Charles Castello (Computer Engineering)

Charles Castello (Computer Engineering) About DOE Fellow Charles Castello received his B.S. and Master’s degrees in Computer Engineering from Florida International University (FIU) in the Spring of 2007 and 2009 respectively. Currently, Charles is pursuing a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from FIU and is expected to graduate by Spring 2011. His research interests include environmental monitoring using wireless sensor networks, in-situ instrumentation for measuring the concentration of methyl-mercury, optimal sensor placement, and smart homes. He is a student member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Delta Epsilon Iota Honor Society (DEI), Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society (HKN), Golden Key International Honor Society, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society (UPE). Charles Castillo is now working for PAE.

DOE Related Projects
Charles’ current project deals with the development of a methyl-mercury analyzer using chemical separation techniques and commercially available sensors. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)s will be used to control the various sub-systems of the instrument. Current activities of the project include determining needed materials and equipment and experimental setup and plans.

An internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) during Summer 2009 has also been completed by Charles in the Nuclear Science and Technology Division (NSTD), Process Engineering Research Group. The internship project deals with the remediation of mercury from Building 4501, Sump I using Dow’s experimental XUS-43604.00 ion-exchange resin. Performed work includes characterization of the resin (column and batch tests) and cost analysis of spent resin disposal.

Charles has also researched the use of sensor networks at Oak Ridge Reservation creek beds to collect chemical parameters such as Hg²⁺, temperature, pH, oxidation reduction potential, sulfate, dissolved oxygen, sulfide, salinity, and selenium in order to determine the likelihood of mercury methylation and de-methylation, which produces methyl-mercury.