(classical music)

- Hello, and thank you for
tuning in to Connections

and Directions, our
University of Michigan's Civil

and Environmental Engineering podcast.

My name is Michelle
Sanhelian and I am the CEE

Marketing Communications
specialist and host

of this series.

During our podcast, we
are featuring members

of our C E E 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.

Today we are joined by Diana Kitt.

She is an environmental
engineering PhD student

in her fourth year who is
studying resource recovery

from waste and wastewater.

Diana's advisor is Professor Lut Raskin,

and I would like to welcome you Diana,

to our podcast today.

- Thank you for having me.

- How do you and other students

in general see yourself participating

in CEEs Strategic directions?

- Yeah, so personally
I think I participate

in the strategic directions
through my research.

So I work in the area of
shaping resource flows

and specifically in our lab
and through the work that I do

I use anuric bio technologies
to treat organic waste

and wastewater streams.

And our goal is to recover
valuable bioproducts.

So specifically we're interested

in recovering carboxylic acids

which have uses in a wide
variety of industries.

And currently we're

we primarily produce
these carboxylic acids

through unsustainable precursors

like palm kernel oil and coconut oil.

But through our work, we're interested

in using these organic waste

and wastewater streams
to produce these products

in a more sustainable manner.

So yeah.

- And how did you first
become interested in this?

- Yeah, so I've been interested in broadly

in resource recovery.

For a while before coming to
Michigan, I was a master's

student at the University of Illinois.

And in that position I
looked at resource recovery

specifically looking at nutrient recovery.

But when I came to Michigan,
I became interested

in carboxylic acid
recovery through my advisor

and she had a really
in-depth research program

in this area already.

So I sort of became
interested in it through that.

And I was also interested
in, you know, further

applying the techniques

and skill sets that I already had towards

this research area.

- Would you like to
explain a particular piece

of research that you've done more recently

with Professor Raskin?

- Yeah, so broadly, as
I said, we're interested

in carboxylic acid recovery,
but lately I've been focusing

on identifying different
organic waste streams

that we can utilize to recover
these valuable products.

And one waste stream that I've
been particularly interested

in was acid way.

And acid way itself is a product

from the dairy industry,
and it's produced through

it's produced when we make products

like Greek yogurt, cream
cheese, things of that nature.

So it's produced in large quantities

and currently acid way
is either land applied

or it's sent to a
wastewater treatment plant.

So we need technologies that create

and gather more valuable
resources from acid way.

And so in my research

I was basically
characterizing the acid way

in understanding how we can utilize it to

recover these medium
chain carboxylic acids.

And I did this in multiple ways.

We were looking at the
production of our product, MCCAs

and I also did some interesting work

characterizing the microbial community.

So yeah, that was really interesting

and we sort of approached it from

both the microbial community
dynamics as well as

being able to produce an
interesting and valuable product.

- And what is the ultimate end goal

of that product then moving forward?

- Yeah, so these medium chain
carboxylic acids are used

in a wide variety of industries

but they can directly be used
as animal feed additives.

And they can also be further
processed for a wide variety

of uses like liquid
biofuels, it's lubricants, so

and also it's pharmaceuticals.

So they're used across a
wide variety of industries.

Most of the products that we use

in day-to-day life require
these carboxylic acids.

So they're really valuable
and definitely needed.

- Is there any other research
that you would care to talk

about more in depth?

- Yeah, so in addition to
that, I'm currently working

on a project developing
a bioreactor system to

produce these MCCAs.

And through my previous research

we identified waste streams
that we wanted to work with.

But now I'm focusing on, okay, once we

understand what we can use
to produce our goal product

how are we actually going to do that?

So I'm actually building

upon work that we've previously done

in our lab using these
novel bioreactors that we

call anaerobic dynamic
membrane bioreactors

where we combine both suspended growth

and biofilm growth to improve
our product production.

So right now I'm focusing

on building a system
where we're able to feed

in the waste stream

and then produce these products
that we're interested in

continuously.

- And then what would you do

with those products
once they're manifested?

- Yeah, so once we produce
them in the reactor

we send them to a
downstream processing unit.

And in this downstream processing unit

you basically purify them

and we select for a specific chemical.

So when we're producing
these carboxylic acids

we produce them

of different sizes or
different chain lengths.

So we use these downstream
processing units to select

for specific chemicals
within that broad category.

And then after that you can
utilize them for other products

like lubricants, biofuels,
things like that.

- And where do you see
yourself taking this research

after graduating from Michigan?

- Yeah, so I plan to continue
research in this area.

I'm really interested in it

and I hope to do that through
either a faculty position

or research in industry
or at a consulting firm.

So I'm really interested

in further developing this technology

from what we currently have,
which is primarily lab scale

and smaller scale systems up
to full scale technologies.

- And how does CEE'S mission

of engineers in service to
society resonate with you?

- Yeah, so I think that
mission really resonates

with me because it's
sort of the motivation

behind why I became interested
in environmental engineering.

So I grew up in Maryland
near the Chesapeake Bay

and throughout my K through 12 education

I was bombarded and I constantly learned

about the negative impact that society had

on the bay and the impacts of pollution.

So I became really interested
in environmental engineering

as a way to combat those issues

and sort of create a more
harmonious distribution

or interaction between
society and our environment.

So the idea that engineers are motivation

behind the work that we do is to protect

and improve society.

That mission is sort of what
has always resonated with me.

- And how do you see DEI
incorporated in our department?

Not specific necessarily to a class

or a specific research area?

- Yeah, I think DEI is really integrated

into our department at all levels.

And I think primarily what
makes the biggest impact

is sort of the impact on community.

And I think we are aiming
to improve the community

and culture within our
department specifically

like through faculty members
offering mentoring programs

and things like that.

But also just within like
peer-to-peer relationships

we really aim to build
a strong community where

we understand each other's backgrounds

and what motivates us.

And we use that to sort
of support each other

as we're training and trying
to become better engineers.

- And why did you choose UMich, CEE?

What would you say

to prospective students who
are considering applying here?

- Yeah, I was really motivated
to join our department based

on the faculty and students that I met.

So the faculty are really inspiring

and they are so passionate about

the research that they do,
and you can really feel how

that trickles down to
the students as well.

And then additionally

just the student body
itself is very supportive.

I think that can be
difficult to find, but I

we definitely have that community here

and I think it really helps
our students be successful.

And I think beyond that,
students who are interested

in applying, you know, I was
really drawn to our department

but I think Michigan as a whole has a lot

of resources that help
and support students.

Particularly for me, I know

that I've been connected with a lot

of interdisciplinary
programs that have sort

of expanded my research interest

and allowed me to develop more
innovative research questions

and really improved my research overall.

So look into our department,
but also, you know

think about the benefits
of Michigan as a whole.

- Would you like to talk
a little bit about one

of those interdisciplinary
experiences that you had?

- Sure, so I'm pretty involved with ITEMS

which is the interdisciplinary
program training

in microbial sciences.

So ITEMS itself spans
a number of departments

so civil and environmental
engineering being one of them

but also departments in
Epidemiology and health sciences.

And through this program,
they sort of train us to think

about our research questions
in three different areas.

The first being population
sciences, then modeling sciences

and also laboratory sciences.

And through that program
I was sort of able to

address my research questions

and my research goals through
those three different avenues.

But also just the program
itself connects students

from different departments.

So it's sort of just widens

into your network and gives
you a broader support system.

That's been really helpful for me.

- And if you had one Pearl

of wisdom to offer to
either an undergrad student

or someone who's a prospective
student for grad level

at CEE, what would you
like to share with them?

- I think my one piece

of advice would be to think
about the bigger picture

in all of the work that you're doing.

So that can be in
relation to your research.

You know, I think in the day-to-day

we as graduate students, we
get into the nitty gritty

of our work, and sometimes
you can lose focus

on the big picture and sort
of why we do what we do.

So keeping that in mind
I think will motivate you

through some of the harder times.

And also with keeping your
eye on the big picture

that sort of also goes
beyond just your research

but thinking about building connections

with other faculty and other students

because it's very supportive
in your day-to-day work

and then also in your future
career after Michigan.

- And what is your ultimate
goal in your future career?

Do you have a specific job title in mind?

- Yeah, I think right
now I'm really interested

in becoming a faculty member.

As I said, I'm really
passionate about the research

that we do, and I want to
be able to keep doing it.

And I think what's also
attractive about faculty positions

is that even beyond the research
topics that we're looking

at, we're able to connect
with and mentor students

that are going to, you know,
answer questions and look

at research topics beyond what
I can even imagine right now.

So the potential impact

through that career is
really attractive to me.

- So in a sense, becoming an engineer

in service to society and
paying it forward then.

- Exactly, yeah.

- Is there anything
else you'd like to add?

- I don't think so.

I think we covered it all.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(classical music)

- Thank you for listening
to our podcast conversation.

For more information about CEE at Michigan

please visit our website at cee.umich.edu.

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