About
Indra is a postdoctoral hydrogeochemist in the Department of Geology at the State University of New York (SUNY) University at Buffalo. She earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Queen’s University (Canada). Her research interests are in the fate, transport, and remediation of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs).
Her current research is focused on geochemical processes (the sorption of contaminants to carbonaceous materials), and how these processes impact both the prediction of contaminant fate and transport and the design of remediation programs. Her work demonstrates how micro- and grain-scale heterogeneity contribute to Kd (sorption distribution) spatial heterogeneity. These heterogeneities, in turn, influence the fate and transport of HOCs at an aquifer scale. Indra’s research aims to influence how mass storage and release is modeled at the aquifer level, since highly sorbing lithic fragments can store contaminants and lead to slow, diffusive behaviour that can be seen as concentration rebounds after remediation efforts (like pump-and-treat) are discontinued.
Indra’s research is published or forthcoming in the Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, Journal of Environmental Management, Science of the Total Environment, and Geosynthetics International. Her research has also been presented at the meetings of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and at specialist meetings on subsurface characterization, cold-region contamination and the remediation of chlorinated compounds.
She has guest-lectured at SUNY-University at Buffalo and Queen’s on contaminant hydrology and PCB remediation. As a teaching assistant, she earned the Queen’s Civil Engineering department’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant award.
411 Cooke Hall, Dept. of Geology
North Campus, SUNY-University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260
