Atar is a visiting graduate student in the Environmental Engineering Program at Yale University. She is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Atar is working under the supervision of Professor Menachem Elimelech (Yale) and Professor Yoram Oren (Ben Gurion University). In Prof. Elimelech's lab, Atar is studying the role of physicochemical and microbiological mechanisms of ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membrane biofouling. She will also be investigating the resistance to biofouling of several recently developed membranes with various surface functionalities.
Before coming to Yale, Atar worked as a research analytical chemist at the Analytical Chemistry Department, Chemistry Division, Nuclear Research Center-Negev, Israel. She was involved in development and implementation of analytical methods for elemental trace and ultra-trace analysis of environmental and biological samples. While working on her MS degree, she worked at the Environmental Analytical Laboratory (EAL) at Rotem Industrial Park, Israel. Her MS research focused on monitoring heavy metals in plants and soil of the Eastern Negev.
While studying for her B.S. degree at Ben Gurion University, Atar was a research assistant in several ecological research laboratories. Her field and lab work involved the study of lizards, rodents, beetles and plants. Apart from her scientific work, Atar worked for four years as a social mentor for teenagers and adults with disabilities.
