Dr Maryam Asachi

Profile

I am a scientist that works on water quality monitoring, particularly surface water and groundwater, using chemometric analysis and data-driven modelling techniques.  I have an interest in methods to support sustainability in water resource and urban water management to improve human life quality and ecosystem services, reduce environmental impacts, while maximising economic and social benefits. I also work on methods for granular material characterisation, detection of soil contamination, and modelling techniques such as Discrete Element Method for understanding the soil behaviour during penetration problems.

Responsibilities

• Module manager for CIVE2250 Sustainable Engineering Solutions

Research interests

I can divide my research interests into three distinct topics:

• Research on water treatment technologies and application of Multivariate Statistical Methods for surface and ground water quality assessment. I am particularly interested in sustainable approaches of water and wastewater treatment technologies; spectroscopy, data-driven approaches and chemometrics tools to interpret the quality of water samples at different stages of treatment process; and analysis of big data sets. Currently, I am investigating the quality of surface and ground water resources by implementing data-driven methodologies with the aim of identifying the pollution sources and their contribution towards water quality variation.
• Implementing state-of-art analytical technologies including in-line particle sizer analysers, spectroscopic instruments, etc and integrating the data for the efficient characterisation of particles and other contaminants in water and soil samples. I am especially interested in design of experiments methodologies, sensory data collection and integrating the data in order to allow in-line measurement of desirable quality attributes in water research which has application in quality monitoring of surface runoff. This leads to transforming the related data available from instruments into information and ultimately knowledge that can be utilised to understand the amount and source of contamination.
• Numerical and experimental investigation of granular materials mixtures. Work in this area includes measuring the particles size and shape using various particle characterisation tools, visualization and quantification of the 3D structure of particles, design of innovative force measurement tools for soil penetration testing and use of Discrete Element Methods (DEM) for understanding the granular material behaviour during penetration problems. I am especially interested in interdisciplinary research methodology bringing together information, tools, concepts and theories from two or more engineering disciplines.

Qualifications

• PhD degree (Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds)
• BSc degree (Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University)

Student education

• Module Leader for CIVE2250 Sustainable Engineering Solutions
• Level 3, 5 and MSc project supervision
• Contributing teaching for CIVE2470 Water Engineering and Geotechnics
• Contributing teaching for CIVE1160 Architecture and Environment
• Contributing teaching for CIVE5315M and CIVE5316M Water Resource Management

Research groups and institutes

• Water, Public Health and Environmental Engineering