Dr. Mohamed Ateia, a post-doctoral scholar in EEES, received the Outstanding Presentation Award based on a seminar he gave at the Spring 2019 National meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The title of his presentation is Near-instant removal of poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances by polyethylenimine-functionalized cellulose microcrystals. The Spring ACS meeting was held in Orlando, FL. The award is sponsored by Geosyntec, a leading multinational company that specializes in environmental remediation. According to the organizers of the symposium who singled out Dr. Ateia’s presentation, “Our selection criteria focus on the quality of data and significance of findings that contribute to both fundamental understanding and technical advancement of PFAS treatment processes and materials.” Parts of Dr. Ateia’s research has been published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters (Ateia et al., ES&T Letters, 2018, 5 (12): 764–769, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00556).
Poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances are contaminants of emerging concern. Used in a variety of applications over many decades, their presence in the environment and potential human health effects has raised increasing concern among regulators, sparking a wave of new research. Dr. Ateia is working at the leading edge of efforts to find ways to remove these persistent compounds from water.
Dr. Ateia is supervised by Dr. Tanju Karanfil, the Vice President for Research at Clemson University and a Professor in EEES. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition.
