From the nanoworld to the community: A multifaceted approach to tackle environmental challenges
by:
Nefeli M. Bompoti | Assistant Research Professor
University of Connecticut
EC 3930 | October 17, 2022 | 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Contamination in natural and built environments is one of the major environmental challenges we are facing today, impacting the quality of life in many communities globally. From well-studied contaminants (e.g., heavy metals) to emerging ones (e.g., per and polyfluoroalkyl substances), several knowledge gaps still exist. Predicting contaminant fate and transport relies on understanding contaminant interactions with soil and mineral components and our ability to model those interactions through mathematical simulations. My research has focused on building state-of-the-art models for the description of solid-solution interactions incorporating thermodynamic phenomena.
As experienced by communities, environmental problems are often complex and involve multiple perspectives including social dimensions. Addressing the community’s needs and incorporating their vision is one of the key approaches to alleviating environmental injustice. In this seminar, I will demonstrate my research portfolio at a glance: from studies at the micro/nano-scale (i.e., modeling of contaminant interactions with soil components) to the policy level (i.e., building community resiliency against pollution threats). I will also delineate directions for future research on addressing complex multi-disciplinary problems and outline collaboration opportunities within and outside the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.
Dr. Nefeli Bompoti is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Bompoti serves as the Project Manager of the University of Connecticut Technical Assistance for Brownfields Program EPA Region 1 where she assists communities with brownfield redevelopment projects in New England. Dr. Bompoti’s expertise is in environmental geochemistry, and her recent work has focused on environmental policy for building community resilience against environmental contamination. She received a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut, a M.Sc. in water resources science and technology and a Diploma in civil engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.