CAREER: Subsurface Heterogeneities, Interfaces and Biodegradation: Defining the Limits on In Situ Bioremediation

全世界在土壤和地下水污染的修复方面投入了数十亿美元，因此选择适当的修复策略非常重要。事实证明，就地技术是经济和受欢迎的补救办法。其中一项技术是原位生物修复。为了成功和经济地使用原位生物修复，需要进行额外的基础研究，以便能够更知情地在现场实施。该职业奖将为PI在原位生物修复技术的应用和评估方面继续发展其研究目标提供机会，作为研究、教育和学者/实践者伙伴关系的平衡和综合计划的一部分，将拓宽和丰富PI的能力和贡献。研究：由于地下环境的物理和化学异质性，内在的和工程的原位生物修复在技术上具有挑战性。事实上，自原位生物修复首次应用以来，地下非均质性已被确定为影响其成功的一个重要因素。尽管如此，对于异质性对原位生物降解的影响的了解仍然相对有限。这项研究的主要假设是，可以开发一个基于一组无量纲系数的量化框架，该框架将捕捉相互竞争的界面和生物动力学过程的影响，并定义原位生物修复成功应用的限制。这项研究建议通过开发这样一个框架，并使用数值模拟和实验相结合的方法来测试它，从而严格评估这一假设。具体地说，将进行一套系统和综合的建模和实验室实验。这项拟议的研究将提高对地下非均质性对原位生物修复的影响的基本理解，并将朝着开发一种实用的、相对容易使用的工具迈出一步，以帮助该领域的从业者确定原位生物修复何时有效，如果是的话，工程方法或内在方法是最好的。教育：建议的教育活动的总体目标是努力开发本科生和研究生的潜力。具体而言，教育工作集中于两个目标：(1)测试教学策略，以提高学生解决问题和决策的技能；(2)发展和促进研究活动和富有成效的学者/实践者伙伴关系，为学生提供发展为研究人员和实践者的机会。为了实现第一个目标，将实施和测试各种教学策略，包括：评估学生的学习风格和制定解决这些风格的方法；通过以辩论、案例研究、伦理和角色扮演为特色的小组讨论，更多地使用合作学习；更多地使用实验、实地考察和示范；改进网络活动和异步学习的技术使用；将研究成果纳入课堂教学。第二个目标将通过继续追求本科生的研究机会和改善对参与研究的学生的指导来实现。此外，正在建立学者/实践者伙伴关系，为课堂讨论和项目提供有趣的基于行业的案例，并提供学生工作经验的机会。

Billions of dollars are invested world wide for the remediation of soil and groundwater contamination, making it important that appropriate remedial strategies be selected. In situ technologies are proving to be economical and popular remediation alternatives. One such technology is in situ bioremediation. For in situ bioremediation to be used successfully and economically, additional fundamental research is required to allow for more informed field implementation. The CAREER award will provide an opportunity for the continued development of the PI's research goals in the application and evaluation of in situ bioremediation technologies, as part of a balanced and integrated program of research, education, and scholar/practitionerpartnerships that will broaden and enrich the PI's capabilities and contributions.Research: Intrinsic and engineered in situ bioremediation are made technologically challenging by the physically and chemically heterogeneous nature of the subsurface environment. Indeed,subsurface heterogeneities have been identified as an important factor impacting the success of in situ bioremediation since its first application. Despite this, the understanding of the impact ofheterogeneities on in situ biodegradation is still relatively limited. The main hypothesis of this research is that a quantitative framework based on a set of dimensionless coefficients can be de eloped that will capture the effects of the competing interfacial- and bio-kinetic processes and define limits on the successful application of in situ bioremediation. This research proposes to rigorously evaluate this hypothesisby developing such a framework and testing it using a combination of numerical modeling and experimentation. Specifically, a systematic and integrated set of modeling and laboratory experiments will be performed. The proposed research will improve the fundamental understanding of the impact of subsurface heterogeneities on in situ bioremediation and will be a step toward the development of a practical, relatively easy to use tool to help practitioners in the field define when in situ bioremediation will work and, if so, whether an engineered or intrinsic approach is best.Education: The overall goal of the proposed education activities is to work to develop the potential of undergraduate and graduate engineering students. Specifically, the educational efforts are focused into two objectives: (1) to test instructional strategies that enhance the problem solving and decision making skills of students, and (2) to develop and promote research activities and productive scholar/practitioner partnerships that provide opportunities for students to develop as researchers and practitioners. To achieve the first objective, a variety of instructional strategies will implemented and tested including: assessment of student learning styles and development of approaches addressing those styles; increased use of cooperative learning via small group discussions featuring controversy, case studies, ethics, and role playing; increased use of experiments, field trips and demonstrations; improved use of technology for Web-based activities and asynchronous learning; and incorporation of research results into classroom teaching. The second objective will be achieved through the continued pursuit of undergraduate research opportunities and improved mentoring of students involved with research. In addition,scholar/practitioner partnerships are being developed that will provide interesting industry-basedcases for class discussions and projects, and provide an opportunity for student work experience.