Laura is a student working with Professor Menachem Elimelech. She is interested in water and sanitation issues in lesser developed nations as they relate to public health. Specifically, she is interested in studying water quality interventions and technologies, such as point-of-use and small-scale treatment systems, capable of decreasing prevalence of disease in developing areas.
As a Coca-Cola World Fellow, Laura recently traveled to Western Kenya. There, she has been studying the impact of the positioning of a simple treatment technology (Proctor and Gamble’s PUR) on product uptake. This summer, she worked to establish small-scale water treatment enterprises that supply safe water (treated by PUR technology on a community-scale with the ‘PUReactor’) to communities where centrally treated water had been unavailable previously. Quantitative assessments of the profitability of such small-scale businesses in Kenya are continuing, but initial observations suggest that the sale of treated water at centrally located kiosks may yield increased sustainability of water quality interventions in low-income communities (as compared to such interventions on the household treatment level). Based on initial interviews, it is anticipated that this is because regular household treatment requires a drastic change in personal behavior, while the purchase of water (whether from door-to-door vendors or neighbors) is a culturally accepted practice in this area.
Her first year, Laura investigated the use of colloidal Titanium Oxide (TiO2), a photocatalyst, in UV-driven water disinfection. She found that UV disinfection rates of E. Coli. in low-turbidity water increased significantly when water was stored in containers impregnated with colloidal TiO2, rather than regular glass containers. She began studying the production of hydroxyl radicals by TiO2 exposed to UV-light to better explain the mechanisms responsible for TiO2 antimicrobial properties. She plans to use ‘quencher’ compounds to eliminate the effects of certain radicals as a means of further elucidating antimicrobial mechanisms.
Prior to coming to Yale, Laura worked with Dr. Ferry at the University of South Carolina to develop a novel method for en vivo determination of pH in the gut of a copepod, quantify degradation rates for chemical messengers in biofilms under varying experimental parameters, and predict how cholesterol-lowering drugs may impact aquatic ecosystems in estuaries. She is still in search of a clear research topic that would allow her to combine her skills in the laboratory with a sincere interest in public health and love of travel.
Besides her academic studies, Laura loves traveling to places where everyone laughs at her for looking or acting funny, pretending no one is watching her as she dances to lively bluegrass music, watching movies that make no sense so she can pretend she is watching something ‘deep,’ and finding new bike routes to explore in New Haven. Most of the time, she cannot wait until the next time she is reunited with her family, whether it be with her parents in Minnesota or extended family in Romania.
Laura Sima pictured with members of Kwano South, an HIV-positive support group, whose members assisted in the PUReactor pilot project this summer |
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Laura pictured with Rebecca Otieno, a PUReactor operator in Ahero. Rebecca is pictured providing a sample of treated water to Nancy, a woman from the village |
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