Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

Unlocking value from silicon-rich waste with help from biology

tdonnel — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:20:34 +0000

Unlocking value from silicon-rich waste with help from biology tdonnel Mon, 10/05/2026 - 13:20

Mine tailings and other silicon-rich wastes may look like materials with little value left. But locked within their tough mineral structures can be valuable elements and resources that are difficult—and often energy-intensive—to recover.

Mine tailings, one of the silicon-rich waste streams being considered in the project. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain.

As part of a newly funded National Science Foundation collaborative research project, 911�� researchers are exploring whether nature can offer a different way to unlock those resources.

“Many of these materials still contain valuable resources, but they are locked inside very stable silicate structures,” said Xijin (Emma) Zhang, an assistant professor in 911��’s Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering. "We would like to explore alternative and sustainable ways to break down these materials and recover what is valuable from them."

Silicon is the second most abundant element in Earth’s crust and is a major component of minerals in rocks, mine tailings, concrete, and many industrial materials. Yet breaking down these stable silicate structures can require high temperatures, substantial energy, or highly corrosive chemicals. Zhang and her collaborators are investigating whether biological processes can accomplish some of these transformations under much milder conditions.

Xijin (Emma) Zhang. Photo provided.

The effort brings together researchers from five institutions, including 911��, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the University of Maryland, the University of California San Diego, and University of Massachusetts Amherst. By combining expertise in engineering, biology, geochemistry, and materials science, the researchers hope not only to develop new approaches for processing silicon-rich materials, but also to establish a new interdisciplinary field they call “Si-X TechnoBioGeoChemistry.”

At 911��, Zhang is working with Monique Van Hoek, a professor in the School of Systems Biology in the College of Science, to explore how microorganisms and the molecules they produce interact with silicate minerals. The collaboration brings together biological and engineering perspectives to better understand how natural processes can be harnessed to transform materials that are otherwise difficult to break down.

Monique Van Hoek. Photo: Creative Services, Office of University Branding.

The project builds on Zhang’s years of research in biomineralization. After studying calcium-based biomineralization during her PhD work, Zhang expanded her work to silicon-rich materials while continuing to explore how biological systems can reshape materials in sustainable ways.

The researchers are especially interested in waste streams such as mining residues, demolished concrete, and industrial byproducts. Rather than viewing these materials simply as waste to be managed, the team sees them as potential resources. According to Zhang, these materials often contain valuable elements trapped within strong silicate matrices, while the silicon-rich material itself may also have potential for reuse.

"We can turn these waste resources into useful material, and that can first create new value, and second, reduce some waste and reduce some management cost associated with the waste," she said.

Zhang's lab is developing bio-enabled methods to break down and transform silicate materials under mild conditions. They are investigating how microorganisms, biological molecules, and other nature-inspired processes can replace or complement conventional approaches that rely on extreme temperatures and harsh chemicals.

"We're focusing on how to use sustainable and bio-enabled pathways to break these waste materials down in a low-energy and low carbon–emission way,” Zhang said. “At the same time, we want to understand how we can release valuable components and make the remaining materials useful again."

Silica-based skeletons in glass sponges. Photo: Randolph Femmer/USGS, Public Domain.

The approach could open new pathways for using resources recovered from silicon-rich waste. Silicon-containing materials produced through these processes could potentially be reused in a wide range of applications, including new cement and concrete materials, glass products, electronic technologies, while valuable elements released from the silicate matrix could contribute to the recovery of critical minerals. During the initial two-year phase, researchers will investigate the fundamental biological, chemical, and geological processes that control these transformations and evaluate the feasibility of the overall approach. Those findings will help the team identify the most promising directions for future development.

Beyond the scientific advances, the initiative will provide interdisciplinary training opportunities for graduate students and researchers working across traditional disciplinary boundaries. By bringing together biology, geology, and engineering, Zhang and her collaborators aim to rethink how society extracts value from secondary resources and how materials now considered waste might become resources for the next generation of technologies.

This research supports the Grand Challenge Initiative's goal of building a more climate-resilient society.

Discover more GCI climate research >>

Learn about other solutions >>

911�� is one of the first 14 institutions to receive Carnegie's new classification for sustainability. Read More >>

In This Story

Emma (Xijin) Zhang

Topics

Sustainability

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

School of Systems Biology

Systems Biology

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

College of Science

GCI-Climate

New 911�� professor connects weather, water, and the communities they affect

Nathan Kahl — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:59:35 +0000

New 911�� professor connects weather, water, and the communities they affect Nathan Kahl Fri, 09/11/2026 - 08:59

During her postdoctoral research in Oklahoma, new 911�� College of Engineering and Computing Assistant Professor Taereem Kim was on the phone with her mother in South Korea. Her mother mentioned heavy rain they were experiencing there, while Kim was seeing similar conditions where she lived. This got her thinking about how weather patterns separated by enormous distances can be connected and, more importantly, how those large-scale atmospheric connections translate into local effects.

Taereem Kim. Photo provided

For Kim, who joined the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering this semester, weather is more than a forecast. It’s a connection between information and the people who need it and even between people living on opposite sides of the globe.

Kim’s research involves hydroclimatology, the interdisciplinary study of the interactions between Earth's climate system and the hydrologic cycle, and water resources engineering. And her focus is to make it all accessible and useful. “My goal is translating complex weather and climate information into something communities can use to support their decision-making. We live in a world with tons of information, but I want people to understand and easily get the information they need,” she said

She did not initially envision becoming a professor, but her mentors in the United States changed that. “Working with two particular advisors gave me the ambition to be a faculty member,” she said. “They showed me how to be a good mentor, how to make a positive impact on a person's life, and how to build a fulfilling career while also prioritizing family.” This semester she is teaching her first full-semester class, an experience she is greatly enjoying.

Kim's daughter starting her research early at her mother's poster session. Photo provided.

She credits her parents with helping to shape her career. They also work in water resources engineering, which made the field feel familiar to Kim from an early age and helped foster her interest in it. They have also been trusted advisors throughout her career. “They are not just my good friends, but also good colleagues I can talk with about both life and work,” she said.

Kim hopes ultimately to connect atmospheric science, which seeks to understand phenomena such as tropical cyclones, with engineering, which asks what those phenomena will mean for people and communities. “We need to care about our communities, the hazards they face, and the impact on us, our families, and our friends,” she said.

Kim is enjoying her new home in Northern Virginia, where she moved with her family. She said the diversity here, including its large Korean community, is making the transition easier. At home, Kim speaks Korean with her young daughter and hopes growing up surrounded by people from many backgrounds will help her daughter feel comfortable with her Korean and American identities.

Parenthood has transformed Kim’s life outside academia as well. Before her daughter was born, she enjoyed traveling, yoga, and drawing. These days, her answer when asked about her hobbies is singularly focused: “Parenting.”

As she “weathers” that challenge, she continues to help her neighbors prepare for what’s next.

Topics

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

civil engineering; stormwater infrastructure; climate variability

weather event

Climate

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

Sustainability

A watershed year for 911�� sustainability data

Jennifer Pocock — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 16:14:43 +0000

A watershed year for 911�� sustainability data Jennifer Pocock Mon, 06/30/2025 - 12:14

In This Story

Viviana Maggioni

Lucas Henneman

An intercollegiate study, in partnership with 911��'s Facilities, analyzes the effects of campus events and weather on local air and water quality.

Maryam Zavareh tests a water sample from the Fairfax Campus. Photo provided.

Major events at 911��, like graduation ceremonies, basketball games, and Mason Day are high-water events in student life. But how do they affect the campus ecosystem?

For the past year, with support from the Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE), groups of undergraduate and graduate engineering students have worked with university Facilities to sample air and water quality measurements at eight spots across campus. They are studying how human-centered activities like special events and campus construction projects, along with natural events like heavy rainstorms, affect the urban campus environment.

“Fairfax is a very active campus in terms of construction,” said Maryam Zavareh, an expert in environmental engineering who earned her PhD from 911�� in 2021. “They’re always building something or something is always going on for students.”

Weather is also a factor, she pointed out, and so are projects like rain gardens (also called best management practices or BMPs). “Rain can affect a stream’s turbidity and its dissolved oxygen in a negative way, while BMPs can help quality.”

As part of her PhD program, Zavareh started taking measurements around Mason Pond and campus streams. She wanted to use machine learning to predict water quality patterns in conjunction with the Maggioni Research Group, a lab run on campus by water resources engineering expert Viviana Maggioni, an associate professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, and air quality expert Lucas Henneman, an assistant professor in the department. With this ISE grant, Maggioni called Zavareh back to run the project as a consultant.

Starting in May 2024, a new group of students each semester have learned to gather data in the field, work with the instruments, and calibrate them for accurate readings.

“One of the advantages of this project is that students get to go into the field and take measurements,” said Dinesh Neupane, a PhD candidate in civil and environmental engineering and student leader for the project. “That was lacking in my previous programs—students stayed in the labs.”

Neupane is excited for the opportunity to measure air quality—something that hasn’t been done yet on campus—in addition to water. “We want to calibrate the ground data we measure with satellite imagery to see if we can get the imaging to accurately take the readings for us,” he said.

So far, Neupane said that campus events do not have a major effect on water quality. “We think big gatherings will have an effect on air quality, but we don’t have that data yet. We’re still in the process of setting those instruments up.”

This year’s work by Zavareh, Neupane, and their student teams lays the groundwork for future students to analyze their data and carry the research forward. They are proving that ISE’s Mason as a Living Lab program offers great insights.

Topics

Mason as a Living Lab

Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE)

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

environmental engineering

civil engineering; stormwater infrastructure; climate variability

water quality

air quality

Research

Mason researcher measures troubles at the tap

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 13:13:48 +0000

Mason researcher measures troubles at the tap Nathan Kahl Mon, 04/29/2024 - 09:13

Kirin Emlet Furst, an assistant professor in 911��'s Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to investigate how Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are transformed and persist in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) that bring water to our spigots.

Kirin Emlet Furst. Photo provided

CAREER award funding is reserved for the nation’s most talented up-and-coming researchers. From the NSF website: “The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers NSF’s most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”

PFAS are sinisterly known as “forever chemicals” because once created they do not break down, existing in water and soil—and even human blood—indefinitely. They have been used in numerous applications, including firefighting foams, metal plating, and food packaging, and spread easily through water and air.

This means, whether we like it or not, many of us are gulping down PFAS with every drink of water. To address this, the EPA recently released rules establishing limits on six PFAS in drinking water, affecting approximately 66,000 water systems, serving 90 percent of the country.

“PFAS really like interfaces between water and air and water and surfaces, so they stick to all sorts of stuff,” said Furst. “In DWDS, they may stick to the surface inside pipes and tanks, especially if there is biofilm growth or flaking of the inside material, giving them more to hold on to.” Furst said well-maintained DWDS typically won’t have such issues but knew of one water storage tank that had not been cleaned in 20 years, resulting in three feet of sediment on its floor. Such sediment, along with other conditions, may create conditions for PFAS accumulation and transformation.

Furst will test tap water across Northern Virginia, including on Mason's Fairfax Campus.

The focus of regulators and utilities is removing PFAS at the treatment plant, but in communities where exposure to PFAS is prevalent—near chemical plants, for example—Furst suggests there’s a likelihood that PFAS has been building up downstream, so to speak, in the DWDS.

“In Fairfax County the amount of time water could spend in the distribution system is as long as a week,” Furst said. “In some systems it’s going through miles and miles of pipes, with a lot of places for PFAS to hang out.”

There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, and in the presence of certain microbial processes, unregulated precursor compounds can be transformed to the more toxic, regulated species like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Furst worries the new EPA rule, relying on measurements at treatment plants, won’t reflect the levels in water at household taps.

Furst’s lab will get samples from distribution systems from Northern Virginia utilities and she hopes to have a larger DWDS pilot on the Mason Fairfax Campus as part of the “Mason as a Living Lab” program. She hopes her findings will aid in solutions to minimize and mitigate PFAS contamination.

In This Story

Topics

clean drinking water system

water quality

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

National Science Foundation

Research

Mason as a Living Lab

Strategic Direction

Big data may lead to safer roadways, lower emissions

tdonnel — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 16:26:19 +0000

Big data may lead to safer roadways, lower emissions tdonnel Mon, 10/23/2023 - 12:26

In This Story

Shanjiang Zhu

Anand Vidyashankar

Once, transportation officials made decisions based on household surveys performed roughly once per decade, which asked selected households to record their travel behavior on a given day. With the advent of smartphones, similar data became available roughly every few minutes. Now, with an increasing number of connected vehicles on the road, that data is available in nearly real time. CEIE professor Shanjiang Zhu is embracing this shift, exploring the capabilities of researchers with this massive amount of data.

With funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Zhu and his research team, Anand N. Vidyashankar from the department of statistics and Chenfeng Xiong from the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Villanova University, will reconcile the travel data from three different sources—surveys, smartphones, and connected vehicles—into invaluable travel information.

"In the past, we tried to understand travel behavior, which is critical for future investment decisions and also transportation policy, based on survey data,” Zhu explained. “Based on that, you understand, on average, where people have traveled, in what mode, with whom, and spent how much time there, uh what is the purpose for the trip, etc. Using that information, you can develop a model that basically can predict future scenario, like how congested the network could be in 2040; and that drives all the investment decisions and policy debates.” This method introduces problems of timeliness, as it can skip major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and human error, as people would not necessarily remember every detail of their travel on a given day.

The introduction of widespread smartphone use about ten years ago made the available data much denser, said Zhu, resulting in about one data point every three to five minutes. Each time a person’s smartphone app calls for location service, their location is automatically registered. Nevertheless, this method introduced a bias problem, as not everyone owns a smartphone and not everyone uses them often.

About a year ago, Zhu’s team won a competition hosted by VDOT to make the best possible use of connected vehicle data, basically newer vehicles like those with an “SOS” button installed. One drawback to the data currently is connected vehicles currently make up a relatively small share of vehicles on the road.

“But we have ways to make corrections from a statistical perspective, and then this gives you a much more accurate picture of traffic on the road,” said Zhu, adding “On average, it's one data point every three seconds. With such data, the accuracy and timeliness of travel demand models could be greatly improved.” Zhu noted his colleague Vidyashankar will be reviewing the data fusion to ensure a rigorous statistical approach.

The new data also opens the door for new safety studies, Zhu said, adding safety studies are currently based mainly on police reports after an accident has occurred. By using alternate data, such as how often a car’s brake deceleration rate exceeds a certain threshold or how hard a driver turns the steering wheel, dangerous locations might be addressed before an accident occurs. Zhu is interested in exploring the topic further using the dataset resulting from his current project.

Zhu foresees data from connected vehicles becoming increasingly important as more and more people adopt the technology. He said, “Now we are investing in the methodology part and seeing how we can make this connection more productive, to improve the driving environment, to make our roads safer, to make the driving experience better, and also to reduce our energy consumption and emissions."

Topics

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

transportation engineering

Big Data

big data analytics

Transportation Policy Operations and Logistics

Research

CEC faculty research

Benjamin Atsem wins second prestigious fellowship award

Rena Malai — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 15:54:01 +0000

Benjamin Atsem wins second prestigious fellowship award Rena Malai Mon, 01/03/2022 - 10:54

In This Story

Mohan Venigalla

911�� PhD candidate Benjamin Atsem says it’s his passion to make an impact in the field of transportation engineering. His focus has led him to win the U.S. department of Transportation Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program award not once, but twice.

“When you have a passion to do something, you put in all your best to reflect in your work quality and commitment,” says Atsem, who won the fellowship award for the first time in 2018. “I feel humbled by the award, which challenges me to work harder than before." 

Through this 2021 fellowship award, Atsem will receive a grant of $35,500 towards completing his dissertation work. His research will focus on environmental justice and economic equity issues of emerging modes of transportation, such as micromobility. The micromobility area of transportation includes lightweight, smaller vehicles, like bicycles and scooters.

Atsem will work closely under professor Mohan Venigalla in Mason’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering.

“I feel proud working under professor Venigalla through my research to make sure bikeshare and scooter share systems have equal spread and access in all major urbanized communities, especially in underserved communities,” says Atsem. “Receiving this has given me the launch pad to succeed in my educational and professional career.”

The Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program awards students pursuing degrees in transportation-related disciplines. This program advances the transportation workforce by helping to attract the nation's brightest minds to the field of transportation, encouraging future transportation professionals to seek advanced degrees, and helping to retain top talent in the U.S. transportation industry. 

Topics

grant program

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

transportation engineering

Sam Salem wins Educator of the Year Award

Martha Bushong — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 19:25:45 +0000

Sam Salem wins Educator of the Year Award Martha Bushong Wed, 09/15/2021 - 15:25

In This Story

Sam Salem

Sam Salem, chair of the Sid and Reva Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, received the National 2021 Educator of the Year Award from the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA). This award is one of several awards the association announced earlier this week.

CMAA’s Award Program recognizes excellence in construction management practice and honors companies and individuals each year based on merit. A panel of judges reviews each nomination carefully and chooses the best candidate in each category.

The Educator of the Year Award emphasizes excellence in teaching and recognizes a full-time educator for outstanding professional accomplishments and a commitment to construction management education. Professor Salem will be honored with his colleagues during the association’s in-person conference September 12-14, 2021, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About CMAA

CMAA is dedicated to improving our nation’s infrastructure by advancing professional construction and program management worldwide. Its membership is made up of public and private organizations, owners, and practitioners. CMAA provides professional development, certification, advocacy, and business opportunities to its members and the construction management industry. The association’s headquarters is in Vienna, Virginia.

Topics

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

Mason leads the way in a NOAA effort to protect the Maryland coast

Martha Bushong — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 17:22:59 +0000

Mason leads the way in a NOAA effort to protect the Maryland coast Martha Bushong Thu, 02/27/2020 - 12:22

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View of Belmont Bay from the Flood Hazards Research Lab at Mason's Potomac Science Center. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services.

911�� is taking the lead in a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) designed to assess the threat of rising sea levels and flooding to Maryland’s coastal communities.

Mason’s Celso Ferreira, an associate professor of water resources engineering within Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering, is the lead principal investigator on a team that also includes the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources and The Nature Conservancy. The aim of the three-year project is to better inform decision-makers on the best ways to manage and preserve the state’s more than 7,000 miles of shoreline.

“Sea levels have risen one foot in Maryland over the last 100 years,” Ferreira said. “And those sea levels are continuing to go up, so the state is concerned about coastal conditions in the future. Our job is to provide the best scientific knowledge and engineering strategies available to state policy makers.”

The research will focus on coastal risk reduction benefits provided by natural and natural-based features (NNBF) in Maryland’s Chesapeake and Coastal Bays under current conditions and with projected sea-level rise in the wake of ongoing global climate change. Rising sea levels can change how ecosystems work when combined with inundation from tides and storms, meaning that enhancing coastal resiliency is imperative. Experts anticipate more extreme coastal storms and up to two additional feet of sea-level rise over the next 30 years, with flooding from storm surge and erosion expected to become increasingly more problematic to communities and residents less equipped or prepared for them.

Help could come in the form of marshes and submerged aquatic vegetation that could serve as a buffer that would mitigate the effects of rising sea levels, said Ferreira, whose research team will include a Mason doctoral student and a group of undergraduates.

“Marshes are natural protection against extreme events,” Ferreira said.

Using computer models to extrapolate data, he and his team plan to work with local communities to identify existing sites, quantify how much they aid in the fight against flooding and erosion and best educate state decision-makers as they anticipate coastal management for the future.

“We need to come up with measures that will best protect the coast,” Ferreira said.

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

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Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

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In This Story

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In This Story

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Big data may lead to safer roadways, lower emissions

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In This Story

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In This Story

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Mason leads the way in a NOAA effort to protect the Maryland coast

New 911�� professor connects weather, water, and the communities they affect

A watershed year for 911�� sustainability data