Olya Keen 
Fateme graduated with her PhD in Civil Engineering in 2020. Her dissertation focused on treatment of algal toxins in drinking water with UV-based advanced oxidation processes. Her research was funded by NC Water Resources Research Institute’s Urban Water Consortium.
She is currently an engineer with Thermo Scientific.
Publications:
Amirhossein graduated with a PhD in Civil Engineering in 2021 (dissertation title: Emerging Challenges in Landfill Leachate Quality and Ability of Fungal Bioreactors to Address Them). He has a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a Master’s degree in environmental engineering, both from Azad university, Iran. Prior to joining our program, he was working for consulting engineering companies as a process engineer, and also had the opportunity to collaborate with Environment Research Center (ENVRC) at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences as a part-time researcher on various projects.
His research focused on landfill leachate treatment utilizing white-rot fungi (mycoremediation). In 2016, he was awarded EREF scholarship for the project “Biodegradation of Contaminants of Emerging Concern by White-rot Fungi in Municipal Leachate”. Additionally, he investigated the presence of pharmaceuticals and plasticizers in leachate from landfills of different closure status.
Upon graduation he worked at North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. He is currently a Water Resources Control Engineer with the California State Water Resources Control Board.
Publications:
Xueying Brown (Wang) graduated with her MS and PhD in Civil Engineering in 2020. Her PhD research focused on the role of environmental buffers in potable water reuse. This work was sponsored by the National Institutes for Water Resources in collaboration with the USGS. However, she worked on a variety of projects during her time at UNC Charlotte. Before joining our program, she graduated with BS in Biology from UNC Charlotte and worked as a research assistant in the UNC Charlotte’s Ecology and Biogeochemistry of Watersheds lab for three years as the resident aquatic entomologist.
During her time in our graduate program, Xueying has earned multiple highly competitive awards, including Thomas L. Reynolds Graduate Student Research Award, 1st Place Student Poster at NC One Water conference in Raleigh, and most impressively 3MT competition for the university. Xueying went on to represent UNC Charlotte at the 3MT nationals and became one of the finalists.
Upon graduation she worked as an environmental engineer at Merrick and is currently a civil/water engineer at TRC Companies.
Nicole graduated with her PhD in Infrastructure and Environmental Systems in 2018. Prior to that she received her Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry and a Master of Public Health degree from Eastern Kentucky University with a concentration in Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene. Her PhD research focused on contaminants of emerging concern in environmental systems.
She has been inducted into Phi Kappa Phi academic honors society, Torch Bearers student leaders, and received the JumpStart education award for commitment to serving underdeveloped communities.
Nicole studied abroad for a semester in Iquitos, Peru where she worked in a rural health setting and conducted ecological research on the orthongo (large tiger) and deforestation in the Amazon Rain Forest. She also performed community-building service work in Grois Morne, Haiti where she worked on a major project reconstructing a schoolhouse.
She is currently a Human Health Toxicologist/Exposure Scientist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Publications: