Student Spotlight

Yi Mei

Ph.D. Candidate, Environmental Engineering

Yi recieved his masters degree in water resources engineering from Nanjing University, China. He worked on groundwater seepage and contaminant transport simulation in Nanjing for three years before he joined the Vanderbilt Environmental Engineering program in 2008. His current research focus is on understanding how hydrology plays an essential role in controlling the biogeochemistry processes, especially Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) at multiple scales.  Yi is currently trying to adopt phsically-based distributed hydrological model to simulate and understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of DOC in the White Clay Creek watershed. This project is a collaborative efforts among VIEE, Stroud Water Research Center, PA and Penn State University. 

Debra Perrone

Ph.D. Candidate, Environmental Engineering

Debra Perrone received her undergraduate degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Lafayette College in 2008. An active member of Lafayette’s Engineers Without Borders chapter, she worked on water projects in rural Honduras. After graduation she began the Ph.D. program in Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Debra has been a fellow of Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment for the past 3 years and, in 2011, she was awarded an EPA STAR fellowship. This past summer (2012) she participated in the Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) affiliated with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna, Austria. Her research focuses broadly on the water-energy-food nexus. She currently is working on exploring the spatio-temporal dimensions of U.S. water and energy resources. Video: Debra discusses VIEE experiences.