UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Six new Penn State faculty members have joined the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE). The researchers represent four Penn State colleges: the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; the College of Engineering; the College of Health and Human Development; and the College of Medicine.
The researchers in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences are Ida Djenontin, Nutifafa Yao Doumon and Stephanie Law. The researcher in the College of Engineering is Roberto Fernández. The researcher in the College of Health and Human Development is Audrie Lin. The researcher in the College of Medicine is Zachary Bitzer.
“IEE is committed to finding solutions for the world’s complex energy and environmental challenges, and these new co-funded faculty members will help to strengthen collaborative research at Penn State in strategically targeted areas related to IEE’s themes on climate, water, energy, health and the built environment,” said Bruce Logan, director of IEE. “These are brilliant researchers who stand out even amongst the best of their peers, and we are pleased that they have chosen to come to Penn State to join our highly interdisciplinary research community.”
Zachary Bitzer
Bitzer is a researcher in the College of Medicine. His planned date to join the Institutes of Energy and the Environment is April 2023. His primary research interest is in environmental toxicology, including how toxins are produced, how they interact with human bodies, and novel biomarkers that could be developed to determine exposure levels.
“My current focus is on the production, detection and impact of free radicals and oxidants produced by electronic cigarettes and tobacco products,” he said. “Understanding how certain chemicals are produced and interact with our bodies is crucial to developing strategies to prevent or mitigate exposure in order to protect public health. A critical part of this is the development of biomarkers of exposure that can be used to understand toxicant dose.”
Ida Djenontin
Djenontin is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography. Her research interests center on the human dimensions of interlinked environmental and climate change issues affecting forest-agricultural systems.
“I question how to balance biodiversity, mitigation and other ecological needs with natural resource-based livelihoods, food security and development goals,” Djenontin said. “I take my inspirations from my early upbringing, during which I developed compassion to the smallholder farmers of the rural communities across different African geographies that I had travelled through. I have been exposed to the struggles over contested socio-environmental problems and this has sparked my curiosity for adequate ways to addressing them more sustainably and inclusively.”
Nutifafa Yao Doumon
Doumon is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He also is the Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellow in Materials Science and Engineering. His research interests include new-generation optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices (organic and hybrid semiconductor devices) and flexible electronics. The inspiration for his research stems from a burning desire to understand energy systems and the disparity in global energy demand and supply.
“This desire only gets strengthened by day through my experience of energy crisis in most countries I have lived: Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Canada and now the U.S.,” Doumon said. “The topics of energy transition and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals are integral to my constant push to better understanding these energy systems.”
Stephanie Law
Law is an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Her research group synthesizes thin films and heterostructures using molecular beam epitaxy for energy applications. The team’s efforts center around photonic materials and metamaterials spanning the electromagnetic spectrum from the visible through the terahertz range. These materials have applications in solar cells, efficient lighting, waste heat recovery, photocatalysis and more.
“Infrared light can be used to see through smoke and fog, monitor air quality and screen pharmaceutical compounds. Waste heat recovery and thermophotovoltaics also use the infrared portion of the spectrum. Terahertz light has similar applications, and it can be used for nondestructive and nonionizing imaging. By using a greater fraction of the spectrum, we can make our world safer and more efficient,” Law said. “I find this challenge interesting because it requires advances in materials science, physics and electrical engineering and has applications in energy, environment and health.”
Roberto Fernández
Fernández is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research involves ways in which flowing water interacts with the built environment and shapes the landscapes through erosive processes.
“Erosion is nature's most successful artist, and I try to understand these processes by measuring them in the lab and in the field,” Fernández said. “I am also interested in measurement techniques and the ways in which we can harness technology to provide context-appropriate solutions to communities across the world. In particular, I want to understand how thawing landscapes in cold regions will lead to changing landscapes, affecting sediment budgets, communities and the ecosystems they rely on, as well as infrastructure.”
Audrie Lin
Lin is an assistant professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health. Her research focuses on the role of the exposome — or the measure of all the exposures of an individual in a lifetime and how those exposures relate to health — in the biological embedding of childhood adversity. Her research interests include early childhood nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene interventions and environmental enteric dysfunction. To understand biological pathways leading to healthy trajectories across the life course, she conducts large-scale randomized controlled trials of early childhood interventions.
“I was drawn to research poor water, sanitation, hygiene and malnutrition issues and their biological underpinnings because they are the product of global neglect and primarily affect vulnerable populations living in low-resource settings,” Lin said. “My goal is to generate multi-disciplinary research evidence to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes in these populations. I am passionate about mentoring students and postdocs and building the capacity of local scientists to conduct global health research.”
The Institutes of Energy and the Environment is one of seven interdisciplinary institutes at Penn State. Its mission is to connect and support interdisciplinary teams of researchers who are solving some of the world’s most difficult energy and environmental challenges.