Dr. Duran’s teaching and research interests concentrate in application of biological processes for wastewater treatment, bioremediation, solid and hazardous waste management, and water quality control.  He has been teaching undergraduate and graduate level environmental engineering courses since he received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1996.  He taught introductory microbiology courses at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) for one year before he joined the faculty at Villanova University.  Lately, he has been studying microbial source tracking by phenotypic methods, gene expression for quantification of viable but non-culturable cells in biosolids, and understanding microbial community dynamics of anaerobic processes using genotypic approaches.

		Education		Awards and honors
		Experience		Complete CV
		Recent publications		Courses
		Current research activities		Family photos
		CEE seminar series

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1996

M.Sc., Vanderbilt University, 1993

B.Sc., Istanbul Technical University,Turkey, 1990

EXPERIENCE

Villanova University, Villanova, PA (August 2002-Present)

Associate Professor (August 2007-Present)

Assistant Professor(August 2002-2007)

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia , PA (February 2006-May 2006)

Visiting Scholar

Genomics and Microarray Core Facility

Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI (August 2004-Present)

Assistant Adjunct Professor

Water Quality Center

Miami University, Oxford, OH (August 2001-July 2002)

Visiting Assistant Professor

Department of Microbiology

Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA (January 2000-July 2001)

Research Associate

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey (July 1997-September 1999)

Assistant Professor

Department of Environmental Engineering

AWARDS and HONORS

• Advisor to winner of 2008 Pennsylvania Water Environment Federation Student Research Award: R.J. Sindelar, David Kendall, and Ryan Clark “Testing Efficacy of FAME Profiling for Predicting Sources of Fecal Pollution”

• Advisor to Winner of Montgomery-Watson-Harza Engineers/AEESP Masters Thesis of Year Award, 2005: Berat Z. Haznedaroglu “Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Profiling of Indicator Organisms for Microbial Source Tracking”

• Advisor to 1st Place winner of Graduate Division Student Technical Paper Competition of ASCE/EWRI, 2004: Nalan Tepe “Anaerobic Digestion of and Industrial Waste with High Solids Content: Effects of Co-Digestion with Waste Activated Sludge”

• Advisor to winner of Pennsylvania Water Environment Association’s 2004 Research Award, 2004: Berat Z. Haznedaroglu “Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) Profiling for Microbial Source Tracking: Theory and Applications”

• Advisor to 1st Prize winner undergraduate group in Parsons Brinkerhoff Capstone Design Contest of ASCE/EWRI, 2004

• Early Career Award, University of Istanbul, 1998

• Turkish Ministry of Education Scholarship for M.Sc. and Ph.D., 1991-1996

• Graduation magna cum laude, Istanbul Technical University, 1990

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS (Total: 23 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 26 in conference proceedings)

1. Tepe, N., Yurtsever, D., Duran, M., Mehta, R.J., Bruno, C., and Punzi, V.L. 2008. “Odor control during post-digestion processing of biosolids through bioaugmentation of anaerobic digestion”, Water Science and Technology, 57(4):589-594.

2. Zitomer, D.H., Duran, M., Richard Albert, R. and Guven, E. 2007. “Thermophilic aerobic granular biomass for enhanced settleability”, Water Research, 41(4):819-825.

3. Haznedaroglu, B.Z., Yurtsever, D., Lefkowitz, J.R., and Duran, M. 2007. “Phenotypic characterization of Escherichia coli through whole-cell fatty acid profiling to investigate host specificity”, Water Research, 41(4):803-809.

4. Tepe, N., Shimko, L.A., and Duran, M. 2006. “Toxic Effects of Thiol-reactive Compounds on Anaerobic Biotransfromation” Bioresource Technology,  Vol. 97, No. 4, pp. 592-598.

5. Haznedaroglu, B.Z., Zitomer, D.H., Hughes-Strange, G.B., and Duran, M. 2005. “Whole-cell Fatty Acid Composition of Total Coliforms to Predict Sources of Fecal Contamination”,  Journal of Environmental Engineering, ASCE., Vol. 131, No. 10, pp. 1426-1432.

6. Duran, M. and Tepe, N. 2004. “Co-Digestion with Waste Activated Sludge for Improved Methanogenesis from High Solids Industrial Waste” Environmental Technology, Vol. 25, No. 8, pp.919-927.

7. Duran, M. and Chadderton, R.A. 2004. “Preparing Engineering Students for a Future in Anaerobic Digestion”, Biocycle: Journal of Composting and Organics Recycling, Vol. 45, No. 7, pp. 55-56.  

REPRESENTATIVE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

1. Optimizing the performance of anaerobic sludge digestion process at NEWPCP of Philadelphia Water Department ($186,615)

2. NSF MRI Project: The Core Genomics Laboratory for teaching and research in biotechnology ($211,811)

3. Microbial source tracking by FAME profiling of indicator organisms ($152,400) (Final report to PA DEP)

4. Feasibility of using microarrays for rapid and accurate on-site identification of pathogens in naval emergencies ($68,744)

5. Gene expression for detection and quantification of viable but non-culturable pathogens in biosolids ($12,500)

6. Evaluating Effects of Natural Enzymes and Plant-Based Materials on Anaerobic Digestion ($17,470)

Last updated

August 2008