Apul inducted into AEESS 40 Under 40 program 

Onur Apul, a University of Maine assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been inducted into the 2022 Class of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists’ (AEESS) 40 Under 40 Recognition Program. 

According to AEESS, the program recognizes researchers who have helped advance the fields of environmental science or environmental engineering in a demonstrable way in the last 12 months. 

Apul is investigating ways to eliminate toxic forever chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, among other projects. He is the science lead and a steering committee member of UMaine’s PFAS+ Initiative, university-wide multi-disciplinary effort to mitigate the spread and environmental and societal ramifications of these forever chemicals through research and development. 

Additionally, Apul is exploring how nanobubbles, ultrafine pockets of oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and other gasses contained in liquids, can improve the efficiency of life support functions on spaceships, particularly water treatment and growing algae to provide oxygen and nutrition for astronauts. 

Apul also is an associate faculty member with the Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies (FIRST), and a faculty fellow with the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions.