Faculty Leader

Karl photo

Karl Linden

Principal Investigator
CEAE
Karl G. Linden, Ph.D., is the Helen and Huber Croft Professor of Environmental Engineering at The University of Colorado Boulder. He has a BS from Cornell University and an MS and PhD from University of California at Davis. He teaches classes on UV Processes in Environmental Systems, Sustainable Water Reuse, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, and Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering. Dr. Linden’s research investigates novel water and wastewater treatment systems, including...
Summers photo

Scott Summers

Co-Principal Investigator
CEAE
Dr. R. Scott Summers is a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Colorado and has 30 years of experience including at the University of Cincinnati and the USEPA national research lab. His areas of expertise are adsorption and biological treatment technologies as applied to natural organic matter, disinfection by-products, trace organic contaminants and taste & odor. Dr. Summers has served as a principal technical consultant to US EPA's...
Al photo

Alan W. Weimer

Co-Principal Investigator
ChBE
Alan (Al) Weimer, H.T. Sears Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering, joined the faculty of the University of Colorado in 1996 after a 16 year career with the Dow Chemical Company. He was named Dow Research Inventor of the Year in 1993 and received Dow’s “Excellence in Science Award” in 1995 for commercializing high temperature processing to produce advanced non-oxide materials. The Rapid Carbothermal Reduction (“RCR”)process, sold to Sandvik Coromant, produces...

Consultant

Rita photo

Rita Klees

WASH Consultant
CEAE
Dr. Klees, an environmental engineer and a retiree from the World Bank (2008), has over twenty experiences in international development focusing on water supply and sanitation (WASH), water resource management, and environmental health. She holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado. Her international engineering work is enhanced by a previous career in community development (M.A. Social Work – The University of Chicago). Prior to...
Al photo

Alan Lewandowski

Solar Consultant
CEAE
Al Lewandowski has over 30 years of experience in the solar field. For a majority of his career he worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on various solar thermal technologies but focused on concentrator optics for most of that time. He was responsible for the design of the High Flux Solar Furnace and the R&D efforts there to investigate new high temperature, high flux applications. These applications included the...

Researcher

Chip photo

Richard "Chip" Fisher

Researcher
ChBE
Chip Fisher has a BS and MS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since graduating in 2009, he has gained experience in renewable energy technology and advanced materials development as a professional research assistant in Dr. Alan Weimer’s research lab at CU-Boulder. Chip has been involved with projects focused on biomass gasification, nuclear energy, reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes, Li-ion batteries, sunscreens, and variable resistance...
Lauren photo

Lauren Hafford

Researcher
CEAE
Lauren has a BS in Materials Engineering from Olin College. She worked for some years in industry, on wind turbines, and decided that she needed a vacation from her 9-5 career. She joined the team to help them bring their ideas into reality. She worked on the mechanical design and fabrication of the prototype, and has enjoyed the experience enormously.
Ryan photo

Ryan Mahoney

Researcher
CEAE
Ryan B. Mahoney holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU). He has been working as a graduate student in Scott Summers Lab for a year, working with appropriate methods of biochar generation and evaluating adsorption and surface reactions on the media. He received the Mortenson Center’s Certificate in Engineering for Developing Communities, completing a field...
jeanette neethling

Jeanette Neethling

Researcher
CEAE
Jeanette holds a B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and is currently pursuing her masters degree in the same subject from CU Boulder. She is currently involved in research regarding biochar adsorption as a method of recovering nutrients from urine. As a part of the Engineering for Developing Communities program, Jeanette recently travelled to southwest Morocco to work with Dar Si Hmad on an ecological...
cori photo

Cori Oversby

Researcher
CEAE
Cori Oversby has a BS in civil engineering from Arizona State University. After graduating in 2008, she worked for two years with Native American Tribes throughout Arizona and California on water resource projects. She received her MS in environmental engineering and a certificate for engineering in developing communities from the University of Colorado, Boulder in August of 2012. Her master’s project focused on exploring sanitation as a business in Nairobi,...
Zee photo

Elizabeth "Zee" Travis

Researcher
CEAE
Elizabeth (Zee) Travis is working towards her master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. She is part of the Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC) certificate program and is also working towards an interdisciplinary certificate in Environment, Policy, and Society. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado in Biochemistry and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. As part of the EDC certificate program she traveled to Iquitos, Peru, where she helped...
BJ Photo

Barbara "BJ" Ward

Researcher
CEAE
BJ has a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering and a research background in biofuels and renewable energy from waste sources.She joined the Sol-Char Sanitation team as a masters student, researching the use of the system's byproduct charcoal from human waste as a solid fuel for domestic heating and cooking in the developing world. After completing her masters, she worked in Ghana on another fuel-from-sanitation byproducts research project, and has since...
tesfa yacob

Tesfayohanes Yacob

Researcher
CEAE
Dr. Yacob has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and a BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He has expertise in the areas of mining waste and domestic waste treatments. He leads the disinfection research of source separated urine through laboratory experiments and treatment module development. The laboratory tests involve the use of bacterial and viral surrogates to determine the...

Fabrication advisor

Dana photo

Dana Hauschulz

Fabrication Advisor
ChBE
Dana Hauschulz joined the University of Colorado Chemical & biological Engineering shop research staff in 2001 as an electro-mechanical engineer. This followed a 19 year career in industry where he designed high vacuum components for semiconductor manufacturing. He holds 5 patents related to semiconductor manufacturing that lead to a product family being named “Product of the Year” by Semiconductor International in 1999. He is half theoretical and half hands-on. Formal...
dragan photo

Dragan Mejic

Fabrication Advisor
ChBE
With 30 years combined experience in design, manufacturing and research lab support, Dragan Mejic is an instrument maker and fabrication lead for the Sol-Char project.

Affiliated Student

Sara photo

Sara Beck

Affiliated student
CEAE
Sara Beck has a BS in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado and worked as a NASA flight controller for a number of years. She pursued her passion for engineering in developing communities by co-founding the Central Houston Professional Partners chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA, where she served as president and project manager, working on projects for communities in Uganda, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. After receiving her M.S. in...
Josh photo

Josh Kearns

Affiliated student
CEAE
Joshua Kearns holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and environmental engineering from Clemson University and a master’s degree in environmental biogeochemistry from the University of California-Berkeley. He is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Colorado-Boulder in environmental engineering. His research explores the applicability of locally-produced charcoals and biochars as low-cost sorbents for drinking water treatment in developing communities. Josh has worked as a researcher and activist in the fields...

Program Manager

anna segur

Anna Segur

Program Manager
CEAE
Anna Segur has a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and 11 years of experience in grant writing, project design, management and monitoring and evaluation. She lived in Central and South America for six years, working on water, sanitation, microfinance and enterprise development projects.