(energetic string music)

- [Michelle] Hello and
thank you for tuning in

to Connections & Directions,
our University of Michigan

civil and environmental
engineering podcast.

My name is Michelle Santillan,

and I am the CEE Marketing
Communications Specialist

and host of this series.

During our podcasts, we
are featuring members

of our CEE community and how
their work reflects our mission

of engineers and service to society.

We will be highlighting
our strategic directions

and our commitment to diversity,
equity, and inclusion.

CEE's five strategic directions are

human habitat experience,
shaping resource flows,

adaptation, automation, and
smart infrastructure finance.

I am excited to welcome Dr. Aleks Szczuka,

who has been serving as
a post-doctoral fellow

in our department and is
joining us in fall 2022

as a tenure track professor,

Dr. Szczuka welcome.

- [Dr. Szczuka] Oh,
thank you for having me.

Whenever anybody says I'm
joining as an assistant professor

I get a little worried
but also a little excited

at the same time so,
it's whenever I hear that

it's a little scary, but also exciting.

- [Michelle] Well, we're
excited to welcome you

and if you could, tell us a
little bit about your background

and how your research fits into
CEE's strategic directions.

- [Dr. Szczuka] Awesome,
yeah, no, I guess,

so where do you want me to start?

Like college or even before that I guess?

- [Michelle] If you
wanna start with college

and then we'll kind of
go back from there, so.

- [Dr. Szczuka] Yeah, no,
so I was a chemical engineer

in college, I was very
excited about how we can apply

chemistry to solve the world's
problems to some extent

but then as I started
chemical engineering,

I realized that there's
not much chemistry going on

in chemical engineering,
it's mostly just building

big reactors and, you know,
helping the pharma industry,

the oil industry do their chemistry.

So after that, I switched over
to environmental engineering

just because I felt like that
was a more society-focused

engineering field and I did my
PhD at Stanford in basically

environmental chemistry and
since then, I've sort of

switched and did a postdoc at UM in

environmental microbiology,
focused on pathogens,

and I'm going to be starting
a lab here in, you know,

a month and a half, so I'm
pretty excited about that.

- [Michelle] And specifically,
which one of our strategic

directions would you say your
work most closely fits into?

- [Dr. Szczuka] No, so I
get very excited about water

scarcity and being able
to solve that, so to speak

to that a little bit, global
scarcity is really, you know,

or water scarcity is really a
global issue where, you know,

you have California, for
instance, is consistently

in drought as is a lot
of the United States.

In 2018 for instance, Cape Town
was on the verge of becoming

one of the first cities to
completely run out of water.

We also have, you know, droughts
in India that are causing

crop failures making it
harder to feed the growing

population there, so a lot of
our research really focuses on

water scarcity and how we can lower that.

And one of the ways to
lower that is to really tap

into different resources and
different water resource flows

which fits in with, I guess the
true CEE strategic direction

which is future resource flows.

I believe if I'm saying that right.

I don't think I've
actually saying that right.

- [Michelle] Shaping resource flows.

- [Dr. Szczuka] Shaping resource flows.

Yes. So as we really, you know

turn to alternative water
supplies in order to

be able to meet water demands
and reduce water scarcity

we need to make sure that
we can treat that water

and reduce the health
risk associated with it.

And that's where my research fits in.

- [Michelle] So what is the
most significant water related

issue that you see facing society today?

- [Dr. Szczuka] So it all goes
back again to water scarcity,

where we really have a way to
meet water demands by making

more water out of
nontraditional water sources.

So for example, we can treat
waste water to potable water

quality or drinking water quality.

We can desalinate sea water.

We can switch to using
brackish groundwater

as a water source.

However, what we really don't
know is how we can reduce

the health risks
associated with that water

where if you can imagine, for
instance, drinking waste water

might be a little bit more
risky than for instance

drinking surface water out of a river.

So what we really need
to do is understand how

we can treat that water and
whether or not that water is

treated to the point where
there is minimal risk associated

with drinking it.

And also how we convince the
public that this water is clean

and that we are able to drink
it and not get sick from it.

- [Michelle] And specifically,
what role do you see yourself

playing in that process of working

with the public and serving society?

- [Dr. Szczuka] Yeah, so
my lab basically focuses on

water chemistry and
making sure that we remove

contaminants in water,
so both the pathogens,

which cause acute health
risk, so for instance,

diarrheal disease from
different type of bacteria

and viruses.

And the other part of that is
really reducing the chronic

health risk caused by water.

So removing contaminants
such as pharmaceuticals,

pesticides, or anything
that can cause a health risk

to ourselves from a chronic standpoint.

And my lab really focuses
on how we can set up

our treatments so that these
risks are reduced both of them.

So the acute health risks
and the chronic health risks

and also how we can
reduce the overall cost

of treatment so that it is more accessible

to potentially underserved communities.

And in terms of the public
policy aspect of that

I really hope to collaborate
with people that are interested

in that in order to really
be able to bring this

non-traditional water
treatment to the public

and make sure that it is accepted.

- [Michelle] And how did you
become interested in your area

of study? And this is
maybe going back farther

than college at this point.

Where did you have an experience
in your life that directed

you to to go into this area of study?

- [Dr. Szczuka] No. I mean, to some extent

I think a lot of faculty and
students have this, you know

moment where they decide this
is what I wanna do for me.

I pretty much kind of stumbled upon it.

When I was in college, I
ended up doing research

in a geochemistry lab and I
looked at water quality there

and mercury methylation,
how that affects, you know,

the quality of water for in
terms of like fish and you know

how we get exposed to
those type of metals.

And ever since then, I
really wanted to do something

that is even more closer to people, right.

So I've focused on drinking water

and waste water treatment since then.

So that was kind of my, you
know, not necessarily a moment

but my stumbling upon just
trying to make the world

a better place by helping
people with their water.

- [Michelle] And what
classes do you anticipate

teaching initially? And do
you have ideas for additional

or new courses that you would like to add

to the CEE course lineup?

- [Dr. Szczuka] No. So
I'm going to be taking

over C 480 and 580, which
to I guess the listeners

that don't know what
the numbers stand for,

because I also never do.

And it's really funny when
faculty talk to me about, oh

I'm teaching C 592 and I'm
like, what does that mean?

I'm not actually sure.

So that's physical and chemical
water treatment mostly.

So C 480 is the undergrad version of that

and C 580 is the grad version of that.

And I actually plan to really
revamp the undergrad version

of that to focus on water
reuse and water scarcity

and bring in some ideas
from policy in order to make

that class interesting to our students.

- [Michelle] It sounds like
it's a very relevant course

certainly for our time, so.

- [Dr. Szczuka] Indeed, indeed.

I hope so. So please, students enroll.

- [Michelle] (laughs) And how
do you incorporate diversity,

equity, and inclusion into
your research and your studies?

- [Dr. Szczuka] Yeah, no.
So I really love the CEE

department partially
because of the culture of it

and a culture that really
promotes diversity, equity,

inclusion, and is able to
potentially retain students

from underrepresented
backgrounds in the department.

And a lot of this I think came
through from our student body

where over COVID, the student
body really got excited

about promoting diversity,
equity, and inclusion

within the department and
within the departmental culture.

So to that, I really focus on
helping that culture kind of

you know, be more diverse and inclusive.

And I run the mentoring program
within the diversity, equity

and inclusion committee at the department.

So we have a program that's really focused

on mentoring of students
and peer mentoring program

where we try to basically make
students feel more included

in the community as they start
their PhDs, their masters,

and potentially in the future,

their undergraduate education as well.

- [Michelle] What are
some specific activities

that the mentors do with
the students to advance

the DEI initiatives?

- [Dr. Szczuka] No. Yeah.
So in the past year,

we actually had a mentoring
program that was really focused

on peer mentoring group-wise
where we met I think four times

during the academic year and, you know,

played board games together.

The students were able to actually have a,

we had a person come in
from the career center.

I think, what, what is the
name for the career center

at UN like the big name that they have?

I forget, I called them the career center.

So if they ever hear this,
they're gonna be upset

with me probably, but
they spoke about, you know

how to get a nice career
after you graduate

from the UN program
and a career that fits.

But that's what I mean by nice career.

So it was, it was pretty nice and yeah

this was a graduate student
focused and we're hoping

to expand that to our
undergraduates as well.

- [Michelle] That's wonderful.

And especially post COVID,
as students are looking

for more opportunities to
get involved and to just

make connections with other
students, faculty members

just people in general.

I think that's a great,
great timing for that.

- [Dr. Szczuka] No, definitely.

And to speak to COVID a little
bit, I started as a postdoc

here over COVID and I, you know
I realized how bad COVID was

for our student body and
our student community where

students that started over
COVID never got to meet

their peers apart from,
you know, on Zoom videos.

And then now finally
they're getting to meet them

and students that were
already in their degree

some of them finished within COVID times

and never actually got that
graduation, never got, you know

that release of energy and
happiness that comes from that.

So yeah, so having, you know,
more opportunities to interact

on a social level is very
important for our department

and our departmental culture
right now, to keep us going.

- [Michelle] And do you see
any additional ways of doing

that beyond some of the DEI
initiatives that you spoke of?

Anything else?

- [Dr. Szczuka] I mean I think
we're trying our best, right?

It's sort of hard over
the summer right now where

everybody's everywhere to
some extent to get together

and all see each other but
I believe there's tea time

for instance, this week, right.

So we're trying to set up events, I think

as a department that do
bring us a little bit

closer together in person.

So you remember that we're people

and not just, you know,
little Zoom screens.

- [Michelle] I think that's a great idea.

And I look forward to being
a part of, as I would assume,

most members of the CEE
community look forward

to those opportunities coming
up with the new academic year.

And so that'll be a great chance
for people to really get to

connect with one another.

Is there a general message
that you would like to convey

to our U of M CEE audience?

- [Dr. Szczuka] No. I mean,
like I guess a general message

is kind of hard to think of
but you know, we're a community

and we need to maintain our culture

and we're an awesome culture
and an awesome community

that's very open to new
ideas and just continue doing

what we're doing and, you
know, make progress that way.

- [Michelle] Is there
anything you would like to add

that maybe I haven't asked you about

or something that you feel is
an important message to get

across about the classes you'll
be teaching or your focus?

- [Dr. Szczuka] No. I mean,
I feel like we covered a lot

during this podcast, right, I
know it was a little bit fast,

but you know I am starting
a research program

and starting to teach my classes.

So whatever students I end up having

please gimme some
feedback so that, you know

they develop into something
that everybody loves.

(energetic string music returns)

- [Michelle] Thank you for
listening to our podcast

conversation, for more information
about jobs, please visit

the Michigan Engineering
Career Resource Center.

For more information about CEE at Michigan

please visit our website at

cee.umich.edu.

You can also reach our YouTube channel

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and LinkedIn pages from our website.