At the end of the Spring 2023 semester, EEES received some great news: Drs. Andrew Metcalf and Alex Pullen were promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. David Ladner was promoted from Associate to Full Professor.
Dr. Metcalf’s teaching and research interests are in the area of air pollution and air quality, with a particular focus on atmospheric aerosol particles. His lab, the Clemson Air Quality Lab, approaches air pollution measurements from many scales – from microscale measurements performed on a microscope in the laboratory to in situ measurements conducted during large-scale field projects. Current work is underway to bridge these measurement scales by developing methods to collect atmospheric aerosol particles in the field and bring them to microfluidic experiments in the lab while preserving the contents of the atmospheric samples.
Dr. Pullen’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of structural geology, sedimentology, and geochronology. He takes a field and laboratory-based approach to research by conducting geologic and geomorphic mapping, stratigraphic analysis, and applying U-Th-Pb geochronology. Dr. Pullen has research projects in Asia and North and South America. His research interests are broadly in the areas of continental tectonics, orogenic systems, and paleoclimate. Some of his current research projects focus on mountain building, aridification, eolian processes, and continental impacts on ocean chemistry and circulation.
Dr. Ladner’s research is geared toward making membrane-based water treatment processes more sustainable. This includes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to redesign reverse osmosis (RO) membrane modules and decrease fouling problems, development of membrane coatings that can be quickly and cheaply regenerated, and process engineering for industrial wastewater treatment with ceramic membranes. Ladner is the lead investigator on a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation program Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) that is exploring new techniques for safely growing food using valuable nutrients reclaimed from wastewater.
Congratulations to Andrew, Alex, and David on these career milestones.
