Meet the Environmental Chemistry Team
Dr. Rubasinghege is committed to building and maintaining a diverse research team. His aim is to assist each team member in developing a strong research foundation so that each individual’s challenges are a result of their scientific ability rather than their gender, race, or disabilities. We believe in the importance of developing creativity, critical thinking, scholarship, and independence as successful traits in our team.
Dr. Gayan R. Rubasinghege
Gayan earned his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (2005),
and Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Iowa with Vicki H. Grassian (2011). After
receiving his doctorate degree, he started his career as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar
at the University of Iowa. During this time he was also rewarded the opportunity to
work as a visiting assistant professor at the Department of Chemistry. Thereafter
he was offered Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Saint Cloud State University, MN.
In August 2014, he began his independent research career at NMT. Gayan is the recipient
of several awards including A. Lynn Anderson Award for Excellence in Graduate Research
(2010) and nominated for the Graduate College D.C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Prize
(2012). His research group activities include simulated laboratory studies to discover
hidden reaction pathways and mechanisms of complex environmental processes, understand
molecular level insights of surface chemistry and photochemistry of mineral oxides
and engineered nanoparticles, and develop of catalytic systems for wastewater treatments.
Contact Dr. Rubasinghege
Gayan R. Rubasinghege Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology 222 Lopez Hall 801 Leroy Place Socorro, NM 87801 Phone: 575-835-5129 Fax: 575-835-5215 Email: gayan.rubasinghege@nmt.eduGayan's CV
Eshani Hettiarachchi
Eshani earned her B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (2015)
with minors in Geology and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, and joined the Ph.D.
program in Chemistry at New Mexico Tech in spring 2016. She joined the Environmental
Chemistry Research Group in the summer of the same year. Her research focuses on surface
chemistry and photochemistry of environmentally relevant surfaces. Among those, studying
atmospheric processing of Fe-bearing mineral-dust aerosols to better understand current
biogeochemical cycles and understanding the interactions between heavy metals (mainly
Uranium) in desert dust and lung fluids involves both natural dust and proxy studies.
She is also passionate on studying metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for their selective
gas adsorption as a way of sequestrating CO2 and chemical catalysis of metal porphyrin
for conversion of methane to methanol in ambient conditions. Eshani earned outstanding
graduate teaching assistant award in 2017.
Contact Information
Eshani Hettiarachchi Third Year Graduate Student Department of Chemistry Lopez Hall 110 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Email: eshani.hettiarachchi@student.nmt.eduNishanthi Ellepola
Nishanthi is a first year graduate student in the Department of Chemistry at NMT.
She completed her Graduate ship in Chemistry Degree in 2009 at Institute of Chemistry,
Sri Lanka. Then, graduated with the Masters in Applied Organic Chemistry in 2012 at
the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Before joining the PhD program, she worked as
an Advanced Level Chemistry teacher at the Villa College International, Male, Maldives.
Nishanthi is also a registered pharmacists of Ceylon Medical College Council of Sri
Lanka. Her PhD project mainly focuses on degradation and long-term health effects
of Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). She also works on a collaborative
project with Dr. Tello-Aburto to synthesis identified degradation products of PPCPs.
Contact Information
Nishanthi Ellepola First Year Graduate Student Department of Chemistry New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Email: nishanthi.ellepola@student.nmt.eduMilton Das
Milton Chandra Das, is a first year graduate student of Chemistry at New Mexico Tech.
Prior to join NM Tech he completed a Bachelors and Masters degrees in Chemistry at
Dhaka University, Bangladesh. While pursuing Bachelors and Masters, he was involved
in few projects related electrochemistry. After joining group spring 2018, he started
working in a brand new project to investigate methane to methanol conversion using
graphene based organometallic catalysts.
Contact Information
Milton Das First Year Graduate Student Department of Chemistry New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Email: milton.das@student.nmt.eduAndrew Chan
Andrew is a senior undergraduate student, pursuing a Bachelors in Petroleum Engineering,
with a minor in Chemical Engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
He joined the Environmental Chemistry research group in Spring 2015 as a student research
assistant. Andrew’s current research involves studying the environmental impact on
Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the presence of common minerals
and solar flux that may produce potentially toxic secondary products via degradation.
Besides studies related to PPCPs, Andrew is interested in studying the retention of
industrially relevant surfactants via core flooding and HPLC Analysis. Andrew has
teaching experience for CHEM 121 Laboratory Class at New Mexico Tech and High School
Microeconomics Class at Oak Ridge High School, El Dorado Hills, CA.
Contact Information:
Andrew Chan Senior undergraduate Department of Petroleum Engineering New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Email: andrew.chan@student.nmt.eduSabino Maldonado-Torres
Sabino is a junior undergraduate student in the Biomedical Sciences program. He joined
the Environmental Chemistry Research lab in the winter of 2015 where he focused his
time in directing and conducting the toxicological studies on PPCPs. Sabino later
continued this project while participating in the NM-INBRE- sponsored NISE summer
program. He has presented his works as a poster and an invited student speaker at
the 2016 and 2017 annual NM INBRE conference, respectively. Furthermore, the research
conducted in the lab has opened his doors to internship at Yale School of Medicine
in the summer of 2016.
Contact Information
Sabino Maldonado-Torres Junior undergraduate Biomedical Science Program with Chemistry Option New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Email: sabino.maldonado-torres@student.nmt.eduFormer Group Members
Graduate Students:
- Hom Nath Rijal - Pursue a PhD student at University of Miami, FL
- Omar Hurub - Works as a chemist in an indutrial position.
Undergraduate Students:
- Chase Kicker - Finishing his B.S. degree at New Mexico Tech
- Sean Standiford - Finishing his B.S. degree at New Mexico Tech
- Zane Arias
- Sarah Bockisch - Works in an industrial position
- Shaylene Paul