Joana Sipe's research focuses on the release and breakdown of emerging contaminants from materials (i.e. microplastics) to create a more sustainable future through lifecycle analysis focusing on environmental and public health.
Most recently during her Postdoctoral Environmental Engineer, she worked at Duke University working with CEFIC Partners including BASF and the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology on fragmentation and leaching microplastic models. This work is currently being used in UN Plastic Treaty, EU regulations, and industry partner consultation on future material breakdown. She also held a role as director of the National Science Foundation INFRAMES collaborative network from 2021-2023.
She received her doctorate in May 2022 with focus was on the critical environmental issue of microplastic degradation in the environment and was a NSF- Graduate Research Fellowship Winner and Duke Bass Instructor of Record Fellowship award recipient. She won the Senol-Utku award for best paper in the Duke CEE Department. During this time working with Dr. Mark Wiesner and the team she was able to collaborate with CPSC, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and NIST, to pioneer methods to study polymer breakdown using innovative abrasion machine technology.
In terms of service to the community, she was also a member of the national board for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and past advisor in Latinx outreach at Duke University and the Durham, NC area from 2017-2022.