Meet our team

Rob Nerenberg

Principal Investigator

Rob is a professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. His research addresses biofilm processes for water and wastewater treatment, with a special focus on membrane-supported biofilms.

Graduate Students

Yanina Nahum

Yanina’s research focuses on the use of low-frequency ultrasound to enhance antibiotic efficiency in biofilms

Contact: ynahum@nd.edu

Emily Clements

Emily studies opportunistic pathogens in drinking water systems and specializes in nitrifying MABR biofilms

Contact: eclement@nd.edu

Saúl García Perez

Saul’s research focuses on algal biofilms as photoreactors as well as characterization of fungal biofilms for WWT

Contact: jgarciap@nd.edu

Alejandro Linares

Alejandro joined us this summer and is working on fungal biofilm to treat wastewater contaminants

Contact: amarti77@nd.edu

Isaiah Murrel-Thomas

Isaiah started this Fall 2022 and is working on water age and Legionella in drinking water systems

Contact: imurrell@nd.edu

Undergraduate Researchers

Dastan Tursaliev, 2023
Hannah Enabnit, 2023

Visiting Scholars

Yan Yang

PhD student

Chongqing University, China

Bruno Garcia Silva

PhD student

University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Eduardo Leiva

Assistant professor

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

Claudia Sanchez Huerta

PhD student

KAUST, Saudi Arabia

Minmin Jiang

PhD student

Guiling University of Technology, China

Erika Espinosa Ortiz

Assistant Research Professor

Montana State University, USA

Francisca Schiaffino

Undergraduate student

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

Alumni

Postdocs

Patricia Perez Calleja

Current position: Manager of R&D at Cimico, Spain

Aura Ontiveros Valencia

Current position: Assistant professor at IPICIT, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Doctoral Students

Bumkyu Kim (2022)

Current position: Post-doctoral researcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mengfei Li (2021)

Current position: Jacobs Engineering

Marcela Vega Muñoz (2019)

Current position: Post-doctoral researcher, UIUC

Fabrizio Sabba (2016)

Current position: Black & Veatch

Marcelo Aybar (2016)

Current position: Assistant Professor, Universidad de Concepcion, Chile

Yue Wang (2015)

Current position: The IFCE, China

Juan Pablo Pavissich (2014)

Current position: Assistant Professor, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile

Kelly Gordon (2013)

Current position: Black & Veatch

Brenda Read-Daily (2011)

Current position: Associate Professor, Elizabethtown college, Elizabethtown, PA

Caitlyn Shea Butler (2009)

Current Position: Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Leon Downing (2008)

Current Position: Black & Veatch

Masters Students

Sarajane Roenke (2022)

Just graduated

Meenu Garg (2019)

Current position: Donohue and Associates, South Bend, IN

Lara Grotz (2018)

Current position: ENFOCUS, South Bend, IN

Andrew DeVries (2015)

Current position: Carollo Engineers, Orlando

Samuel Bruce (2015)

Current position: HDR, Sacramento

Brenda Read-Daily (2011)

Current position: Associate Professor, Elizabethtown college, Elizabethtown, PA

Margaret Dudley (2007)

Current position: unknown

Anna Salamone (2006)

Current position: unknown