Their goal was to identify the key sand conditions linked to E. coli growth and determine the best machine-learning method to predict these conditions.

Their findings were published that appeared in a 2024 volume of the journal Surface Innovations.

E. coli bacteria are often used as indicators of water contamination, and elevated levels are one of the main reasons for beach closures. The researchers focused on how the physical and chemical properties of sand influence the survival and spread of these bacteria.

“Bacterial contamination of beach sand poses a public health problem,” Nosonovsky said. “So, it’s important to establish correlations between surface properties of sand and biocontamination, allowing us to predict and prevent the latter.”

Nosonovsky, whose expertise is tribology – the study of surfaces and friction – said that how sand interacts with water plays an important role in bacterial growth.

The work was conducted using data from Bradford Beach on Milwaukee’s lakefront. The researchers tested five different machine learning techniques and concluded the artificial neural network (ANN) technique outperformed other models in predicting E. coli concentrations.

The ANN model identified three critical factors predicting E. coli levels in sand:

• the state of sand, including parameters such as moisture content, pore size and the zeta potential – the difference in potential between a particle’s surface and the liquid it is suspended in.
• processing temperature
• the contact angle, which measures how easily water spreads across its surface. A special methodology was developed to measure the water contact angle of sand, Nosonovsky said.  

The study shows the great potential of “tribo-informatics” – a new field that combines tribology, with data science and machine learning methods – to solve various problems, he said. The technique can be scaled up and applied to other beaches. Other team members were Md Syam Hasan (’22 PhD, mechanical engineering); Marcia Silva, former manager of 51����’s Water Technology Accelerator, and Alma Nunez.

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Qingsu Cheng, assistant professor, biomedical engineering, is the principal investigator on a three-year, $649,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to develop and test a technology that assures the quality of reclaimed water and agricultural wastewater so that more can be used in irrigating crops. The project will aid in improving food and water security.

Currently, these alternative water sources are poorly monitored and can transmit waterborne diseases that are passed on to people who eat the crops, Cheng said. 

Using biospecimens from farms and water treatment plants, he will create probes using nanoparticles to identify the presence of bacteria and microchip screening to allow nanoparticles to target different kinds of bacteria through position coding.

This proposed technology will be able to cost-effectively profile multiple pathogens simultaneously in 15 minutes.

“After validation in the lab, we will test the product with wastewater and irrigation water to determine the efficiency of our product,” he said.

The research is conducted in collaboration with Troy Skwor, 51���� associate professor of biomedical sciences, and partners at the University of Cincinnati. Skwor is responsible for developing high-efficiency, non-antibiotic sterilization treatment that is not toxic to plants and animals.

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Deadline for submission of proposals is Friday, August 16. Awards will be announced in November.

WEP brings together researchers at both 51���� and Marquette University together with industry partners to create new devices, novel materials and innovative systems that will help industry members solve problems and policymakers manage stressed water resources.

The maximum award size for new projects is $50,000 per year, but the maximum award size for continuing projects may be up to $100,000 per year. For continuing projects, proposals need to be submitted annually with a summary of prior accomplishments and well-defined milestones and deliverables for funding requested for the specific year.

Continuing projects will compete with new proposals received in the same round.

The center currently has 11 industry members, including: A.O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter, GE Appliances, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, NEW Water, Sentry Equipment, Sloan, Pentair Inc., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Watts Water Technologies, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Submit proposals through . For more information, contact Professor Qian Liao, WEP center director, at liao@uwm.edu.

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For all of them, the Clean Energy and Clean Water Internship Program, funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD), has meant learning skills they would not have gotten in the classroom.

Three students from the College spoke about their involvement in the extremely competitive program that recently came to an end. A total of 415 students applied for the internships, with only 44 (39 from the College) hired by a pool of 16 companies in the water and energy sectors.

The DWD provided funding for the paid internships through its Fast Forward program that was expanded in 2023 to include engineering opportunities in water and energy.

“It’s been a healthy mix of student backgrounds,” said Sean Lybeck-Smoak, Clean Energy and Clean Water Internship Coordinator. “For some this was their first experience. Others had co-op, internship, or research experience before.”

Below some of the interns discuss their internship experiences.

Employer: Arch Solar

Sharvari Prabhakanth Ashwini, master’s student, computer science

Her role:

Helping the company automate an intake process used to prepare sales proposals.

Why were you interested in this particular internship program?

The internship attracted me because it allows you to give back, whether that’s to serve people or to serve the environment. I wanted to contribute to society with my degree. That’s my major goal and it has been my major goal from my undergraduate program.

Why 51����?

I wanted to study in the U.S. for my master’s degree. I did get accepted into other universities but 51���� grabbed my attention because it was an R1 research university so I knew there would be opportunities here. And the place here is just too good! I’m already in love with Milwaukee!

Laura Schneider, solar coordinator for the residential sector at Arch Solar:

I know nothing about computer science, so [my colleague and I] were brainstorming a wish list of stuff that we could do with a person who has that skill set. And we came up with this idea, although during her interview we believed the task would be impossible.  She has made it possible!

Employer: A.O. Smith

Greta Boehm, junior, biomedical engineering

Her role:

She is on a team that is prototyping a variety of water-related sensors.

Why 51����?

I’m from Verona, but I chose Milwaukee, rather than Madison, because it I knew it would push me out of my comfort zone. 51���� has so many resources. But the successful people that I see are the ones that really use those resources.

Pranav Roy, senior, materials science & engineering

His role:

Just after Roy completed a co-op at the company, working on research in metallurgy, he was offered the internship. His projects are related to water filtration systems, product validation and PFAS.

What are you getting from the experience?

Having the two different experiences makes me holistically a bit better [employee] candidate in terms of understanding what a product is and what a company is working toward.

Why 51����?

Before beginning as a freshman, I applied for the Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program to be in a research team with Dr. Pradeep Rohatgi. So I got involved in his research team way before I actually stepped into the U.S.

Rebecca Tallon, engineering director, water treatment technology, at A.O. Smith:

There’s a lot you can learn in an internship, like just how businesses operate and what professional behavior looks like. But they [interns] also learn the technical skills. We work on big projects with a lot of people involved. So, it’s learning to navigate that space before you actually hit the workforce as a full-time employee.

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The  (WEP) brings expertise at both 51���� and Marquette University together with industry partners to create new devices, novel materials and innovative systems that will help the world manage its stressed water resources.

The new Great Lakes Water Innovation Engine will provide new funding opportunities for collaborative research in water technology, while attracting more diverse talent to STEM fields.

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WEP is a university-industry research collaboration, backed by the National Science Foundation, that focuses on creating new sensors and devices, novel materials, and innovative systems that aim to help the world manage its stressed water resources. Because regulations significantly affect the adoption of new technologies in the water industry, WEP has a policy component as part of its mission.

Ten faculty members in the College are currently involved the center. WEP’s industry advisory board selected these 51���� projects:

• Nathan Salowitz, $93,922
  “Embedded Ultrasonic Inspection of Water-Filled Equipment.” 
• Junjie Niu, $50,000
  “Designing an electrochemical sensor for PFAS detection in water.”
• Junjie Niu, $79,769
  “Portable biosensor to rapidly detect bacteria in water.”
• Xiaoli Ma, Yin Wang and Shangping Xu, $75,000
  “Development of positively charged nanofiltration membranes for water softening: Phase 2.”
• Pradeep Rohatgi and Ben Church, $99,957
  “Low-cost surface alloying of brass to improve corrosion resistance in chlorine and chloramine-rich environments.”

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Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman attended the event as part of his OpportUWnity Tour, a statewide journey Rothman is making to each UW campus this fall. Chancellor Mark Mone also provided a welcome, thanking Rothman and the Universities of Wisconsin’s for the support and “fierce” advocacy on behalf of 51����, pointing to research as a major reason that businesses work with the university.

Read expanded story and view photo gallery.

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51����s’ School of Freshwater Sciences will spotlight this research in two colloquiums that are open to the public. Both will be held 4:30-5:20 p.m. at the School of Freshwater Sciences/Great Lakes Research Facility, 600 E. Greenfield Ave., Ballroom.

Oct. 31: Xiaoli Ma, Water Treatment Technologies and Their Environmental Impacts.
Ma is an assistant professor of materials science.
More

Nov. 14: Yin Wang, PFAS Removal from Water.
Wang holds a Lawrence E. Sivak ’71 Professorship and is an associate professor of civil & environmental engineering.
More

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Biosensor expert Woo Jin Chang, associate professor, mechanical engineering, and Ihnjea Choi were awarded a $25,000 51���� Research Foundation Bridge Grant for their startup company, Septillionth Inc. Choi is the company’s CEO.

The grant will support Septillionth’s move from the lab to commercialization.

Chang and Choi are developing a portable lead detector for on-site testing of water in wells, homes and water-treatment facilities. The sensors, Chang says, will be affordable and feature digital read-outs that a user can easily interpret.

Chang has been developing portable sensing systems that instantly detect low levels of contaminants in drinking water, ground water and surface water. These low-cost detectors use a single drop of water to detect one or more heavy metals—including cadmium, mercury, chromium, and copper.

Bridge Grants provide “gap” funding to startups that have progressed past the government-funded basic research stage and are moving toward commercialization. Funding comes from a matching grant to 51���� by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

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