SRC 2022 Sustainable Future Award

Dr. Selma Mededovic of Clarkson University is SRC’s inaugural winner for the Sustainable Future Award for her SRC Task # 2818.008, “Novel Electrical Discharge Plasma-based Process for the Treatment of Fab Wastewater” (Jan 2019 – Dec 2021). The team “demonstrated viability,” developing an electrical discharge plasma process that is the most effective and efficient technology for the removal of long-chain, short-chain, and even ultra short-chain PFAS from factory wastewater.

According to the Clarkson team, “the close engagement between industry liaisons from TI, IBM, GF, and Intel, was invaluable to the success of the project.” Their team included 2021 Simon Karecki Award winner, Ms. Osakpolo "Faith" Isowamwen. While plasma alone is ineffective in degrading the compounds, Faith discovered their destruction was rapid in the presence of surfactant. Her advisor calls her a “brilliant, independent and hardworking individual but as a researcher who thinks and stays two steps ahead” and “is determined to pursue a career with a strong environmental focus.”