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STAR Researcher Is Keynote Speaker at NATO Meeting
(February, 2003) Dr. Arup SenGupta, National Center for Environmental Research STAR grantee, was the keynote speaker at a recent NATO-sponsored conference on the role of interfacing surfaces in environmental protection. The NATO Advanced Research Workshop series is a forum for advanced, intensive discussions between qualified experts from different countries, and often from different research sectors. The purpose of the workshop series is to contribute to the critical assessment of existing knowledge on new important topics, to identify directions for future research, and to promote close working relationships between scientists from different countries and with different professional experience. Dr. SenGupta's talk, "Polymer Supported Subcolloidal Particles: Characterization and Application," focused on the use of synthetic materials called polymers in pollution cleanup. The workshop was held from May 27-30, 2002, in Miskolc, Hungary.
In 2001, Dr. SenGupta received a Frontier Research Award in Environmental Engineering from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. The award is given to researchers who introduce new knowledge in the environmental engineering field over many years. Dr. SenGupta was recognized for his contributions in monitoring and the separation of pollutants from the waste stream during 16 years of research.
Dr. SenGupta has been a STAR grantee since 1997, with two grants that focus on developing new materials to remove trace contaminants such as arsenic, chromium, lead, and pesticides from water and wastewater. He has been working with a new type of hybrid material where inorganic fine particles are dispersed within polymer beads. These new materials exhibit unusually high arsenic removal capacity and can be made magnetically active.
Professor SenGupta received his Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from the University of Houston in 1984 and joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Lehigh University in1985 where he is now Chairman. Dr. SenGupta has also worked with a group of engineers to develop and install arsenic removal units from drinking water wells in remote villages in India.
Other honors received by Dr. SenGupta include a 1993 Best Paper Award from the Research Division of the American Waterworks Association and the 1994 Rudolph Hering Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
For more information about Dr. SenGupta's research as a STAR grantee, visit: Evaluating a New Class of Imprinted Sorbent Materials for Toxic Metals Removal and Development and Characterization of a New Heavy-Metal Selective Inorganic Ion Exchanger.
Additional information on the STAR program can be found at the National Center for Environmental Research. For more information, contact Estella Waldman at Waldman.Estella@epa.gov.