The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to Sarah Fakhreddine, Noelia Grande Gutiérrez, and Tathagata Srimani. Designed to support early-career faculty, the NSF CAREER award is a prestigious five-year grant that helps them serve as role models in education and research.
Sarah Fakhreddine, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Fakhreddine’s research focuses on developing innovative solutions to address challenges in water quality and water availability. Her work seeks to understand how water moves through the environment and how chemical processes influence water quality in order to develop engineering solutions that protect human and ecosystem health. She is particularly interested in how shifting water availability and management practices influence water quality. The CAREER award will enable Fakhreddine to investigate processes that affect groundwater management and agricultural sustainability. To increase water supplies for use during drought and other dry periods, farmlands can be flooded to replenish underlying groundwater, a strategy known as flood-managed aquifer recharge. However, this approach can also alter soil chemistry and mobilize naturally occurring contaminants, such as arsenic and uranium, potentially affecting groundwater quality.By combining field sampling, laboratory experiments, and modeling, the work will develop fundamental knowledge about the processes that control the movement of contaminants in these systems. Findings will be broadly applicable to agricultural soil systems that experience periodic flooding and aid in the development of water management strategies that enhance water security while protecting groundwater quality.The project includes outreach activities designed to translate research into practice. Through partnerships with groundwater professionals, regulatory organizations, and K-12 schools, this work will develop educational resources and training programs that strengthen groundwater management by supporting professional development and future careers in water science and engineering.
