Dibyendu
Sarkar, director of the new Environmental Geochemistry
Laboratory in the Center
for Water Research
Center for Water Research unveils new Environmental Geochemistry Lab today
(Sept. 27, 2001)--The UTSA Center for Water Research will have a reception from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 28 in Bioscience Building Room 3.03.02 to announce the newly created Environmental Geochemistry Lab (EGL). The lab will help monitor the quality of local water resources. The new state-of-the-art environmental quality research laboratory is the only one of its kind among institutions of higher learning in the San Antonio area. Dibyendu Sarkar, who came to UTSA from the University of Florida, is the director of the new lab.
Allocated $300,000 in the recent legislative session, the Center for Water Research was allotted the funding to establish research, research scholarships and doctoral programs. The EGL is a new project partly benefiting from the state funding.
The EGL will promote research, teaching and outreach activities in environmental quality and remediation, particularly addressing regional and local environmental issues in Texas and the trans-boundary region. The primary emphasis of the lab will be on biogeochemical processes regulating the fate of metals, nutrients and organics in soils, sediment and water.
Since it began last summer, the EGL has become involved in the restoration of Mitchell Lake on the south side of San Antonio. Among various other projects, EGL group members are also researching bioavailability of arsenic in pesticide applied cotton soils in Texas.
Dibyendu Sarkar, EGL director, began at UTSA last October when the College of Sciences offered him a startup grant for development of the EGL. Sarkar was previously at the University of Florida, where he served as a research associate and principal investigator for the Department of Soil and Water Science. Through his research, Sarkar was able to help redefine some state regulations related to soil and water quality issues. A geologist by training, Sarkar earned his Ph.D. in environmental geochemistry from the University of Tennessee.
"Now that we have the equipment, we need to establish new research programs and keep on applying for external funds to recruit graduate students and scientists to support those programs," said Sarkar.
Sarkar says he was intrigued with the prospect of coming to UTSA to help establish a graduate research program in environmental quality in an area that has not had such a facility among its local universities. The nearest water research program is 600 miles away at the University of Texas at El Paso.
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Center for Water Research unveils new Environmental Geochemistry Lab Sept. 28
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