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Michael Roberts
Dr. Roberts is a federal postdoctoral Soil Scientist in GWERD’s Ecosystem and Subsurface Protection Branch. He holds a B.S. in Environmental Science at Alabama A&M University, and an M.S and Ph.D, in Environmental Soil Chemistry from Michigan State University. His research area is nanotechnology.
Dr. Roberts is a lead scientist for a research project entitled “Sorption of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts (C. parvum) From Water by Nanoparticles.” The project is a laboratorybased investigation on the use nanoparticles to remove biological contaminant-impacted water. Dr. Roberts’s work experience relates to soil chemical, biological, and physical processes, with emphasis on environmental fate, transport, and risk assessment of organic chemicals and microbial contaminants in water and soil. He is developing a strategy to manage the surface chemistry of nanoparticles in controlling the sorption of water-borne pathogens from water environments. Specifically, the results from this project are intended to be a detailed analysis of the effects of environmental geochemistry parameter (such pH and salts) on sorption and how sorption processes control oocysts fate and transport in natural soil ecosystems. This research serves as a key point for evaluation of the effectiveness of plans to reduce or minimize potential risks of water source contamination in communities.
Publications
Roberts, M.G., J. Griffitts, B. Faulkner, C. Su, M. Ware, J. Groves, and J. Ferguson. (In progress). “The Effects of Geochemical Processes on the Stability of Suspended Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts and Copper(II) Oxide Nanoparticles in Water."
Roberts, M.G., L. Hui, B. Teppen, C. Rugh, and S.A. Boyd. (2007). “Geochemical Modulation of Bioavailability and Toxicity of Nitroaromatic Compounds to Aquatic Plants.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 41: 1641–1645.
Roberts, M.G., L. Hui, B. Teppen, C. Rugh, and S.A. Boyd. (2007). “Reducing Bioavailability and Phytotoxicity of 2,4-Dinitrotoluene by Sorption on K Smectite Clay.” Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 26, 2: 358–360.
Roberts, M.G., L. Hui, B. Teppen, and S.A. Boyd. (2006). Sorption of Nitroaromatics by Ammonium and Organic Ammonium Exchanged Smectite: Shifts From Adsorption/Complexation to a Partition-Dominated Process.” Clays and Clay Minerals, 54, 4: 426–434.
Non-Referred Publications/Presentations
Ferguson, J. and MG. Roberts (Mentor). (2009). “The Effects of pH on the Stability of Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts and Copper(II) Oxide Nanoparticles in Water.” Presentation, 2009 Annual Meeting of McNair Internship program, East Central University, Ada, Oklahoma, April 29.