ABOUT US
Principal Investigators
Dr. Walter Den
Walter joined Texas A&M University-San Antonio in 2018 as the founding professor of the Water Resources Science and Technology program (WATR). Asides from launching the WATR program that offers two bachelor's and a master's degrees, he also established the Water Resources Lab for both research and teaching. His journey to Texas includes stops in California where he spent most of his school years, and Taiwan where he was a faculty with Tunghai University for many years before transitioning back to the U.S. His research interests are wide-ranged and his philosophy of R&D in water technology is to always prioritize problem identification and the impact of technology. He likes to consider himself a team builder and a leader by example.
Additional information about Walter: Faculty, LinkedIn, Google Scholar
Dr. Pride Abongwa
Pride is an Assistant Professor specializing in hydrogeochemistry. He leads projects relating to the chemistry occurring in streams, rivers, and lakes in the San Antonio Water Basin and their interactions with the Edwards Aquifer. He also uses stable isotopes to find "fingerprints" of chemicals to trace the potential source of contamination.
Additional information about Pride: Faculty
Dr. Shray Saxena - Research Fellow
Shray is a deep thinker. He leads projects relating to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), a critical component of the White House Action Plan on Global Water Security recently released Meticulous and thorough, Shray's work leads to several international collaborations and networks.
Current Members
Kimia Ahmadiyeh - M.S. Thesis student
Kimia earned a bachelor degree in Food Science and Technology in 2020, and then attended Texas A&M-SA University in 2023 to be more knowledgeable about Water Science and Technology. She is a graduate student and works at school as a research assistant in both water and microbiology laboratory.
Additional information about Kimia here
Pablo Vicaria - M.S. Thesis student - Synthetic Produced Water Treatment by Directional Solvent Extraction in a Continuous System
Pablo has a B.S. in chemical engineering and joined the Water Lab in 2022. He completed his internship with Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) and now with CPS Energy.
More about Pablo here
Kevin Wear - M.S. non-thesis student
Kevin graduated from the Water Resources program at A&M-San Antonio in December 2023 and continued with the program to pursue a graduate degree. He is a proud Purple Heart veteran. He is interested in the possibility of generating energy from hypersaline produced water. He maintains a LinkedIn group Water Resources Science and Technology.
More about Kevin here
Elora Afrin - M.S. Non-Thesis student: Techno-Econo-Environmental Evaluation of Produced Water Treatment for Beneficial Reuse.
Benny Otabil - M.S. Thesis student
Mir Akib Jawed - M.S. Thesis student
Akib has a degree in Geological & Earth Science from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh. He joined the Water Lab in January 2024.
Onyikechi Ofojioha - M.S. Thesis student
Onyi joined the Water Lab in January 2024.
Past Members
Austin McBrady - M.S. Thesis: Targeting Macrophytes: Increased Water Quality Through Optimized Vegetation Considerations for Constructed Wetlands.
John D. Hamilton - M.S. Non-Thesis: Trashed: A Review of Anthropogenic Litter in an Urban Watershed.
Julie Ybarra - M.S. Non-Thesis: Risk Assessment of Urban Development in the Recharge Zone of the Karstic Edwards Aquifer: A Literature Survey and Analysis.
Destiny Guerra - Undergraduate Research Student: Green Spaces in Urban Development: Impacts on Biogeochemical Composition by Soil Microbial Activity.
Anna Flores, M.S. 2022 (Co-advised with Dr. Joseph Simpson) - Thesis "Rivers As International Borders: A Comparison of How Social-Political Factors Have Impacted Natural Resources in the Usumacinta River Basin and Rio Grande River Basin Within the Context of Climate Change"
Julie Scott, M.S. 2022 (Co-advised with Dr. Davida Smyth) - Research Project "Aflatoxin in Dairy Cattle Water Troughs"
Jillin Sotomayer, M.S. 2022 - Thesis "Dynamics of Chemical and Microbial Formation in Pipes Circulated with Natural Water"
Sean Thimons, M.S. 2021 - Thesis "Treatment of Produced Water Using Ferrate (VI) and Directional Solvent Extraction"
Sean also did this work "Defluorination of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) by UV-Fenton Process"
Ramiro Nava, M.S. 2021 - "PFOA-Loaded Granular Activated Carbon" (Despite his choice not to use it as a thesis topic, Ramiro assisted in conducting membrane moisture transfer tests that set the baseline for model simulation)
Samantha Gonzales & Karla Tapia, B.S. in Biology 2020. Samantha and Karla were both instrumental in performing field sampling and analysis for the study of the San Antonio River and Haggard Ranch ponded water.