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Dr. Anjali Mulchandani selected for the 2021 UNM Women in STEM Awards

June 23, 2021

photo of Anjali Mulchandani
Anjali Mulchandani

Dr. Anjali Mulchandani, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at UNM, received the award for her project entitled, “Waste as a resource: A thermo-chemical system to recover metals and produce oils from sewage sludges.”

The work explores better ways to get rid of human and industrial waste including through reusing some of it.

“Rather than disposing of these items, we can benefit by seeking more sustainable practices that reuse and recycle these resources and return value to society. In this proposal, I present a paradigm shifting process to implement energy and metals resource recovery at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs),” Mulchandani wrote in the proposal.

“There is a critical need for the next generation of wastewater solids management technologies to reduce solids production, manage metals, inactivate pathogens, and incorporate resource recovery perspectives in an environmentally benign, scalable, and economically viable manner.”

“I am extremely grateful for this opportunity from the ADVANCE Women in STEM grant. “Waste as a resource” is a motto that has inspired my journey through environmental engineering. I look forward to supporting students, collaborating with wastewater utilities, and continuing research on environmental resource sustainability,” she said.

The Women in STEM awards are hosted by Advance at UNM in collaboration with the UNM Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Advance is a five-year National Science Foundation program to recruit, retain and promote women and minority STEM faculty.