Current Research Interests and Selected Projects

Contaminant fate, transport and behaviour issues associated with contaminanted groundwater, and sorption and precipitation of contamiants in soils/sediments and other geological materials, particularly in weathered environments:    

• -  A series of studies on the fate and transport of uranium, mercury and other contaminants at the Field Research Center and other areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA http://www.esd.ornl.gov/orifrc/. Funded by a contract with the US Dept. of Energy and a William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) user facility grant at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory  http://www.emsl.pnl.gov/.

• -  Study of the distribution of heavy metals and associated contaminants on and around a former silver mine site in Galway, Ireland.

• -  Arsenic in groundwater and traditionally cooked rice in Cambodia.

Ecological Engineering and Water Resources Management:

• -  Removal of phosphorus and natural hormones in a constructed wetland used to treat dairy waste water. Collaboration with Biological Sciences (QUB) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Northern Ireland (DARDNI) http://www.dardni.gov.uk/.

• -  Monitoring sediment changes upstream and downstream of the Altnahinch Dam in the River Bush in Northern Ireland in conjuction.  Collaboration with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)

• -  Mangrove reestablishment to protect coastal areas susceptible to sea-level Rise (Mangrove density impacts on sediment accretion, nutrients and biogeochemistry in Puttalam Lagoon, Sri Lanka). Collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University, US Geological Survey National Wetlands Research Center, Univ. Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.

• -  Linking watershed terrain and hydrology to soil chemical properties, microbial communities and impacts on soil organic C in a humid mid-latitude forested watershed. Collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Performance of Landfill Caps and Liners:

• -  Impact of climate and settling on long-term performance of capping material for nuclear waste disposal and management of contaminated land sites. Funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in collaboration with Nexia Solutions. NDA http://www.nda.gov.uk/

Soil and Groundwater Remediation:

• -  The 10 year performance evaluation of the Monkstown, Northern Ireland zero-valent iron PRB. Collaboration with Golder Associates, Flemish Institute for technological research (VITO), and the Environment Agency http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

• -  Uranium sequestration in a previously bioreduced subsurface in response to invasion of nitrate containing groundwater at DOE Oak Ridge IFRC site. Collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Stanford University, Hong Kong University and Peking University.

Professional Societies

- Sigma Xi International Honor Society of Research Scientists and Engineers

- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

- Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society

- Geochemical Society

- CIV4040/7040 Land, Water and Air Quality

- CIV7079 Advances in Enviornmental Engineering

- CIV4039/7059 Assessment of Environmental Impacts