants and Optimum Cleaning Strategies for Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis Membranes Treating Groundwaters of Coastal North Carolina”.

February 2013: Dr. Coronell et. al.’s invited article, entitled “Microanalysis of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes” is accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Encyclopedia of Membrane Science and Technology (editors: Hoek, E.M.V.; Tarabara, V.V.).

February 2013: Arianna Catenacci from Politecnico di Milano in Italy joins our group as a visiting PhD student.  Arianna will be with us for six months, and will research the removal of contaminants from water using reductive media.

January 2013: Dr. Coronell is awarded the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Teaching Innovation Award for the ESE department. One faculty member from each of the School’s eight academic units is selected by students in their department as the faculty member “who improves the student learning environment and outcomes by integrating new technologies, engaging students in interactive activities, employing creative assessment methods, introducing progressive curriculum and/or incorporating creative ideas.” Congratulations Dr. Coronell!

December 2012: Alex Gorzalski receives a Graduate Education Advancement Board Impact Award, which recognizes outstanding graduate research of particular benefit to the citizens of North Carolina. His work focuses on fouling and cleaning of nanofiltration membranes used for drinking water treatment in coastal North Carolina. Alex will showcase his research to state legislators and the campus community at the UNC Graduate School’s Student Recognition Celebration in April 2013. Congratulations Alex!

November 2012: Dr. Coronell’s paper entitled “Modeling the effect of charge density in the active layers of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes on the rejection of arsenic (III) and potassium iodide” is published in Environmental Science and Technology. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es302850p).

November 2012: Lamar A. Perry’s paper entitled “Reliable, bench-top measurements of charge density in the active layers of thin-film composite and nanocomposite membranes using quartz crystal microbalance technology” is published in the Journal of Membrane Science (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2012.11.023).

November 2012: A paper co-authored by Dr. Coronell entitled “Growth kinetics of interfacially polymerized polyamide layers by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry” is accepted for publication in the Journal of Membrane Science. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2012.11.040).

October 2012: Dr. Coronell gives an invited seminar at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering at North Carolina A&T University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  The seminar is entitled “Application of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and quartz crystal microbalance measurements to study the relationship between charge density in membranes for water purification and the rejection of contaminants of interest”.

September 2012: Eliot S. Meyer successfully defends his Masters Technical Report.  Eliot studied the degradation of the supports of thin-film composite and thin-film nanocomposite membranes during Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) analysis.  Congratulations Eliot!

August 2012: Jingbo Wang joins our group as a Master’s student. Jingbo will study transport phenomena in RO/NF/FO membranes.

August 2012: Brad N. Bennett  successfully defends his Masters Technical Report.  Brad studied the removal of nitrate from aqueous solution using zero-valent metals.  Congratulations Brad!

August 2012: Dr. Coronell passes on his duties as faculty advisor of the UNC Chapter of Engineers without Borders (EWB) to Dr. Pete Kolsky.

June 2012: Dr. Coronell  gives an oral presentation at the 2012 North American  Membrane Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.  The title of the talk was “Relating contaminant rejection by thin-film composite membranes to the charge density in membrane active layers”.

June 2012: Lamar A. (Tony) Perry’s poster is presented at the 2012 North American  Membrane Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.  His poster was entitled “Measuring charge density in thin-film composite and thin-film nanocomposite membranes”.

April 2012: David Holcomb successfully defends his undergraduate honors thesis. David studied the use of reductive media for the removal of contaminants from water at the point of use.  Congratulations David!

March 2012: Alex Gorzalski gives a talk at the Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) Annual Conference 2012, Raleigh, NC. The talk is entitled “Identification of membrane foulants for NF and RO membranes treating groundwaters from the Castle Hayne and Peedee aquifers in North Carolina”.

March 2012: Peter J. Attayek’s paper entitled “A remotely-controlled, semi-automatic target system for Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and elastic recoiled detection analyses of polymeric membrane samples” is published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics A. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.02.005)

February 2012: Dr. Coronell presents a paper with Lin Lin as the first author at the AWWA/AMTA Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition 2012, Glendale, AZ. The talk is entitled “Relating Water Permeability of Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes to the Polymer Density of their Active Layers”.

January 2012: Lin Lin receives the Okun Scholarship from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. The Okun Scholarship is awarded to promising engineering students. Congratulations Lin!

December 2011: Dr. Seokjong Byun completes his post-doctoral research project in our group.  Good luck in South Korea!

November 2011: Dr. Coronell gives a seminar at the Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Seminar Series at the North Carolina State University. The seminar is entitled “Thin-film composite membranes for water purification: Bench top quantification of charge density and relation between charge density and solute rejection”.

September 2011: David Holcomb receives the Honors Undergraduate Research Award to complete his undergraduate research. Congratulations David!

September 2011: Chuan Wang returns to Sun Yat-sen University in China after a 1 year exchange in our group.  We will miss her!

August 2011: David Holcomb joins our group as an undergraduate research assistant.  David will study the removal of heavy metals from water by redox processes.

August 2011: Brad Bennett joins our group as a Master’s student.  Brad will study the removal of heavy metals from water by redox processes.

August 2011: Dr. Coronell gives an invited seminar at the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University.  The seminar is entitled “Quantification of physico-chemical properties of the active layers of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS)”.

July 2011: Joshua Powell joins our group as a Master’s student.  Joshua will work in the characterization of the active layers of reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes.

July 2011: Panitan Jutaporn joins our group as a PhD student.  Panitan will study fouling in low pressure membranes.

July 2011: Alex Gorzalski joins our group as a Master’s student. Alex will work in the project entitled “Identification of membrane foulants and optimum cleaning strategies for nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes treating groundwaters from the Castle Hayne and Peedee Aquifers” sponsored by The North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI).

May 2011: Dr. Coronell’s paper entitled “Depth heterogeneity of fully aromatic polyamide active layers in reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes” is published in Environmental Science and Technology. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es200007h).

January 2011: Dr. Seokjong Byun joins our group as a post-doctoral researcher.  Dr. Byun will work in the project entitled “Enhanced chloride/sulfate monitoring for steam samples” sponsored by The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

January 2011: The new target system for ion scattering analysis of polymer membrane samples is now operational at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL)! The target system was designed by our group in collaboration with Dr. Tom Clegg from the Physics and Astronomy Department. Special thanks for their help also go to Grayson Rich, Dr. Hugon Karwowski and Dr. Nalin Parikh.

January 2011: Lamar Anthony Perry joins our group as a PhD student. Lamar will be a membrane researcher.

January 2011: Our research group is awarded a grant by the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) for the project “Identification of membrane foulants and optimum cleaning strategies for nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes treating groundwaters from the Castle Hayne and Peedee Aquifers”.

December 2010: Our research group is awarded a grant by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for the project “Enhanced chloride/sulfate monitoring for steam samples”.

December 2010: Dr. Coronell is awarded the IBM Fund Jr. Faculty Development Award for research in membrane characterization.

December 2010: Our research group, through Peter Attayek, is awarded a grant from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, towards the project “Optimization of semi-automatic, motorized, remote-controlled stage for the analysis of polymeric membrane samples using Rutherford backscattering spectrometrydevelopment of a target stage for ion beam analysis of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes”.

September 2010: Chuan Wang from Sun Yat-sen University in China joins our group as a visiting PhD student.  Chuan will do research with us for 1 year, and will research the removal of heavy metals from water by redox processes.

September 2010: Dr. Coronell’s paper entitled “Ionization behavior, stoichiometry of association and accessibility of functional groups in the active layers of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes” is published in Environmental Science and Technology. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es100891r)

August 2010: Teresa Long joins our group as an undergraduate researcher. Teresa will study forward osmosis (FO) filtration.

August 2010: Lin Lin joins our group as a PhD student. Lin will work in the characterization of the active layers of reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes.

August 2010: Eliot Meyer joins our group as a Master’s student. Eliot will work in the characterization of the active layers of reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes.

July 2010: Dr. Coronell gives a talk at the 2010 North American Membrane Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.  The talk is entitled “Characterization of the depth heterogeneity of the active layers of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes”.

July 2010: Peter Attayek joins our group as an undergraduate researcher.  Pete will develop a target stage for ion beam analysis of polymeric membranes.

July 2010: Dr. Coronell starts his appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill.

June 2010: Dr. Coronell becomes the faculty advisor of the UNC Chapter of Engineers without Borders (EWB).

April 2010: Dr. Coronell gives an invited seminar at the Condensed Matter Physics Seminar Series at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The seminar is entitled “Quantitative characterization of physico-chemical properties of the active layers of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes, and their relation to membrane performance”.

April 2010: Dr. Coronell gives a seminar at the Environmental Science and Engineering Seminar Series at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The seminar is entitled “Decoding Membranes”.