How did you become interested in STEM topics?
I grew up in Panama, in a family of very modest means, and while I very much wanted to learn to swim, there was no money for lessons. I decided to teach myself, in a small stream near our home. I practiced swimming, and my siblings sometimes caught fish and crayfish my mother could prepare for our dinners.
When a neighbor upstream began farming, he allowed untreated animal waste to enter the stream, so that it was no longer possible to swim in it or eat the fish from it. That sparked my interest in chemistry and environmental engineering at a young age.
Describe your academic journey and research up until now
I earned a BS in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Panama thanks to a government scholarship; I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. After being out in the work world as a lab technician for a while, I started a master’s degree program in Environmental Chemistry at the Federal University of Rio Grande, in Brazil. Upon my return to Panama, I applied successfully to the Fulbright Foreign program for PhD study in the US Thanks to that, I embarked upon a doctoral program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and in July of 2023, I expect to earn my PhD in Environmental Engineering.
My dissertation is titled “Identifying Wastewater Inputs to Urban Streams by Monitoring Dissolved Organic Matter Fluorescence and Contaminants of Emerging Concerns.” In lay terms what that means is taking a chemical approach to identifying pollutants. If, for example, you test spring water and it shows the same chemical signatures for things that can be found in nearby sewage water, like artificial sweeteners, hormones, or antibiotics, then we can pinpoint and mitigate those contaminants. With sewer infrastructure in the US aging rapidly, that’s very important, and work like mine could even affect public policy one day.
How do you feel about participating in the Faculty First Look program?
This has been a great year for me: I started it with a new journal publication and accepted talks at American Chemical Society and Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors conferences; I won a 2023 Graduate Student Award from the American Chemical Society; and I was chosen to take part in Faculty First Look.
I hope to get feedback on my work from faculty members at NYU Tandon who I know are focused on water-related issues and sustainability-focused research issues. Because the program also encompasses writing help, I’d like to work on my vision statement too; I have a definite vision, and I want to get it down in a succinct and compelling way.
What are your ultimate goals?
I taught back in Panama and loved it, so ultimately I’d like to divide my time between the lab, doing socially beneficial research with practical application, and the classroom. I identify as both Latino and a member of the LGBTQ community, and I think it’s important for students from underrepresented groups to see themselves represented in their school’s faculty.