People

Dr. Julie Korak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering. Dr. Korak has an interdisciplinary background in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and she is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado.

Leah is a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Engineering program studying water quality in distribution systems impacted by changing source waters. She completed her M.S. in 2020 at CU Boulder with a focus on hexavalent chromium removal by ion exchange, and her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Rochester in 2015. Leah is a licensed Professional Engineer in Colorado and currently works for the Bureau of Reclamation.

Emma (she/her) is developing models to predict carbon removal for water reuse applications. She received her B.S. in Environmental Engineering from CU in 2019 and worked as an EI for almost 4 years in water and wastewater treatment and conveyance engineering. In her free time, Emma enjoys spending time with her cats, finding the best birria spots, and volleyball.

Ida graduated with an M.S. in Environmental Engineering in 2022. She brought her experience as a former water treatment operator back to the lab. Her research focuses on organic matter removal from wastewater effluent to improve the efficiency of water reuse treatment systems. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Physical Science from Black Hills State University. She is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in South Dakota and her research is supported by the Tribal Climate Leaders Program of the North Central Climate Adaptation Center.

Nadia is an undergraduate student in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department participating in the 2019 CU SPUR program. Her research focuses on the selective removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) using using novel adsorbents and ion exchange materials. The research goal is to increase capacity and selectivity for Cr(VI) removal in challenging groundwaters.

Juliette graduated with a M.S. in Environmental Engineering in 2020. She completed her bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering in 2018 at the University of Colorado Boulder. Juliette worked with a local municipality and consulting firm to conduct bench- and pilot- treatment studies to support the design of a new water treatment plant. Her research investigated the use of fluorescence to model DOC removal by coagulation.

Annabel started her M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering at CU in Fall 2021 and is working on improving ion exchange resin sorption capabilities for chromium removal from groundwater. She co-authored a review article on brine management for ion exchange processes . She received her B.S. from Johns Hopkins University in May 2021, where she researched fate and transport of antiretroviral drugs in wastewater. In her free time, Annabel enjoys journaling,...

Ayush is pursuing his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering focusing on Arsenic Treatment in drinking water for small scale communities and is a Mortenson Center in Global Engineering Research Fellow. He graduated with a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of New Mexico in July 2019. He did his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Tribhuvan University in Nepal.

Eva graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering in 2022. She was the outstanding graduate of the Environemntal Engineering Program in Spring 2022. Her research is investigating optical characteristics of dissolved organic matter in de facto water reuse.

Melanie graduated in May 2019 with a M.S. in Environmental Engineering (and received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering at CU Boulder in May of 2017). She is the lead author on a study analyzing the water quality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and characterizing the challenges with lead and copper sampling protocol for drinking water distribution systems. In her spare time she likes to practice yoga, snowboard,...

Landon graduated with an M.S. in Environmental Engineering in 2022 studying nitrate treatment using ion exchange. He co-authored a review article on brine management for ion exchange processes . He earned his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy at California State University Long Beach in 2019.