Arun Kumar, Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering

Arun Kumar (Joined Drexel: 2004)
Graduate Student, Environmental Engineering,
Supervisor: Dr. Patrick Gurian, Assistant Professor,
Doctoral Research Work: Arsenic Removal by Novel Iron-Oxide Coated Fibers and Granular Iron Hydroxide Adsorbents.

Research Interests
Interested in the (1) development of cost-effective iron oxide coated fibrous sorbents for arsenic removal and want to understand the physicochemical processes involved using experimental and theoretical approaches, and (2) application of risk-analysis to  understand complex environmental problems.

Currently, I am doing research work under the guidance of Dr. Patrick Gurian on a project titled “Removal of arsenic by sorption to iron-coated fibers’, funded by American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AwwaRF). As a part of this project, I am researching the prospects of improving arsenic removal kinetics and equilibrium capacities of iron-oxide based fibrous arsenic adsorbents for treating drinking water for arsenic. In addition, I am learning risk-analysis techniques to characterize and understand contaminant exposure to human being.

Objective
Interested in joining an academic institution and starting my career as a teacher and researcher addressing environmental problems and working towards the development of cost-effective remediation options.

Education:
2004. Master of Technology (M.Tech.) in Environmental Engineering and Management (EEM) Programme, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India.
Supervisor: Dr. Vinod Tare, Professor; Dr. Purnendu Bose, Associate Professor;
Thesis Topic: "Ozone Assisted Biological Treatment of Distillery Spent-wash."

2001. Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) in Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India.
Supervisor: Dr. Vinod Tare, Professor.
Project Topic: “Development of an Infrastructure Information System-A Step towards Environmental Management Plan for IIT Kanpur Campus”