Two visiting scholars joined the Water Sciences Lab this spring and will stay through Spring of 2024.
Dr. Joyce Cristale, a researcher at the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture in the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil will be housed at the Water Sciences Lab during her time at UNL. Her research will focus on developing methods for analyzing insecticide metabolites in wastewater, which fits in well with the Lab’s AltEn Bioenergy and other environmental monitoring studies with Shannon Bartelt-Hunt and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Joyce shared what she hopes to learn during her time at UNL. “I chose to be a visiting researcher at the Water Sciences Laboratory because of its tradition of using advanced analytical techniques for environmental research. I am particularly interested in improving my skills in pesticide analysis and human exposure assessment, and I am confident that this cooperation with Daniel Snow and his team will enable me to achieve this goal.”
Dr. Renato Falcao Dantas, a dean and Associate Professor at the School of Technology in the University of Campinas, Brazil, will be housed in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. His research focuses on treatment technologies for emerging contaminants, insecticides, and pharmaceuticals in wastewater.
Renato shared why the Water Sciences Lab is a good fit to continue his research. “I got to know the Water Science Laboratory and its manager, Daniel Snow, when I was looking for a partner to apply for an international cooperation project between Brazil and the United States. After knowing not only the potential of the WS laboratory, but also the great potential of the UNL in the area of agriculture, we requested funding so that I could spend one year developing methodologies for water reuse in agriculture. I am particularly satisfied with the exchange of knowledge that this period is providing me and very happy with the receptivity of the people of Lincoln.”
The researcher’s visits are funded through the United States Fulbright Brazil Commission, the São Paulo Research Foundation, and initiated through the SPRINT program aiming to implement scientific and technological cooperation between researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Sao Paulo, Brazil administered through the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The purpose of this program is to promote exchanges between Brazilian scientists and University of Nebraska faculty and create new research collaborations. The Water Sciences Lab is a natural fit to collaborate with Dr. Cristale and Dr. Falcao Dantas. The lab has the capabilities to very accurately measure the contaminants both researchers are focused on, so it’s a good partnership for both the visiting scholars and the lab.