Shelby Tillema,
Shelby Tillema is a Temporary Researcher for Dr. Bolhari. She graduated from CU Boulder in May 2021 with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering, and she plans to pursue a PhD starting in Fall 2022. Her research interests include resource recovery from waste products, emerging contaminants, sustainability and resiliency, and environmental toxicology. During her time at CU, Shelby worked as a research assistant (DLA) for the Linden lab group, researching the ability of UV LEDs to mitigate biofilm formation in irrigation drip emitters. She was part of a team who won 2nd place at the 2021 WERC Environmental Design Competition for their design of a PFAS destruction process. They proposed a thermal destruction process with the addition of calcium hydroxide using biochar derived from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Shelby also held internships in both the private and public sectors during her undergraduate education. In her free time, Shelby likes to make pottery, knit, read, and play tabletop and video games with her friends.
Rita Trick
Rita is a Boulder Native and loves the outdoors! She has a passion for protecting the great places we have left and providing sustainable solutions for less fortunate locations. She has worked with Dr. Bolhari on preparation of a series of hands on STEM projects related to fate and transport of contaminants in the environment.
Some of Rita's accomplishments and passions include:
- 2nd Place WERC PFAS Destruction Design Contest (May 2021)
- Won Freshman Engineering Projects (Dec. 2017)
- Particularly interested in water sanitation and hygiene as well as microplastics
- Member of: CU Surf Club, CU Freeride, and CU Alpine Club
Former research students:
Undergraduate research assistants for microplastics study:
- Dhiraj Shrestha
- Geneva Gutierrez
Undergraduate research assistants for NSF-EAGER:
- Jesse Lee
- Maria Ochoa
- TJ Spies
- Austin Poole
- Nicholas Menrique
Undergraduate faculty-mentored research students:
- Brandon Machingura
- Brandon Dussenbury
- Jake Gravell
- Mark halfman
- Natalie Cox
- Shelby Freeman