Environmental Simulations Facility

Location: This facility is operated under the supervision of Dr. Guan and is located on the second floor of the Sustainable Education Building (SEB - Room 215), Georgia Institute of Technology. SEB is located on Atlantic Dr., across the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering building, known otherwise as the Mason Building. The space in this laboratory is used to house eight Ph.D. students. In addition to this space, a research engineer and faculty member, affiliated with MESL and the Environmental Engineering program, has office space in the SEB building.

Computational Facilities: Twenty 900MgHz high end IBM/PC compatible workstations and desk top computers. Two UNIX based high end Indigo Impact R10000 SGI workstations. One SGI Origin 2000, R10000 super computer. These networked computational facilities are dedicated to modeling activities of MESL personnel. Other than these equipment, the computational laboratory has several scanners, high end black and white / color printers and digitizers. 

Software:  The MESL productivity software library include most recent versions of GIS ARC/INFO, GIS ARC/VIEW, GISPlus, EVS, ENVI, NAMMU, AUTO CAD, Fortran, C++, Visual C++, Visual J++, Visual Basic compiler software. Simulation software available to MESL researchers include ACTS, SAINTS, SLAM, ULAM, CLAM, RiverNET, PGA, OPTIM/PT, SOURCE, which are all developed by MESL researchers. In addition to these software, MESL researchers have access to numerous multi-pathway simulation software packages such as MODFLOW, MODPATH, SUTRA, CHEMFLO etc., which are in the public domain. MESL is housed in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.

 

 

 

 

Environmental Physico-chemical Process Facility

This facility is operated under the supervision of Dr. Huang and Dr. Kim. It occupies more than 1700 ft2 space in the Environmental Science & Technology building, and is equipped with a range of instruments to support several on-going research projects.

Dr. Huang's environmental chemistry laboratory currently contains a range of instrument and experimental apparatus including an Agilent 1100 high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system with an autosampler, a diode-array UV/Visible detector and a fluorescence detector, an Agilent 6890/5973 gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) system with an autosampler, two injector ports, an electron-captured detector (ECD), a flame ionization detector (FID) and a nitrogen-phosphorus detector (NPD), a Biotek EL-800 microplate reader, and a Hewlett-Packard UV/Visible spectrophotometer. Other equipment includes a solid-phase extraction apparatus, a microbalance, an Eppendorf microcentrifuge, a refrigerator, multiple-stirrers with a bath circulator, a shaker and an incubator. In addition, a high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/UV/MS) system (1100/Series 100 MSD G1946A, Hewlett-Packard) with both electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI) interfaces and a gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry systems (Saturn 2000, Varian) capable of tandem MS capability (GC/MS/MS) at both electron-impact ionization and chemical ionization options are also available for organic analysis. Excellent analytical capability also exists for inorganic analysis. The instruments include an inductively-coupled-plasma trace analyzer, an inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometer (ICP/MS), a graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometer and a flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Several walk-in temperature-controlled rooms at 4 C, 22 C, and 35 C are also available.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Kim's physicochemical process laboratory is currently equipped with a range of instruments and experimental apparatus. Analytical instrumentation includes: an Agilent 1100 high-performance liquid chromatography system with autosampler and a diode array UV/VIS detector, a Dionex DX-600 ion chromatography system with autosampler and electrochemical detector, an Agilent 8453 UV/VIS spectroscopy system, a Brookhaven ZetaPlus zeta potential analyzer, a Brookhaven Laser Light Scattering System (BI-200SM Goniometer and BI-9000 Autocorrelator) equipped with a 488-nm argon laser Model 543 (Omnichrome), Brinkmann 2010 particle size analyzer, Shimadzu UVw TOC analyzer, Hach 2100N Turbidimeter, microbalance, and pH/conductivity/ion analyzer. Other equipment includes: Sterlitech high pressure dead-end filtration unit, an Osmonics high pressure cross-flow filtration setup, jar-tester, Milli-Q water purification system, and temperature controllers.

The Environmental Physico-chemical Process Laboratory is located on the 3rd floor of the ES&T building at Georgia Tech.

Environmental Biotechnology and Molecular Microbial Ecology Facility

This facility is operated under the supervision of Dr. Pavlostathis and Dr. Sobecky and is equipped with a range of instruments to support several on-going research projects:

Dr. Pavlostathis' environmental biotechnology laboratory contains a full range of general equipment, glassware, plasticware, and supplies typically found in an environmental biotechnology laboratory, as well as the following instruments: one purge-and-trap concentrator; five gas chromatography units with electron capture, flame ionization, thermal conductivity, flame photometric, photoionization, and electrolytic conductivity detectors; two high performance liquid chromatographs with continuous UV, diode array, refractive index and fluorescent detectors; one ion chromatograph with conductivity and electrochemical detectors; one total organic carbon analyzer (for liquid and solid samples); one polarographic and anodic stripping voltammeter; one UV-visible/diode array spectrophotometer; one research light microscope (phase-contrast, normal light and epifluorescence); a nitrogen digestion and ammonia distillation unit; and a transducer-based sonolysis unit.

In addition, the Environmental Engineering Laboratory located on the 3rd floor of the ES&T building is equipped with the following instruments: three GC/MS/DS systems; one LC-MS unit; one purge-and-trap concentrator; ten gas chromatography units with electron capture, flame ionization, thermal conductivity, and flame photometric detectors, as well as a reduction gas analyzer; four high performance liquid chromatographs with continuous UV, diode array, refractive index and fluorescent detectors; one micellar capillary electrophoresis unit; two ion chromatographs with conductivity and electrochemical detectors; one total organic carbon analyzer (for liquid samples); one surface area (BET) analyzer; one mercury porosimeter; one total oxygen demand analyzer; flame and flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometers; one inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS); one liquid scintillation counter; specific ion analytical equipment; three UV-visible spectrophotometers; infra-red spectrophotometer; submicron and supramicron particle size analyzers; micro-electrophoretic mobility instruments. Arrangements can also be made with other departments for access to advanced equipment such as high resolution mass spectrometers (e.g., LC-MS-MS), scanning electron microscopes, FTNMR spectrometers, and neutron activation analytical instrumentation.

The environmental biotechnology laboratory is located on the 3rd floor of the ES&T building at Georgia Tech and occupies a floor space of 1,200 sq. ft.

Dr. Sobecky's molecular microbial ecology laboratory is equipped with the standard tools and equipment to conduct molecular microbial ecology studies. These include horizontal and vertical gel rigs and power supplies, electroporator, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) system, hybridization oven and gene probing equipment, DNA thermal cyclers, and a Stratagene gel documentation system. Sequencing facilities are available in the School of Biology Core Sequencing Facility located in the Cherry Emerson building.

The molecular microbial ecology laboratory includes the following equipment: microcentrifuges, incubators, incubator shakers, low and ultra-low refrigerators, UV-VIS spectrophotometer, Beckman and Sorvall high-speed centrifuges, ultra-centrifuge and rotors, Olympus epi-fluorescence microscope with CCD imaging system, water baths, refrigerators, pH Meter and balances. Several Macintosh and PC computers are also available with network capabilities. Equipment available for shared use in the School of Biology includes an Ambis Image Analyzer, x-ray film developer, autoclaves, scintillation counter, Speed Vac concentrator systems and water purification systems. Additional equipment available in the Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering (IBB) located next to the School of Biology include a laser scanning confocal microscope. Shared facilities in the School of Biology and the Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering include a Coy anaerobic chamber, confocal laser and scanning electron microscopy.

Dr. Sobecky's research group is located on the 2nd floor of the ES&T building at Georgia Tech and occupies a floor space of 1,000 sq. ft. In addition, Dr. Sobecky has acquired another 1,000 ft2 in ES&T to establish a "microbial omics" facility, that will be a core facility for real-time PCR, DNA microarray analyses, HPLC and CE systems.