About Us

Dr. Davis' interests are in aquatic and interfacial environmental chemistry and physicochemical treatment processes. Recently, his primary research focus has been on urban stormwater quality. This includes characterization of stormwater quality and developing treatment technologies. The Davis Research Group has intensively examined bioretention for water quality improvement. Other related research areas include examination of water quality improvement employing other stormwater control measures and the development of media for targeting removal of specific pollutants. 

Dr. Lazur is a statewide Water Quality Specialist with University of Maryland Extension providing septic and private well education primarily to homeowners. He has vast expertise in drinking water treatment, fisheries, and environmental health communication.

Padmini Ramachandran is a Research biologist at the Division of Microbiology, CFSAN. She has been working on the application of metagenomics on food safety within FDA. She works on developing methods based on target and non-target metagenomic techniques to describe ecologies associated with high risk crops and to identify filth in complex food commodities. Her ecological data are used to complement and improve pathogen detection methods from complex environmental samples. She works with metagenomics team to develop precision analysis tools for the detection of outbreak strains from food matrices.

Key Interests: Metagenomics, Data analysis, and Prediction modeling.

Changwen Ding is a sophomore at the University of Maryland studying Public Health Science. She is interested in environmental health, toxicology, and microbiology. This summer with Dr. Malayil and Dr. Murray, she learned valuable microbiology techniques, lab skills, and gained experience with all sides of academia. 

Miranda is a recent graduate with a degree in Public Health Science from the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland. She is interested in analyzing the environmental justice inequities associated with climate change. She worked with Dr. Leena Malayil and Dr. Rianna Murray to gain a better understanding of how different laboratory techniques can be used to understand ecological systems.