Want to join our lab?
Please note that I am not accepting any new students at the University of Toronto.
I will have an open postdoctoral fellow position in my new lab at Rutgers, starting in Summer or Fall 2024.
I have one open postdoctoral position at the University of Toronto, starting in 2024, in co-supervision with Prof. Brent Sleep:
Postdoctoral position
Remediation of radioactive strontium-contaminated wetlands
Apply by: January 1, 2024 (open until filled)
Labs: Professors Brent SLEEP and Elodie PASSEPORT’s labs, University of Toronto
Collaborator: Canadian Nuclear Labs at Chalk River, ON
Duration: Two years
Requirements
– Valid driving license in Ontario (or ability to get it immediately)
– Excellent oral and written English communication skills
– Ability to work independently and follow the highest standards of lab safety practices
– Training in one or more of the following areas: contaminant transport fate, environmental engineering, chemistry, hydrology, contaminant fate modelling
Desirable additional qualifications
– Experience setting up batch or soil column experiments in the lab
– Experience in modelling and statistical data analysis
Project description
Strontium-90 (90Sr) has a high mobility and a half-life of 28.8 years. It can be easily transported to/from groundwater to/from surface water. We are interested in identifying hydrological and biogeochemical conditions that could help remediate 90Sr-contaminated wetlands.
Our previous work identified the characteristics of natural organic matter and selected exogenous substrates that controlled the adsorption and desorption potential of 90Sr in wetlands (Boyer et al. 2018, Water Research). We also showed how different hydrologic regimes affect the transport of 90Sr at field scale (Boyer et al. 2018, ES&T).
In this project, the postdoctoral fellow will conduct laboratory experiments at the Chalk River labs to quantify the sorption capacity of the wetland sediments. The postdoctoral fellow will also conduct continuous-flow experiments to evaluate hydrological regimes that can support the controlled release of 90Sr, and propose strategies for the downstream capture of 90Sr. The postdoctoral fellow will also contribute to the development of a reactive transport model for 90Sr at the wetland sediment – water interface.
Application process: send an email to brent.sleep@utoronto.ca and elodie.passeport@utoronto.ca with the following:
– a cover letter
– CV with a complete list of publications
– the name and contact information of at least two academic references
– a statement confirming ability to drive in Ontario.