National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences highlight Professor Upal Ghosh’s work cleaning contaminated waterways

By: Catherine Meyers | Published: Feb 23, 2024 | UMBC NEWS

The positive environmental and health impacts of work led by Upal Ghosh, professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at UMBC, was recently highlighted by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The agency showcased a low-cost technology that Ghosh and his colleagues developed to clean waterways contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of likely carcinogenic chemicals that were used in insulation, coolants, and electrical equipment for decades before being banned in the U.S. in 1979. 

The chemicals are stable and persist in the environment, often accumulating in fish that live in contaminated waterways and posing a risk to humans who consume those fish. NIEHS funded Ghosh’s research into using activated carbon pellets to bind the chemicals in place at the bottom of the waterways. This prevents the PCBs from circulating through the aquatic food chain. In projects carried out in contaminated lakes, rivers, and harbors in Delaware, Maryland, and elsewhere, Ghosh’s team demonstrated that the technique could significantly reduce the concentration of PCBs in the water and in aquatic lifeforms. Importantly, the technique is also significantly cheaper than standard clean-up approaches, such as dredging and disposing of contaminated sediment. 

In related work performed with Kevin Sowers, from the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, Ghosh’s team also developed a way to combine the activated carbon with microbes that break down PCBs, reducing their toxicity.

With NIEHS support, Ghosh has co-founded two companies—Sediment Solutions and RemBac—to commercialize the technology and deploy it at full-scale to clean up contaminated sites across the country, such as at Mirror Lake in Delaware.

“The technology brings together innovations in material science and biology,” says Ghosh. It’s an honor, he says, that the NIEHS, the leading agency in the country that funds research on public health and the environment, recognized “the real impact our research is having on improving public health.”

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UMBC is excited to announce Candice Hill as the new head coach for UMBC women’s basketball team. Hill is the 11th coach in the history of the program. 

Hill returns to her home city of Baltimore after spending the last three seasons as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at perennial Big East contender St. John’s University in New York. 

“We are delighted to bring Candice to UMBC to lead our women’s basketball program,” said UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby. “Her approach to leadership, her coaching philosophy, and her values will help ensure the success of and support for our student-athletes, both on and off the court.”

Hill joined St. John’s as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in April of 2021. She was elevated to associate head coach following the 2021-22 campaign and previously served in various roles at her alma mater, Loyola University Maryland, the University of Massachusetts (UMass), and Wilmington University in Delaware. 

“I want to thank President Sheares Ashby and the entire athletics administration for believing in me and granting me the opportunity to be the leader of the UMBC women’s basketball program,” says Hill. “As a Baltimore native, UMBC has been a part of my journey and has always held a special place in my heart. The moment I stepped foot on campus I knew this is where I needed and wanted to be.”

Following the 2019-2020 season at UMass, Hill earned the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s prestigious Thirty Under 30 Award, an honor that recognizes up-and-coming coaches at all levels of women’s basketball.

“Candice is a fantastic addition to the Retriever family,” said Whitney Ames, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator. “Throughout the hiring process, Candice clearly communicated her passion for creating a student-athlete experience that encompasses athletic and academic success at the highest level. We’re excited to welcome her to campus and participate in her continued development of our women’s basketball program.”

Story by UMBC Athletics.

Students of all majors are invited to attend the second annual Pre-Law Networking Social!   

Current undergraduate students and recent graduates will have the opportunity to connect with UMBC alumni in law school and the legal profession in an informal setting.  

Date:  Thursday April 25, 2024 

Time:  5:30 PM-7:00 PM

Location:  The Commons, Lower Flat Tuesdays

Click here to RSVP!

Kindly RSVP by Monday, April 22

Appetizers, iced tea, coffee, and hot tea will be served.  

Hosted by: Alumni Engagement and Pre-Law Advising