Elena Aksel (ChE '08) is trying to see through the ground. As a researcher in Chemical Engineering Professor Roseanne Ford's lab, she's part of a team that is trying to model the movement of a cloud of bacteria carried by groundwater through the sandy soil of the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod. For 60 years, treated wastewater was allowed to infiltrate the groundwater at the reservation, resulting in a plume of contaminants six kilometers long and 23 feet deep.

Ford, U.Va.'s associate vice president for research and graduate studies, is part of a United States Geological Survey project that is exploring different methods to remove these contaminants. She focuses on the use of bacteria that thrive on these contaminants, a process called bioremediation.

“Bacteria are naturally absorbed by sand,” Aksel explains. “This is great when they reach the contaminated area, but not so good if they are absorbed while trying to get there.” Aksel is counting the number of E. coli bacteria that move through a column of water containing a known amount of sand. These results will then be used to model bacterial flow in underground water and applied to the Cape Cod site.

After working in the lab for two and a half years, Aksel enjoys a fair amount of autonomy. “Over time, I've been given more control over what I do. I have work that I'm responsible for and it is up to me to move it forward,” she says. She is also bringing her own funding to the project. Aksel received a prestigious Harrison Undergraduate Research Award to further her studies of bioremediation. The award comes with a grant of up to $3,000.