UROP Project
Combating Lake Eutrophication by Using Moringa F-Sand to Remove Nutrient and Bacteria
Lake Munson, Lake Jackson, Moringa F-sand, Adsorption, Sandbags
Research Mentor: Dr. Ming Ye, He/Him/His
Department, College, Affiliation: Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: mye@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Mr. John Stainbrook He/Him/His
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: johnstainbrook1@gmail.com
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Department, College, Affiliation: Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: mye@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Mr. John Stainbrook He/Him/His
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: johnstainbrook1@gmail.com
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 3
Relevant Majors: Environmental science, environmental engineering, biology, chemistry, or chemical engineering
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10 hours a week, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Number of Research Assistants: 3
Relevant Majors: Environmental science, environmental engineering, biology, chemistry, or chemical engineering
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10 hours a week, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
- Day: Wednesday, September 3
Start Time: 2:00
End Time: 2:30
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94146212371
Project Description
We have a project funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to work on Lake Munson located in south Tallahassee. The lake has been experiencing a number of environmental problems such as harmful algal blooms (HABs), and the recent one occurred in 2022. There has been several lake management efforts, and the latest one was lake drawdown, which emptied the lake from November 1, 2022 to May 17, 2024. The drawdown may help mitigate algal blooms by disrupting the life cycle of the organisms. During the drawdown, nutrient-rich sediments can be de-watered, compacted, and oxidized to from a hardened crust over the lake bottom. Our project is to explore another way to combat lake eutrophication. We will use so called moringa f-sand to remove nitrate, phosphate, and bacteria. The project will involve making moringa f-sand in lab, deploying the moringa f-sand in the lake and lake’s inflow and outflow, and monitoring reduction efficiency of nitrate, phosphate, and bacteria.Research Tasks: The UROP students will be involved in three research tasks as follows: (1) develop moringa f-sand in lab, (2) deploy moringa f-sand in Lake Munson, and (3) collect water samples and measure the concentrations of nitrate, phosphate, and bacteria (mainly E. Coli) in lab. The nitrate and phosphate concentrations will be measured by using an ion chromatography, and the bacteria concentrations will be measured by using a microscope or a fluorometer. The three tasks are independent to each other, and a student can be involved in either one or multiple tasks.
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Laboratory skills of biology and inorganic chemistry are needed for Tasks 1 and 3 for making Moringa f-sand and for lab measurements, respectively. Field skills will be needed for Task 2, and this task can be labor intensive to deploy sandbags in the lake.