Spyros G. Pavlostathis, PhD, BCEE                         

 

 Professor

 Environmental Engineering Program
 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

 Georgia Institute of Technology 

 

 3204 Environmental Science & Technology Building
 311 Ferst Drive 
 Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0512 USA 
 Phone: (404) 894-9367 Fax: (404) 894-8266
 E-mail: spyros.pavlostathis@ce.gatech.edu
 URL: http://www.ce.gatech.edu/~spavlost/

 CURRICULUM VITAE       SHORT BIO

  
 

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 1985 

  • M.S., Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 1982 
  • Diploma, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece, 1974 

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS 

  • Professor: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - August 1999 to present

  • Associate Professor: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - September 1994 to July 1999 

  • Assistant Professor: School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA - August 1991 to August 1994 

  • Assistant Professor: Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY - June 1988 to July 1991 

  • Project Engineer: Golder Associates, Atlanta, GA - 1987 to 1988

  • Research Associate: Wadsworth Center, Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, NY State Department of Health, Albany, NY - 1985 to 1987 

  • Visiting Assistant Professor: Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY - 1984 to 1985

  • Instructor: Agricultural Engineering Department, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece - 1976 to 1979

  • Non-Commissioned Officer: Greek Air Force, 1974-1976

TEACHING INTERESTS

Environmental Engineering Principles, Environmental Engineering Systems, Hazardous Substance Engineering, Microbial Principles in Environmental Engineering, Biological Processes, Biotransformation of Xenobiotic Compounds, Environmental Science & Engineering Laboratory, Modeling and Simulation of Biological Treatment Processes

RESEARCH INTERESTS & EXPERTISE

My research interests include applied environmental biotechnology and bioprocesses for the bioremediation of contaminated natural systems, the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater, as well as the treatment and utilization of food and agricultural waste and by-products. My research has focused on the bioavailability, fate and biotransformation of recalcitrant organic compounds such as dyes, pesticides, antioxidants, disinfectants, and antibiotics, the biotransformation of emerging environmental contaminants, the production of bioenergy and biofuels from waste streams, the development of halophilic and thermophilic microbial processes, as well as the kinetics and modeling of biotransformation/treatment processes. Research has been applied to site remediation, as well as municipal, photoprocessing, pulp-and-paper, textile, food processing, and petrochemical industries for the development of innovative, cost-effective sustainable environmental technologies.

(Research Overview Slide) 

RESEARCH GROUP 

Current

  • Madan Tandukar, PhD; Research Associate

  • Ulas Tezel, PhD; Research Associate

  • Malek G. K. Hajaya; PhD Candidate

  • Teresa Misiti; PhD Student

  • Mary Katherine Watson; PhD Student

  • Hamilton Giles; MS/PhD Student

  • Nicole F. Sullivan; MS student

Recent Visiting Scholars

  • Dr. Jinglan Hong, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan (2006 – 2007)

  • Dr. Zainab Ismail, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq (2006 – 2008)

  • Dr. Kexun Li, Nankai University, Tianjin, China (2007 – 2008)

  • Dr. Madan Tandukar, Tohoku University, Sendai City, Japan (2008 – 2009)

  • Dr. Takashi Onodera, Tohoku University, Sendai City, Japan (2009 – 2010)

Recent Graduates

  • Young Haeng Lee (PhD 2003)

  • Rosalyn D. Matthews (PhD 2003)

  • Anup Shah (MS 2003)

  • William Epolito (MS 2004)

  • Hanbae Yang (MS 2005)

  • Didem Okutman-Tas (PhD 2006)

  • Adile Evren Tugtas (PhD 2007)

  • Jeonwoo Yang (MS 2007)

  • Scott Levesque (MS 2007)

  • Ulas Tezel (PhD 2009)

  • Nadia H. Szeinbaum (MS 2009)

  • Samuel Huber (MS 2009)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS 

Tezel, U., J. A. Pierson, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007. Effect of Polyelectrolytes and Quaternary Ammonium Compounds on the Anaerobic Biological Treatment of Poultry Processing Wastewater. Water Research 41:1334-1342.

Tugtas, A. E., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007a. Inhibitory Effects of Nitrogen Oxides on a Mixed Methanogenic Culture. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 96:444-455.

Tugtas, A. E., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007b. Effect of Sulfide on Nitrate Reduction in Mixed Methanogenic Cultures. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 97:1448-1459.

Tugtas, A. E., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007c. Electron Donor Effect on Nitrate Reduction Pathway and Kinetics in a Mixed Methanogenic Culture. Biotechnology & Bioengineering 98:756-763.

Okutman Tas, D., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007. Temperature and pH Effect on the Microbial Reductive Transformation of Pentachloronitrobenzene. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 55:5390-5398.

Okutman Tas, D., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007. The Influence of Iron Reduction on the Reductive Biotransformation of Pentachloronitrobenzene. European Journal of Soil Biology 43:264-275.

Beydilli, I. M., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2007. Biodecolorization of the Azo Dye Reactive Red 2 in a Halotolerant Enrichment Culture. Water Environment Research 79:2446-2456.

Kabouris, J. C., U. Tezel, S. G. Pavlostathis, M. Engelmann, A. C. Todd, and R. A. Gillette. 2008. The Anaerobic Biodegradability of Municipal Sludge and Fat, Oil, and Grease under Mesophilic Conditions. Water Environment Research 80:212-221.

Marchant, R., A. Franzetti, S. G. Pavlostathis, D. Okutman Tas, I. Erdbrügger, A. Űnyayar, M. A. Mazmanci, and I. M. Banat. 2008. Thermophilic Bacteria in Cool Temperate Soils: Are they Metabolically Active or Continually Added by Global Atmospheric Transport? Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology 78:841-852.

Tezel, U., J. A. Pierson, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Effect of Didecyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride on Nitrate Reduction in a Mixed Methanogenic Culture. Water Science & Technology 57:541-546.

Tugtas, A. E., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Inhibitory Effects of Nitrate Reduction on Methanogenesis in the Presence of Different Electron Donors. Water Science & Technology 57:693-698.

Okutman Tas, D., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Effect of Nitrate Reduction on the Microbial Reductive Transformation of Pentachloronitrobenzene. Environmental Science & Technology 42:3234-3240.

Epolito, W. J., H. Yang, L. A. Bottomley, and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2008. Kinetics of Zero-Valent Iron Reductive Transformation of the Anthraquinone Dye Reactive Blue 4. Journal of Hazardous Materials 160:594-600.

Tandukar, M., S. G. Pavlostathis, and F. J. Cervantes. 2009. Autotrophic Denitrification for the Removal of Nitrogenous and Sulphurous Contaminants from Wastewaters. In Environmental Technologies to Treat Nitrogen Pollution: Principles and Engineering, F. J. Cervantes (Ed.). Ch. 12, IWA Publishing, London, UK.

Tezel, U., and S. G. Pavlostathis. 2009. Transformation of Benzalkonium Chloride under Nitrate Reducing Conditions. Environmental Science & Technology 43:1342-1348.

Padhye, L., U. Tezel, W. A. Mitch, S. G. Pavlostathis, and C.-H. Huang. 2009. Occurrence and Fate of Nitrosamines and Their Precursors in Municipal Sludge and Anaerobic Digestion Systems. Environmental Science & Technology 43:3087-3093.

Kabouris, J. C., U. Tezel, S. G. Pavlostathis, M. Engelmann, J. A. Dulaney, A. C. Todd, and R. A. Gillette. 2009. Mesophilic and Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal Sludge and Fat, Oil, and Grease. Water Environment Research 81:476-485.

Kabouris, J. C., U. Tezel, S. G. Pavlostathis, M. Engelmann, J. Dulaney, R. A. Gillette, and A. C. Todd. 2009. Methane Recovery from the Anaerobic Codigestion of Municipal Sludge and FOG. Bioresource Technology 100:3701-3705.

Last updated: September 2009