Asst. Prof. Dr. Sema Sevinç Şengör

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Assist. Prof. Dr. Sema Sevinç Şengör (Vice Chairperson, ABET & Summer Practice Coordinators)

Interest Areas Biogeochemical processes Multi-component reactive transport modeling for contaminant transport in subsurface environments Multi-scale modeling of hydrologic processes, mathematical modeling of groundwater flow Uranium biogeochemistry, fate and transport Sustainable food-water-energy systems
Curriculum Vitae
E-mail: ssengor {at} metu.edu.tr
Links: www.enve.metu.edu.tr
Phone: +90-312-210-5876 Fax: +90-312-210-2646

Education

Ph.D., University of California-Davis, CA USA (2007) Civil and Environmental Engineering
M.S., Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (2002) Environmental Engineering
B.S., Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey (1999) Environmental Engineering

Professional Memberships

Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Geological Society of America (GSA)
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
International Society for Porous Media (INTERPORE)

Honors and Awards

Certificate of Merit Award, American Chemical Society (ACS), Division of Environmental Chemistry (2014)
Best Student Oral Presentation Award at the 12th International Symposium on Water-Rock Interaction, Kunming, China (2007)
UC-Davis Graduate Student Researcher fellowship award for Ph.D. studies (2003-2007).
UC Toxic Substances Research and Training Program (TSR&TP), Ecotoxicology Lead Campus Program traineeship award (2004-2005).

Professional Experience

02/2020 – Present Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Engineering, METU, Ankara - Turkey
05/2015 – Present Fellow, Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity, Southern Methodist University, TX - USA
08/2011 – 05/2017 Assistant Professor, Southern Methodist University, TX - USA
11/2008 – 06/2011 Post-doctoral Researcher, University of California-Davis, CA - USA
07/2003 – 09/2007 Research/Teaching Assistant, University of California-Davis, CA - USA
09/1999 – 07/2003 Teaching and Research Assistant, Middle East Technical University, Department of Environmental Engineering, METU, Ankara - Turkey

Administrative Positions

03/2020 - Present Vice Chairperson, Department of Environmental Engineering, METU, Ankara - Turkey.
03/2009 - 08/2010 Vice-Chair of the Post-doctoral Scholar Association (PSA), University of California-Davis, CA - USA

Teaching Experience

CEE 5418/7418 “Engineering Microbiology”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA (2011 – 2017)
CEE 5313/7313 “Environmental Chemistry and Biology”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA (2011 – 2017)
CEE 2304 “Introduction To Environmental Engineering and Science”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA (2011 – 2017)
CEE 5334/7334 “Fate and Transport of Contaminants”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA (2011 – 2017)
CEE 5332/7332 “Groundwater Hydrology and Contaminants”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA (2011 – 2017)

Research Projects

Researcher, "Botaş International Ltd. Field Investigation Project", Revolving Fund Project, 2021.
Principal Investigator, "Nanoremediation and colloidal transport of heavy metals in natural subsurface”, funded by TÜBİTAK BİDEB 2236 - European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Cofund program “Co-Funded Brain Circulation2 Scheme (CoCirculation2)”, 2020 – ongoing.
Principal Investigator, “Investigation of Enhanced Methane Generation in the Bioreactor Landfill Facility at the City of Denton”, City of Denton TX, USA Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Facility, $169,655, 2016-2017. S. Larson, A. Martin/U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC-EL) are collaborators.
Principal Investigator,” Synthesis of Graphene Oxide/Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles and Its Application for Contaminants in Drinking Water”, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) USA, $15,000, 2015-2016
Principal Investigator,” Biopolymers for Sustainable Agricultural Solutions”, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) USA, $15,000, 2016-2017
Principal Investigator, “Sustainability of Agricultural Practices Through Biopolymer Application in Soils”, Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity/ Southern Methodist University, TX – USA, $ 50,000.00, 2016-2017.
Principal Investigator, “Investigation of Plant Germination Rate and Enhanced Nutrient Adsorption by Biopolymers”, Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity/ Southern Methodist University, TX – USA Seed Grant, $ 9,452.00, 2015.
Co-Principal Investigator (with Jonathan Stolk as PI), “Women, Men, and Lyle: Sparking a Deeper Conversation of Gender and Engineering Culture at SMU”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA Lyle School of Engineering Seed Grant, $15,200.00, 2016.
Principal Investigator (with Ali Beskok as co-PI), “Transport in Nano-Porous Media for Subsurface Environmental Flows: Numerical Modeling and Experimental Validation”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA Lyle School of Engineering Seed Grant, $25,384.00, 2014.
Principal Investigator, "New Equipments for Core CEE Courses”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA Office of Provost, funded with matching contributions of Lyle School of Engineering, $4,000, 2015.
Principal Investigator, "Landfill Gas Measurement with Advanced Portable Landfill Meter”, Southern Methodist University, TX – USA University Research Council, $7864, 2017.

Books and Book Chapters

Şengör, S.S. and Sani, R.K., 2021. Characterization and Quantification of Mobile Bioreduced Uranium Phases. In Microbial Interactions at Nanobiotechnology Interfaces: Molecular Mechanisms and Applications, pp.383-393. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119617181.ch12
Şengör, S.S. and Sani, R.K., 2021. Biogeochemical Interactions of Bioreduced Uranium Nanoparticles. In Microbial Interactions at Nanobiotechnology Interfaces: Molecular Mechanisms and Applications, pp.359-382. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119617181.ch11
Şengör SS. 2019, “Modeling Microbial Activity in Wastewater Treatment”, in MP Shah & SR Rodríguez-Couto (eds), Microbial Wastewater Treatment, Elsevier Inc., pp. 19-42.
Şengör SS. 2019, “Review of Current Applications of Microbial Biopolymers in Soil and Future Perspectives”, in RN Rathinam & RK Sani (eds), Introduction to Biofilm Engineering, American Chemical Society (ACS), ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, pp. 275-299.
Shah MP, Rodríguez-Couto SR & Şengör SS (eds) 2020, Emerging Technologies in Environmental Bioremediation, Elsevier (expected release date: 1st May 2020)

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Kumar, A., Saini, H.S., Şengör, S., Sani, R.K. and Kumar, S., 2021. Bioleaching of metals from waste printed circuit boards using bacterial isolates native to abandoned gold mine. BioMetals, 34(5), pp.1043-1058. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-021-00326-9.
Cheng Y., Arora B., Şengör, S. S., Druhan J.L., Wanner C., van Breukelen B.M., Steefel C.I., 2021. Microbially Mediated Kinetic Sulfur Isotope Fractionation: Reactive Transport Modeling Benchmark. Computational Geosciences, 25(4), pp.1379-1391.
Li, J., & Şengör, S. S. (2020). Biogeochemical cycling of heavy metals in lake sediments: impact of multispecies diffusion and electrostatic effects. Computational Geosciences, 24(4), 1463-1482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-019-09915-7.
Şengör SS., Gikas P., Moberly, J. 2019. Single and joint effects of Zn and Cu to ATP pool and microbial recovery in continuous growth systems. Chem Technol Biotechnol vol 94: 892–899
Koklu A., Li J., Şengör SS., Beskok A. 2017. “Pressure‑driven water flow through hydrophilic alumina nanomembranes”. Microfluid Nanofluid 21:124
Heidarizad M, Şengör SS. 2016. “Graphene Oxide/Magnesium Oxide Nanocomposites as Superior Sorbents for Methylene Blue Removal from Aqueous Solutions”. Journal of Molecular Liquids vol 24, 607-617
Şengör SS, Singh G, Dohnalkova A, Spycher N, Ginn T, Peyton B, and Sani RK. 2016. “Aggregation of biogenic U(IV) nanoparticles: Impact of different environmental conditions” Journal of BioMetals, 1-16
Tayyebi A, Tayebi M, Shafikhani A, and Şengör SS. 2016. ZnO quantum dots-graphene composites: Formation mechanism and enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange dye. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 663: 738-749.
Şengör SS, Mayer KU, Greskowiak J, Wanner C, Su D., and Prommer H. 2015. A reactive transport benchmark on modeling biogenic uraninite re-oxidation by Fe (III)-(hydr) oxides. Comput Geosci, vol 19(3), 569-583
Yabusaki SB, Şengör SS, and Fang Y. 2015. A uranium bioremediation reactive transport benchmark. Comput Geosci, vol 19(3), pp 551-567
Arora B., Şengör SS, Steefel C., Spycher N. 2015. A Benchmarking Study On Heavy Metal Cycling In Lake Sediments. Comput Geosci Journal, vol 19, pp 613–633.
Alt-Epping P., Tournassat C., Rasouli P., Steefel C.I. , Mayer K.U., Jenni A., Mäder U., Şengör S.S. , Fernandez R. 2015. Benchmark reactive transport simulations of a column experiment in compacted bentonite with multi-species diffusion and explicit treatment of electrostatic effects. Comput Geosci Journal vol 19, pp 535–550.
Singh G, Şengör SS, De J, Stewart B, Squillace E, Spycher N, Ginn T, Peyton B, and Sani RK. 2014. Reoxidation of Biogenic Reduced Uranium – A Challenge Towards Bioremediation, Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44(4): 391-415.
Şengör S.S. , and P. Gikas. 2014. The Influence of Single and Combined Effects of Zn, Cu and Temperature on Microbial Growth. Global Nest Journal 16.4 (2014): 699-706
Şengör SS, Ünlü K. 2013. Modeling contaminant transport and remediation at an acrylonitrile spill site in Turkey, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, Vol. 150, pp 77-92.
Şengör S.S. , Ginn T.R., Brugato C., Gikas P. 2013. Anaerobic Microbial Growth Near Thermodynamic Equilibrium as a Function of ATP/ADP Cycle: The effect of Maintenance Energy Requirements, Biochemical Engineering Journal 81: 65–72.
Şengör SS, Gikas P, Moberly JG, Peyton B, Ginn TR. 2012. Comparison of single and joint effects of Zn and Cu in continuous flow and batch reactors, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 87: 374-380.
Spycher NF, Issarangkun M, Stewart B, Şengör SS, Belding E, Ginn, TM, Peyton BM, and Sani RK. 2011. On Modeling Biogenic Uraninite Precipitation and Reoxidation by Iron(III)(hydr)oxides: Thermodynamic and Kinetic Considerations, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 75: 4426-4440.
Şengör S.S. , Barua, S., Gikas, P., Ginn T.R., Peyton B., Sani R., Spycher N., 2009. The influence of heavy metals on microbial growth kinetics including lag time: Mathematical Modeling and Experimental Verification, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 28(10), 2020-2029.
Moberly J.G., Sani R.K, Borch T., Spycher N., Şengör S.S. , Ginn T.R., Peyton B., 2009. Heavy Metal-Mineral Associations in Coeur d'Alene River Sediments: A Synchrotron Based Analysis, Water Air Soil Pollution, Vol. 201, pp. 195-208.
Gikas, P., Şengör S.S. , Ginn T.R., Moberly J., Peyton, B., 2009. The effects of heavy metals and temperature on microbial growth and lag, Global Nest Journal, Vol. 11(3), pp. 325-332.
Şengör S.S. , Spycher N., Ginn T.R., Sani R., Peyton B., 2007. Biogeochemical reactive diffusive transport of heavy metals in Lake Coeur d'Alene sediments. Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 22, pp. 2569-2594.

Technical Reports

Ginn, T.R., Massoudieh, A., Diaz, M. E., Sengor, S.S, 2005. “Mathematical Modeling of Fate and Transport of Aqueous Species in Stormflow Entering Infiltration Basin”, Sacramento, California.

Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings

Arora B., Mayer K.U., Steefel C.I. , Spycher N, Şengör S.S., Jacquez D., Alt-Epping P., 2014. "Reactive Transport Benchmarks on Heavy Metal Cycling" Goldschmidt 69.
Şengör SS, Greskowiak, J., Prommer, H. 2012. Modeling Reactive Transport of Biogenic Uraninite and its Re-oxidation by Fe(III)-(hydr)oxides, Mineralogical Magazine, 76(6), 2353. goldschmidtabstracts.info/2012/2353.pdf.
Spycher NF, Zhang G, Şengör SS, Issarangkun M, Barkouki M, Ginn TR, Wu Y, Smith R, Hubbard S,, Fujita Y, Sani RK, Peyton BM. 2009. Application of TOUGHREACT v2.0 to environmental systems. Proceedings, TOUGH Symposium 2009, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, September 14-16, 2009, pp 1-8.
Şengör S.S., Spycher N., Ginn T.R., Sani R.K., Peyton B. 2006. Modeling biogeochemical dynamics of heavy metal transport in benthic sediments of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Abstracts of papers – American Chemical Society v.232.
Şengör S.S., Spycher N., Ginn T.R., Moberly J.G., Peyton B., Sani R.K, 2007. Reductive dissolution and metal transport in Lake Coeur d'Alene sediments. In Water-Rock Interaction, WRI-12 (Bullen T. and Wang Y., eds.), vol. 2. Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp. 895-899.

Invited Seminars and Presentations

Şengör, S.S., 2017. “Heavy Metal Toxicity and Modeling Subsurface Microbial Community Dynamics”, University of Minnesota, February, 2017. (Invited)
Şengör, S.S., 2016. “Mathematical Modeling of Subsurface Microbial Community Dynamics and Heavy Metal Toxicity”, University of Texas, Austin, June, 2016. (Invited)
Şengör S.S, G. Singh, A. Dohnalkova, N. Spycher, T.R Ginn, B.Peyton, R.K Sani, American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, “Aggregation of Biogenic U(IV) Nanoparticles: Impact of Different Environmental Conditions”, Dallas, TX, March 16-20, 2014.
H. Prommer, O.Atteia, S.S. Sengor, B.Rathi, J. Davis, 2014. “Arsenic Mobilisation under non-isothermal conditions”, Subsurface Environmental Simulation Benchmarking Workshop IV, October 6-8, 2014, Château de Cadarache, France , (Invited).
B. Arora, K.U. Mayer, C.I. Steefel, N.F. Spycher, S.S. Sengor, D. Jacques, and P. Alt-Epping, 2014. “Reactive Transport Benchmarks on Heavy Metal Cycling”, Goldschmidt International Conference, Sacramento, CA, June 8-13, 2014.
Şengör S.S., Wu M., Prommer H. 2013. “Assessment of the grid-dependent accuracy of mixing-controlled reactive transport”, Subsurface Environmental Simulation Benchmarking Workshop III, November 11-13, 2013 Leipzig, Germany, organized by Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Invited).
Arora B., Şengör S.S., Steefel C., and Spycher N. 2013. “A benchmarking Study On Heavy Metal Cycling In Lake Sediments”, Subsurface Environmental Simulation Benchmarking Workshop III, November 11-13, 2013 Leipzig, Germany, organized by Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Invited).
Yabusaki S., Şengör S.S., Fang Y., and Waichler S. 2013. “In Situ Bioremediation of Uranium Contaminated Groundwater”, Subsurface Environmental Simulation Benchmarking Workshop III, November 11-13, 2013 Leipzig, Germany, organized by Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Invited).
Şengör, S.S., 2013. “Modeling Subsurface Microbial Community Dynamics in Ecosystems Impacted by Metal Toxicity”, South Dakota School of Mine & Technology, October 15, 2013. (Invited)
Şengör SS, Greskowiak J., Prommer H,, Spycher N. 2012. “Simulating bioprecipitation and re-oxidation of uraninite” invited presentation at the Subsurface Environmental Simulation Benchmarking Workshop II, October 29 -November 1, 2012 Kwoh-Ting Library, National Central University, Taiwan (Invited).
S. Sevinc Sengor, Janek Greskowiak, Henning Prommer, Nicolas Spycher, 2011. “Biogenic uraninite re-oxidation applications in PHT3D”, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Subsurface Environmental Simulation Benchmarking Workshop, Berkeley, CA, November 15-18, 2011 (Invited).
Rajesh Sani, Rajneesh Jaswal, Sudhir Kumar, S. Sevinç Şengör, Ravi Kukkadapu, Alice Dohnalkova, Brent M. Peyton, Nicolas Spycher, and Timothy R Ginn. 2012. “Fate, transport, and stability of biogenic uraninite: its interactions with microbes and soil minerals”, International Workshop: 'Uranium biogeochemistry: transformations and applications', Ascona, Switzerland, March 11-16, 2012. (Invited).
Şengör, S.S., 2007. “Biogeochemical Cycling of Heavy Metals in Benthic Sediments of Lake Coeur d'Alene”, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, September 20, 2007. (Invited)

Graduate Students Supervised (Theses and Dissertations)

Jianing Li (Ph.D student) –graduated in May 2017

Dissertation Title: Reactive Transport of Heavy Metals in Lake Sediments: Impacts of Multicomponent Diffusion and Reductive Dissolution of Manganese Oxides

Roshni Kalyanasundaram (MS Student) – graduated in Spring 2015

Thesis Title: Precipitation of Biogenic Uraninite Under Different Environmental Conditions: A Reaction Modelling Approach

Editorial Activities

Associate editor for the "Journal of Environmental Management", an ISI journal published by Elsevier, with impact factor of 4.049
Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Bioremediation and Biodegradation
Editorial Board Member for the Avicenna Journal of Environmental Health Engineering

University Service Activities

METU Department of Environmental Engineering, ABET Coordinator (2020 - ongoing)
METU Department of Environmental Engineering, Summer Practice Coordinator (2020 - ongoing)
METU Department of Environmental Engineering, Undergraduate Committee Member (2020 - ongoing)
SMU USA Lyle School of Engineering Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) Member, (2012 – 2014).
SMU USA Lyle School of Engineering Representative on the Undergraduate Research Assistantships Steering Group (URA SG), (2013 – 2017)
SMU USA CEE Environmental Faculty Search Committee Member (2011-2017)
“Ethics Toolkit" Design Team Committee Member led by the Hart Institute/SMU (2011-2012)
Texas Society of Professional Engineers, SMU USA Student Chapter Advisor, (2011-2017).
Faculty advisor for the MATHCOUNTS competition (SMU, USA). MATHCOUNTS is a national middle school coaching and competitive mathematics program that promotes mathematics achievement through a series of contests (2012 – 2017)
Mentor for Spring 2010 Women in Engineering Link (WEL) Program, University of California-Davis, USA.

Other Professional Service Activities

Reviewer for various journals in the field including Environmental Science & Technology, Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Journal of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Journal of Applied Water Science, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Journal of Environmental Management, Journal of Water, Air & Soil Pollution, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, etc.
Guest speaker for Glenn C. Hardin Intermediate School for a Duncanville ISD project based learning initiative for 5th grade class students in Duncanville (2013)
Collaborated with Region 10 Education Service Center (ESC) to provide high-quality, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) aligned professional development to math educators throughout Texas Region 10 (2015).
Proposal review committee and project advisory committee member for the Water Research Foundation (WRF) USA (2015).
National Science Foundation (NSF) USA (proposal reviewer)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) USA (proposal reviewer)

Last Updated:

09/03/2022 - 15:26