Juan Carlos Morales is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in public health with a major in environmental and occupational health at Florida International University. He expects to graduate in December 2017 and further his education by completing a Ph.D. in the same field. In the summer of 2016, Juan’s professional determination has led to his acceptance into the DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program which is funded through a U.S. Department of Energy cooperative agreement and led by FIU’s Applied Research Center. Through this program, Juan is currently providing support to environmental remediation research being conducted at the Savannah River Site involving the development of flow and contaminant transport models. His current interests lie in extending the work related to this project to examine environmental biomarkers of exposure and effect of radionuclides of concern. This will involve utilization of integrated geographic information systems (GIS) and hydrological modeling tools to determine the fate and transport of contaminants, as well as other environmental characterization techniques.
In addition to the DOE-related research at the Applied Research Center, Juan has also worked as a graduate research assistant to provide support in the remediation and final status work at the FUSRAP Maywood Superfund Site, Operable Unit 1, in Maywood NJ, by converting legacy computer aided designs and drafting (CADD) final status survey (FSS) maps, base mappings, and civil drawings generated for the SLS property to GIS shapefiles using ArcGIS.
Juan is also a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES) chapter at FIU; the Water Environment Federation (WEF); and the Stempel Public Health Association (SPHA).