Montclair State University

Environmental Management Doctoral Students Sweep Student Poster Competition at Regional Conference

Three Environmental Management Ph.D. students, Padmini Das, Pravin Punamiya, and Michael Hardy recently won awards for the student poster competition at the Hudson Delaware Chapter meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Contamination (HDC-SETAC). Similar to its parent organization, the mission of HDC-SETAC is to promote the advancement and application of scientific research related to contaminants and other stressors in the environment, education in the environmental sciences, and the use of science in environmental policy and decision-making. This year's meeting, held in Bear Mountain, NY on April 23 and 24 had a dual theme -“Hudson River: Past, Present and Future” and “Environmental Issues on Military Bases.”

Padmini was awarded first place with a cash prize of $500 for her poster entitled “Chemically enhanced phytoextraction of 2, 4, 6 trinitrotoluene (TNT) by Vetiver grass from a low organic matter containing soil.” Pravin was awarded second place and a cash prize of $250 for his poster entitled “Phytoextraction of lead using a metal-accumulating grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) in the presence of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Glomus mosseae.” Michael was awarded the third place prize of $150 for his poster entitled “Removal of heavy metals from shipyard stormwater using residuals of drinking water treatment.” in the meeting's poster competition. Students from Montclair State, Seton Hall and UMDNJ presented posters in this competition. All three MSU students are Ph.D. candidates in the Environmental Management program under the supervision of Dr. Dibs Sarkar and are conducting research focused on environmental quality and remediation. Two of them also recently received graduate student research grants from the Geological Society of America. “These awards recognize both the high quality of the graduate students and the research conducted in the Environmental Management PhD program,” said Dr. Sarkar.

Congratulations Padmini, Pravin, & Michael!!!

Article Entered Into News System: Tuesday, April 28 2009
Article Last Edited: Tuesday, April 28 2009