2025 CONFERENCE PROGRAM & POSTER SESSION

Friday, November 7, 2025
8:00 AM – 10:30 AM: Welcome, Registration and Plenaries
Welcome Conference Organizers
8:30-9:15
 Plenary I: Dr. Qilin Li, Co-Director, NEWT Center, Rice University
From Nanoparticles to Functional Materials: Rational Design of Nanocomposite Membranes for Next Generation Water Treatment Technologies
9:15-10:00 Plenary II: Emerging Investigator Awardee
10:00-10:30 AM Break
10:30-12:30 PM: Concurrent Sessions
1A NEWT 1

Chairs: François Perreault, Sergi Garcia-Segura, Qilin Li, Yiming Liu

10:30-10:50 Paul Westerhoff Evolution of nano-safety within NEWT: Overview & what happens when nano escapes to the aquatic ecosystem
10:50-11:10 Yiming Liu Rationally Designed Nanoporous Organophosphorus-Ligand-Modified Metal-Organic Frameworks for Recovery of Magnet-Relevant Rare Earth Elements
11:10-11:30 Anjali Mulchandani Atmospheric water harvesting: technology innovation and advancement during NEWT and beyond
11:30-11:50 Lynn Carroll A NEWT inspired solar water treatment journey
11:50-12:10 Wen Ma Assessing Willingness to Pay for Solar Desalination Technologies as a Climate Change Adaptation: A Socioeconomic Study
12:10-12:30 Alessandro Alabastri Water Desalination for Electrical Engineers: From Computational Nanophotonics to Resonant Solar Thermal Systems
1B Sources, fate, and effects of nano/microplastics 1
Chairs: Adeyemi S. Adeleye, Yiming Su, and Boya Xiong
10:30-11:10 Boya Xiong Novel Release Mechanism of Microplastics and Nanoplastics by Environmentally Relevant Sand Abrasion
11:10-11:30 Kushani Mendis Molecular-level understanding of the interactions between model nanoplastics and phospholipid vesicles (liposomes)
11:30-11:50 Prasanth Babu Ramesh Differential early colonization of Marinobacter adhaerens HP15 on weathered plastics
11:50-12:10 Nurshinta Berry, Thomas Andrews Acetaminophen adsorption to plastics as influenced by biofilm growth in freshwater environments: A first step towards understanding microplastic behavior
12:10-12:30 Tonoy K Das From Farm to Fork: Quantifying Microplastics Contamination in Fresh Produce
1C NanoBioeconomy: Agriculture, Energy, Food, and the Allied 1
Chairs: Christian Dimkpa and Mariya Khodakovskaya
10:30-10:50 David Britt Natural and synthetic nanocarriers: Applications in antioxidant delivery
10:50-11:10 Raja Muthuramalingam Lignin-Derived Carbon Dots from Leaf Waste as Sustainable Plant Sunscreens and UV-Protective Foliar Coatings
11:10-11:30 Lok R. Pokhrel Bee-touch responsive targeted miticides delivery system and novel nano-miticide for effective management of honeybee colonies
11:30-11:50 Illya Medina Velo Effect of Mn, Zn, and Si-based nano and bulk materials on the agronomical and macronutrient profiles of bean plants grown under salt stress
11:50-12:10 Dr. Milica Pavlicevic ‘‘Green solution to root-knot nematode problem’’
12:30 PM to 2 PM Networking Lunch
2:00-4:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
2A NEWT 2
Chairs: François Perreault, Sergi Garcia-Segura, Qilin Li, Yiming Liu
2:00-2:20 Ines Zucker A Roadmap to Nano-Enabled Water Treatment: From 2D Materials to Nanobubbles
2:20-2:40 Andrea Nataly Arias Sanchez Nanobubble-Assisted Electrochemical H2O2 Production: An Innovative Strategy for Efficient and Sustainable Chemical Synthesis
2:40-3:00 Dino Villagran Mechanistic Insights into PFAS Reductive Chemistry: From Electrochemical Pathways to Nano-Enabled Sensing Platforms
3:00-3:20 Jan Max Arana Juve Closing the PFAS cycle: Regeneration and novel defluorination strategy for PFAS adsorbents
3:20-3:40 Eva Deemer From Lab to Utility: Translating Nanotechnology-Enabled Membranes into Sustainable Water Solutions
3:40-4:00 Sujitkumar Bontapalle Highly charged polymers for resource recovery from wastewater
2B NanoPolymers
Chairs: Wenjie Xia, Zhaoxu Meng
2:00-2:40 Maryia Khodakovskaya Sustainable Nanocarriers from Plants for Genetic Delivery to Plant Cells
2:40-3:00 Bakhtiyor Rasulev Application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Nanomaterials and Polymeric Materials Research
3:00-3:20 Zhaoxu Meng Revealing the Plasticization Effect of PHBV on Chitosan in Polymer Blends via Atomistic Simulations
3:20-3:40 Gaddi Eshun Poly (Amic) Acid Copper Nanocubes as Biocide for Staphylococcus epidermidis
3:40-4:00 Wenjie Xia Modeling Guided Materials by Design for Functional Nano-Polymers
2C AI and Machine Learning in Nanotechnology: Enabling Smarter Solutions for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Challenges
Chairs: Dr. Nirupam Aich, Dr. Huiyuan Guo
2:00-2:20 Rama Vasudevan Autonomous synthesis and characterization of nano materials: new approaches to optimize and unearth structure-property-processing correlations
2:20-2:40 Tiezheng Tong The applications of machine learning to selective separation for water purification using membranes with subnanometre pores
2:40-3:00 Indranil Chowdhury Environmental Applicability of Graphene Oxide- Molybdenum Disulfide Nanocomposite Membranes for Industrial Wastewater Reuse
3:00-3:20 Sara E. Mason Machine Learning–Guided Insights into Composition-Dependent Degradation of Nanostructured Energy Materials
3:20-3:40 Vladimir Lobaskin Rational Design of Drug Nanocarriers Using Materials Informatics and Multiscale Materials Modelling
3:40-4:00 Rashedul Alam Adnan Machine Learning–Assisted SERS Nanoprobes for Single-Droplet pH Mapping of Atmospheric Aerosols
4:00-4:30 PM Break
4:30-6:00 PM Poster Session
Chairs: Cyren Rico, Anuja Tripathi
  1. Sanket Mhaskar: Machine Learning-Based Prediction of AsO₃³⁻ and AsO₄³⁻ Removal Efficiency by Functionalized Cellulosic Nanomaterials
  2. Han Fu: Sustainable Photocatalyst–Enabled Optical Fiber Reactor for Scalable, Energy-Efficient
  3. Zahra Zare: Hydrogen Peroxide Production Novel Regenerative Ni-Perovskite/CaO Systems on Monoliths for Durable CO₂ Capture and Conversion
  4. Sree Lekshmi Kishore Kumar: Carbon-Based Nanomaterials Modulate Plant Gravity Response to Aid Sustainable Space Food Cultivation
  5. Shabnam Manafzadeh: Enhancement of Photosynthesis and High-Light Stress Tolerance in Tomato Plants by Green-Synthesized Selenium Nanoparticles
  6. Noel Womack: Optimization of Poroelastic Sustainable Carboxylated Cellulose Nanofiber Hydrogels, via Novel Ice Crystal Templating with gelatin, for Alternative Plant Growth Media
  7. Abigail Fick: Characterization of surface-loaded coumarin-6 PLGA nanoparticles in simulated intestinal fluid via dynamic light scattering and zeta potential.
  8. Shwetha Jayakumar: Drug Release and Transfer from Polymeric Nanocarriers in Simulated Intestinal Environments
  9. Chukwudi S. Ubah: Nanomedicine for effective management of dental infections
  10. Mahdi Rezaei: Likely Pressure-Driven Mechanisms in Nitro-Oxidation Process to Produce Carboxylated Nanocellulose
  11.  Ayhan Yurtsever: Probing Submolecular Structures by 3D-AFM: Applications in Polysaccharide Nanocrystals and Peptide Assemblies
  12. Nagy N. Mohammed: Enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency of g-C3N4 by sonochemical dispersion of CdSe quantum dots for degradation of industrial organic pollutants under commercial light source
  13. Zenebu Abera Derbew: Redox-Active rGO-nZVI-AgNP Nanocatalyst for Enhanced Degradation of PFAS
  14. Abhijith Rangavajjula: Nanostructured Ceria Barrier Coatings for Hydrogen Permeation Resistance in Industrial Stainless Steels.
  15. Nabiha Mahdiyat: Enhancing Pavement Performance: A Review of Organosilane Nanotechnology and Emerging Engineering Solutions
  16. Seonghun Kim: Microplastic pollution in highland agricultural watersheds in Gangwon, Korea
  17. Victoria M. Glover: Degradation of Polyester and Nylon Fabrics in Different Soils from Geneva, New York
  18. Alex T Zhang: Leaching of Microplastics from K-Cup Single-Use Coffee/Tea Pods
  19. Sungmin Youn: Advancing Surface Characterization of Tire Wear Particles through Zeta Potential and BET Surface Area Measurements
  20. Jan Max Arana Juve: Closing the PFAS cycle: Regeneration and novel defluorination strategy for PFAS adsorbents
  21. Diego Puerto-Diaz: Hydrogen Evolution Reaction as an Environmentally Friendly Redox Probe to detect GenX via MIP modification
  22. Joshua Quinn: Relative Roles of Organic Matter and Nanomaterials in UV-Driven Reactive Species Production and Pollutant Degradation in Surface Waters
  23. Kenneth Mensah: Stability of nanobubbles at near-space stratospheric conditions: Advancing life support systems in space exploration
  24. Simone Baldwin:  Nanoparticles in the urban wildfire burned environment SNO topic: Safety and Sustainability of Nano-Based Applications
  25. Xintong Weng: MoS2 - Mediated Sequential Urea Capture and Catalytic Creatinine Degradation in Complex Urine Matrices
  26. Keyla Paola Carranza-Almanza: Photoelectrocatalytic degradation of azo-dyes on 3D electrodes doped with sargassum carbon quantum dots and nano-TiO2
  27. Keyla Paola Carranza-Almanza: Addition of carbon quantum dots from organic waste in bioelectrochemical systems: enhanced cathodic activity for electricity and hydrogen production
  28. Chaweewan Sapcharoenkun: Harnessing Visible Light for Sustainable Water Treatment with Synergistic Cu/Ag-TiO2 Catalysts