Valentina Padilla (Environmental Engineering)

Valentina Padilla (Environmental Engineering)

About DOE Fellow

Valentina Padilla obtained her bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering in the spring 2013 with a GPA of 3.77; making her a magna cum laude recipient, and the highest GPA of her class. She was chosen as the recipient of the outstanding graduate award in environmental engineering for the spring 2013 graduating class and is currently pursuing her master’s in environmental engineering. During her undergrad career, she was nominated and inducted to Tau Chi Alpha – National Environmental Engineering Honorary, and Golden Key Honor Society – which recognizes only the top 15% of students of all disciplines at the University.

Currently, Valentina works at the Applied Research center (ARC) as a DOE Fellow in the DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program. She has worked on several projects that focus on the remediation efforts of the groundwater at national sites such as Hanford Site in Washington State and Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. Her currently project aims to replicate the technology implemented at SRS by performing a microcosm experiment which will help in the analysis of mineralogical changes occurring in the soil after the addition of molasses.