Grads Awarded GSA Research Grants

Rakiba Sultana (PhD student) and Leah Dechant (MS student) were awarded $2,700 and $2,378, respectively, in support of their graduate research projects for the summer of 2022 by the Geological Society of America.  Rakiba’s research proposal is focused on the mobility of uranium in groundwater. Leah’s research proposal is focused on the transport of road salt from groundwater to surface water.

Rakiba Sultana

Leah Dechant

New SURF Undergrad Research Fellows for Spring 2022

Amanda Dahms, Justin Peschman, and Samuel Sellars have been awarded SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWS (SURF) for the Spring 2022 semester.  Their research projects are as follows:

  • Amanda Dahms’ project: “Sorption and Desorption Kinetics of 2-NS Groundwater Tracer”
  • Justin Peschman’s project: “Field Testing of Microplastics Sampler for Groundwater”
  • Samuel Sellars’ project: “Road Salt Transport from Groundwater to Surface Water in Southeastern Wisconsin”

Dylan Childs Awarded UWM Research Fellowship for Spring 2021

Milwaukee Column prototype showing Mariotte bottle influent, sand-packed PVC column, and bucket effluent.

Dylan Childs was awarded a UWM Support for Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) for Spring 2021.  This award will allow Dylan to conduct paid research activities associated with establishing a simple, effective, and affordable apparatus for one-dimensional groundwater flow and contaminant transport in porous media, i.e., The Milwaukee Column (prototype apparatus shown at left).

Adam Schmidt Headed To Graduate School

Adam Schmidt was the first hire in the Paradis Lab and made huge progress on the Milwaukee Column during his time as an undergraduate researcher.  Adam graduated in the fall of 2020 with a B.S. in Geology and is now a master student and research assistant in the Wang Lab at UW-Milwaukee.  Adam’s positive attitude, mechanical skills, and abilities to problem solve will be surely missed but almost certainly appreciated and useful during his graduate research.      

Students Begin Internships With National Lab and Early-Stage Business

Cullen Meurer (graduate) and Adam Schmidt (undergraduate) were awarded internships with Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) in New Mexico and True Elements, Inc. in Florida, respectively.  Mr. Meurer will be working with Dr. Katherine Telfeyan and others on the Radionuclide Geochemistry Team at LANL to study the mobility of uranium in contaminated aquifers.  Mr. Schmidt will be working on building cutting edge water forecasting tools to improve water quality across the United States.  Both internships are paid and remote.  Learn more about LANL at https://lanl.gov/.  Learn more about True Elements at http://trueelements.com/.