Chunmei Chen
Ph.D., Environmental Soil Science
Chunmei received her B.S. in Agricultural Resources and the Environment in 2004 from Nanjing Agriculture University, China, followed by a M.S. in Environmental Soil Science from the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007. For her B.S. student research training project she studied silicon uptake dynamics of rice, maize, and sunflower, which focused on the separaton of root respiration from rhizomicrobial respiration, and the evaluation of rhizosphere priming effects. For her M.S., she evaluated the effects of CO2-induced changes in the quality and quantity of carbon input on soil carbon sequestration in paddy fields, and the response of soil native organic carbon to different exogenous substrates input to the paddy field. She also worked to quantify nitrogen uptake, distribution by rice and l osses from plant tissues using a 15-N labeling technique under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Sudarshan Dutta
Ph.D., Environmental Soil Management
Sudarshan received his B.S. degree in Agriculture from Bidhan Chandra Agriculture University in Mohanpur, India, followed by his M.S. degree in Soil Science with a minor in Chemistry from Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, India. His M.S. research dealt with sorption and desorption behavior of lead in different soils in India. Sudarshan achieved the highest score in his M.S. credit seminar and was a runner-up in the All India Inter-varsity Soil Quiz.
Sudarshan's graduate studies are also supported with USDA funds via UD's Avian Biosciences Center (http://ag.udel.edu/abc).
Rachel Marine
Ph.D., Environmental Microbiology
Rachel maintained a 4.0 GPA while working part-time as the cellular biology lab assistant as she earned her B.S in Biology and minor in Chemistry from Salisbury University in Salisbury, MD in 2009. During the summer of 2007, she was the lead reseacher on a US Department of Defense project to synthesize a possible prostate cancer prodrug. Rachel presented her findings at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research held at Salisbury University in the spring of 2008.
Jiewei Wu
Ph.D., Environmental Soil Management
Jiewei received her B.E. from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China. She went on to earn a M.S. in 2009, studying eletricigen permeable reactivev barrier (EPRB) in situ groundwater remediation. Jeiwei also worked on a project which investigated the China Pollution Source Census. The resultant report is a highly authoritative reference consulted by professional pollution invesitgators in China.
Yun (Elizabeth) Wu
Ph.D., Environmental Soil Management
Yun received her B.S. in Agricultural Resources and the Environment in 2006 from China Agricultural University, followed by a M.S. in Environmental Science from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009. For her B.S. her research focused on the efficiency of using lignin as a cost-effective adsorbent to remove chromium (III) from wasterwaters.Yun's M.S. project was on the effects and mechanisms of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on phytoremediation of organic pollutants in soils. She also earned a minor in Marketing..