Research Team

Jialin Dong is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCI. She entered UCI in Fall 2021. Her research interests include analysis of the ‘forever chemicals’ per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and oil pollution, combining environmental analysis with Data Mining Methods, especially Machine Learning.
Before UCI, she got her master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Jilin University. She is involved in the Chinese air pollution investigation program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2019. She enjoys water sports, playing table tennis, hiking, and cooking during her free time.

Lyssa Morgan is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. Her research interests are in studying the microbes and processes involved in bioremediation of industrial and environmental contaminants. Prior to her start at UCI she completed her master’s degree in Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh and a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology at Cal Poly Pomona. Her masters thesis involved research into biochar mediated bioaugmentation of a hydrocarbonoclastic consortia of microorganisms for improved bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated sediment.  

In her free time she enjoys hiking, reading, and crochet!

Gabriel Tsai is a junior at Sage Hill High School. His research interests include exploring biodegradation of polyurethane and PFAS and using artificial intelligence tools to study ways to reduce industrial and
urban pollution. He analyzed PFAS concentrations in municipal water wells in surrounding areas near the Santa Ana River and the Los Angeles-San Gabriel-Rio Hondo Channel.
He is a very active member of his school’s Model United Nations team and plays as a first violin with the American Youth Symphony. He competes every year in his school business club’s virtual stock market
competition. In his free time he plays movie music on the piano, video games and tennis with his friends, and does origami.