Research overview for my summer in the Environmental Engineering lab

Over the past three summers, I have been fortunate to be a part of the University of Notre Dame's Research Experience for Teachers (RET).   Each summer I have worked in a lab on energy related topics.  At the end of each summer, there is a poster session where teachers present their research and how they plan on incorporating it into their curriculum.

This summer, I worked in Dr. Amy Hixon's lab which focuses on how actinides interact with the environment, especially how these elements behave at the mineral-water surface.  This is important because uranium and plutonium are actinides that are present in the environment as the result of nuclear fuel deposition and nuclear weapons.

My specific research project was focused on characterizing some of the minerals that these actinides might encounter in the environment.  Specifically, we were trying to find surface areas and reactivities of the aluminum (hydr) oxides minerals of gibbsite (Al(OH)3), bayerite (alpha Al(OH)3), alpha alumina (Al2O3), and gamma alumina (Al2O3).  To accomplish this goal, I trained to use the surface area analyzer and got actionable results from most of the minerals.  However, gibbsite still proves to be difficult to analyze due to impurities and other complications.  Once the surface areas are well understood, the reactive sites of the minerals can be controlled for in more reliable sorption experiments.

For example, when running an experiment comparing gibbsite and bayerite, one CANNOT simply use equal masses of gibbsite and compare that with bayerite.  This is because when studying how plutonium interacts with the surface of the minerals, one needs to control for surface area and not mass.   However, it is simply much harder to measure surface of particles than mass of particles.

Additionally, I developed curriculum centered on the question "What role should nuclear energy play in a state's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?"  It is an inquiry based unit that contains an Socio-Scientific approach for students to connect radioactivity concepts with biology, earth science, and society.  I look forward to its implementation.

Below is an image of the poster that I presented at the RET symposium.