News

2022

December 2022

  • Calvin received John and Patricia Schlosser Environment Scholarship from the FGSR. The last time a graduate student won this award from our department was back in 2011. Congratulations, Calvin!
  • Seyed and Qi successfully completed their doctoral candidacy exams. Congratulations, Seyed and Qi!
  • Our research on mitigating micro/nanoplastics using thermal hydrolysis was featured in the Dec-22 issue of Environmental Science & Engineering (ES&E), a reputable environmental industry magazine in Canada. The full article can be found here.

  • Nesma’s manuscript on the mitigation of methane emission from tailings using enzymes and lime has been accepted for publication in Chemosphere. Congratulations, Nesma!

November 2022

  • Qi was awarded Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship for the third year in a row. Congratulations, Qi!
  • Calvin received Korean Honor Scholarship from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea. This scholarship is awarded to outstanding students of Korean heritage to encourage high achievement of academic performance and the development of leadership qualities for their future professional careers. This year only 3 students received this award across Canada. Congratulations, Calvin!

October 2022

  • Dr. Dhar virtually gave an invited talk titled ‘Electro-catalyzing Anaerobic Digestion: Multifaceted characterization of fundamental phenomena toward practical applications’ at the International Bioprocessing Association – 10th International Conference on Industrial Bioprocessing (IFIBiop 2022).
  • An invited review article on in-situ biogas desulfurization has been accepted in Bioresource Technology Reports. Congratulations, Seyed et al.!

  • Seyed was awarded the Bill Shostak Wildlife Award from the FGSR. The last time a graduate student won this award from our department was back in 2016-17. Congratulations, Seyed!

September 2022

  • Nesma received Petro-Canada Graduate Scholarship for the third time. She received this scholarship in 2018 and 2021. Congratulations, Nesma!
  • Seyed received another award this month, Gordon R Finch Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Environmental Engineering. Congratulations, Seyed!
  • Nesma successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis on applications of lime and enzymes for oil sand tailings management. Congratulations, Dr. Allam!
  • Seyed received Dr. Donald R Stanley Graduate Scholarship in Environmental (Civil) Engineering. Congratulations, Seyed!
  • Nervana’s paper on understanding the fate of intracellular, extracellular polymeric substances-associated, and cell-free antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic digestion of thermally hydrolyzed sludge has been accepted in Science of the Total Environment. Congratulations, Nervana and team!

  • Calvin received the Westmoreland Coal Company Graduate Scholarship in Environmental Engineering for the second time. Congratulations, Calvin!
  • Ph.D. student Romana Shaila joined the lab. Welcome, Romana!
  • M.Sc. student Harveen joined the lab. She will be co-supervised by Dr. Gupta and Dr. Khan from the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department. Welcome, Harveen!

August 2022

  • Nervana successfully defended her M.Sc. thesis. Congratulations, Nervana!

July 2022

  • A supplementary journal cover art for our paper in ACS ES&T Engineering has been published online now.

  • Our recent work on high-solids anaerobic digestion, teamwork by Felipe, Wafa, Seyed, and Basem, has been accepted for publication in Chemosphere.

June 2022

  • Qi’s paper on a multifaceted screening of applied voltages for electro-assisted anaerobic digestion of blackwater has been accepted in Bioresource Technology. Congratulations, Qi!

  • Calvin received KOGAS Canada Scholarship from the Korean Canadian Scientists’ Scholarship Foundation (KCSSF). Congratulations, Calvin!

May 2022

  • Dhar Lab welcomes two undergraduate visiting researchers, Juliana Martinez Ducuara from Colombia and Aayush Kumar Choudhary from India. They joined the lab under the Mitacs Globalink Internship program.
  • Our paper on predicting antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic digestion using machine learning algorithms has been accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. It was a collaboration between Dr. Dhar’s team (Nervana, Calvin, and Basem), the 4S Analytics and Modeling Team, and Dr. Rasha-Maal Bared from EPCOR. Congratulations, team!

  • Zexuan Ju (Amy) and Raeanna Willsey joined the lab under NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA). Welcome, Amy and Raeanna!
  • Dylan Anderson, an undergraduate student from the Engineering Physics program, joined the lab under the I-STEAM Pathways Environmental Education Program for Indigenous Students at the University of Alberta. Welcome, Dylan!

April 2022

  • Dhar lab welcomes visiting professor Dr. Linyu Deng from the School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, China.
  • Nervana’s review article on the significance of different process parameters on the fate of antibiotic resistance genes during anaerobic digestion has now been accepted in Bioresource Technology. Congratulations, Nervana!

  • Nervana’s article on the propagation of antibiotic resistance genes during anaerobic digestion of thermally hydrolyzed sludge and their correlation with extracellular polymeric substances has been accepted in Scientific Reports. Congratulations, Nervana and her collaborators!

  • Calvin’s article on improving the electrical sensitivity of a microbial electrochemical biosensor with quorum sensing autoinducers for oil sands-related naphthenic acids detection has been accepted in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Congratulations, Calvin and others involved in the project!!

  • Basem received Philip H. Jones Award at the 57th Central Canadian Symposium on Water Quality Research in Toronto, Canada. Congratulations, Basem!
  • Basem’s review article on antibiotics removal from wastewater using microbial electrochemical systems has been accepted for publication in Processes. Congratulations, Basem!

  • Basem’s article on stimulating direct interspecies electron transport in electro-assisted anaerobic digestion using intermittent power supply has been accepted for publication in the Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations, Basem!

March 2022

  • Basem’s article on the functional roles of propionate to acetate ratios on microbial syntrophy and competition in electro-assisted anaerobic digestion has been accepted for publication in Water Research. In this work, we collaborated with Dr. Kim’s team from McMaster University for numerical modeling work. Congratulations, Basem, and others involved in the project!

February 2022

  • Seyed’s article on using sludge thermal hydrolysis to counteract polystyrene nano-plastic particles induced stress on anaerobic digestion has been accepted in ACS ES&T Engineering. Congratulations, Seyed and others involved in the project!

  • Seyed received the Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship. Congratulations, Seyed!
  • Nesma’s paper on enzyme-assisted dewatering of oil sands tailings has been accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations, Nesma!

2021

December 2021 

  • Qi Huang was awarded Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES) for the second year in a row. Congratulations, Qi!

November 2021 

  • Seyed was awarded Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES). Congratulations, Seyed!
  • Basem Zakaria successfully defended his thesis and became the first Ph.D. graduate from our lab. Congratulations, Dr. Zakaria!

October 2021 

  • Undergraduate Environmental Engineering student Tristin joined the lab under the Dean’s Research Award program supported by the Faculty of Engineering. Welcome, Tristin!
  • On Oct 18, Dr. Dhar gave an invited seminar at the Department of Chemical Engineering of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia.
  • Qi was awarded the Rick George Graduate Leadership Scholarship in Engineering. Congratulations, Qi!

September 2021 

  • Basem was awarded the Donald R Stanley Graduate Scholarship in Environmental (Civil) Engineering for the third year in a row. Congratulations, Basem!
  • Calvin’s review article on food waste valorization with microbial electrochemical technologies has been accepted for publication in Bioresource Technology. Congratulations, Calvin!

  • We welcome three new members, Monisha Alam (Ph.D. Student), Parisa Niknejad (M.Sc. Student), and Kaitlin Hillier (M.Eng Student), this Fall.

August 2021 

  • Dr. Meshref’s paper has been accepted for publication in Data in Brief. This article reports detailed principal component analysis (PCA) of experimental data from a study on low-temperature thermal hydrolysis of sludge prior to anaerobic digestion. Congratulations, Dr. Meshref!
  • Raj’s article on the effects of different mixing conditions on anaerobic digesters amended with conductive additives has been accepted for publication in Bioresource Technology. Raj was a visiting Ph.D. student (2019-2020) from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Congratulations, Raj!

July 2021 

  • Calvin’s review article on paper-based microbial fuel cell biosensors has been accepted for publication in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Congratulations, Calvin!

June 2021 

  • Wafa successfully defended his M.Sc. thesis on advancing the high-solids anaerobic digestion process for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Congratulations, Wafa!

May 2021 

  • Wafa’s article on optimizing the high-solids anaerobic digestion process for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste has been accepted for publication in Bioresource Technology. Congratulations, Wafa!

  • Seyed’s paper on low-temperature thermal hydrolysis process for enhancing sludge anaerobic digestion in wastewater treatment plant with sludge anaerobic digestion has been accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations, Seyed!

April 2021 

  • Calvin received Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral (CGS D), the most prestigious graduate scholarship from NSERC. As a successful candidate in the competition, he also received a top-up award, the President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction, from the FGSR. Congratulations on these well-deserved scholarships, Calvin!
  • Calvin’s mini-review article on applications of 3D printing for microbial electrochemical technologies has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Energy Research. Congratulations, Calvin!

  • Wafa’s paper on the application of conductive additives on high-solids anaerobic digestion has been accepted for publication in Process Safety and Environmental Protection. Congratulations, Wafa!

March 2021 

  • Dr. Dhar has been selected as one of the three recipients of UofA’s Petro-Canada Emerging Innovator Award-2021. This award is given annually (sponsored by Suncor Energy Inc.) through an internal competition among early-career researchers from four faculties (Business, ALES, Engineering, Science) across campus. Dr. Dhar sincerely acknowledges his current and former lab members, industry partners, funding agencies, academic collaborators, and thanks UofA’s civil and environmental engineering department leadership and internal award nomination committee for their tremendous support.
  • Basem’s article has been accepted for publication in Scientific Reports. This paper presents a comprehensive characterization and discusses the significance of extracellular polymeric substances, reactive oxygen species, and extracellular electron transfer in methanogenic biocathode in microbial electrolysis cell-assisted anaerobic digestion. Congratulations, Basem!

  • Raj’s article on high-rate blackwater anaerobic digestion under septic tank conditions with the amendment of biosolids-derived biochar has been accepted for publication in Bioresource Technology. Raj was a visiting student from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Congratulations, Raj!

  • Qi’s article on blackwater treatment with microbial electrolysis cells has been accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. Congratulations, Qi!

  • Nesma’s manuscript on the lime treatment of oil sands tailing has been accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. Congratulations, Nesma! 
  • Calvin’s review article on microbial electrochemical cell-based biosensors for recalcitrant environmental contaminants monitoring has been accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations, Calvin!

  • Calvin has been selected to receive the Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship. Congregations, Calvin!

February 2021 

  • Seyed’s review article on the impact of (nano)microplastics on anaerobic digestion has been accepted for publication in Bioresource Technology. Congratulations, Seyed!

  • Basem has been selected for a 2021 Graduate Student Teaching Award (GSTA) for his outstanding performance as a teaching assistant in Fall 2020. This year only seven students across campus have been selected for this award. Congratulations, Basem!

January 2021 

  • Mayank’s article on greywater treatment has been accepted for publication in Processes journal. Congratulations, Mayank!

  • Our article on the fate of disposable face masks in high-solids anaerobic digestion has been accepted for publication in Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering Journal. This interesting project was collaboratively done by Felipe, Mayank, Wafa, and Seyed. Congratulations Team!