"Joining the ‘RESTORE’ was yet another step towards enhancing my career. After working with this group, I found it to be:

R – Revolutionary
E – Exuberant
S – Stupendous
T – Teamwork
O – Optimistic
R – Reliable
E – Enthusiastic"

  
Project Title:
Removal of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons and Heavy Metals by Zerovalent Iron Nanoparticles.

Project Description:
Many brownfield sites in Canada are co-contaminated with chlorinated solvents and heavy metals. Zerovalent iron nanoparticles have been successfully used to remediate chlorinated solvents and heavy metals independently. The presence of one contaminant can either inhibit or enhance the remediation of another contaminant in the waste mixture. Hardiljeet’s research goals focus on investigating the effect of heavy metals on the degradation of chlorinated solvents by iron nanoparticles.

Personal Background:
Hailing from countryside Punjab (India), Hardiljeet grew up in environment that was as natural as it could be. Following her educational journey from rural village, she moved to city of Ludhiana, (a.k.a Manchester of India) as boarding high school student. She quickly realized the pros and cons of the contrasting city life, and what affected her thought process at that time was environmental pollution. And thus, to help restore this universal problem, became her passion by active participation in essay writing, declamation contests, and aiming to opt for career in Environmental Science.

Hardiljeet paved the path she envisioned by passing out her Bachelors in Agriculture Honors with Soil Science Major from the Punjab Agricultural University, which laid strong foundation for her future career development. From there, she carried out the enthusiasm to study Masters in Soil Science from the same University with even higher standards for herself. It helped her understand the intricacies of Lab research and field work. She enjoyed her first job as Research Fellow in PAU for one year.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln was her ultimate choice to embark her career in Environmental Science. While doing her PhD, Hardiljeet also worked at Pacific Northwest National Lab for one semester to further enhance her research skills. She later joined as Postdoc at UNL for more than a year during which she enjoyed her travels within U.S and to India.

The appetite for learning new skills made her shortlist the destination-RESTORE. She finds herself fortunate to be a part of this incredible “RESTORE” army. In this short span, she enjoyed learning in writing the grant proposals (Courtesy Dr. O’Carroll), which she believes is of utmost importance in her career.

Travel and Awards:

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA - David & Anna Larrick Student Travel Award 2005
   
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, USA - PNNL Fellowship for Undergraduates and Graduate Students 2004
   
• Punjab Agricultural University, India - Senior Research Fellowship 2001
   
• Punjab Agricultural University, India – Merit Scholarship 1995 - 2000
   
• Punjab Agricultural University, India - M.Sc. Merit Certificate - 2000
  
  
• Punjab Agricultural University, India - Sukhdayal Nijhawan Gold Medal 1998
  
  
• Punjab Agricultural University, India - B.Sc. Merit Certificate – 1998