My master’s, doctorate degree and Postdoc were focused on environmental sciences, specifically in the treatment of organic waste streams and wastewater with high organic load at a municipal level. For my masters I addressed the use of compost leachate as a powerful inoculum for industrial anaerobic digesters, for my PhD I designed and operated a batch scale, stainless steel, thermophilic anaerobic digester successfully (Article detailed) and finally my postdoc project was focused of pyrolysis as a viable method for municipal green waste management that could use its byproducts to amend soil quality in rural areas.
In par with academia I also dedicated a fair amount of time in the private sector. In recent years I worked in the maintenance, management and operation of a wastewater treatment plant that treats six liters per second. It works with activated sludge and forced aeration. This work included sludge and wastewater periodic analysis for regulatory compliance and management, maintenance of all parts involved in the operation from diffuser plates to submersible pumps to chlorine hypochlorite dosification, quality (odor and color), usage and management. All while being on a budget.
I’m currently working for Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, under Arizona water for all as part of the engineering team in “Goal 2” addressing modular, adaptive and deployable solutions for water insecure communities primarily those denominated as Colonias in rural Arizona. I support this project with my experience of working for at least 18 years with many kinds of pumps, pipping, flowcharts, maintenance, and filtration systems, also as a Mexican, I have a fluent native and professional level of Spanish. The Lagoon county, where I am from, has always struggle with water scarcity and bad water quality, so I’ve always been around water treatment and management projects, from the unsustainable to those that offer real solutions.
