Metrohm recently announced College of Engineering PhD candidate Elle Akbari as their 2025 Young Chemist Award winner for her current research project, “Thermal Treatment of PFAS: Investigating Pathways to Effective Destruction.”
To celebrate impactful chemical research, Metrohm selects one recipient from the United States as their award winner to receive a cash prize and travel stipend. This year’s challenge brief sought research submissions regarding sustainability issues; a perfect match for Akbari’s research on PFAS.
Encouraged by her advisor, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Gangadhar Andaluri, to apply, she had no expectations of winning.
" At first, I thought maybe they were wrong,” Akbari says. However, after having some time to digest the win, she cites the award as helping to improve her self-confidence as she proceeds with her research.
She is currently pursuing her PhD in environmental engineering with a thesis on the potential destruction of PFAS.
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances and often referred to as “forever chemicals,” are found in many of our water systems. While there is much research focused on removing PFAS from the water supply, no current destruction methods exist. Akbari hopes to change this with her research.
Her journey to PFAS research and environmental engineering didn’t start with the typical background. Akbari received her bachelor’s degree from Amirkabir University of Technology with a double major of mining engineering and chemical engineering.
She originally chose mining engineering to follow in the footsteps of her father and brother. However, as she moved through her courses, she wasn’t sure that mining engineering was her passion. Her perspective changed on a class site visit to a mine. Akbari witnessed some mining process that she thought could have a negative impact on the environment. It got her thinking about how to minimize the environmental impacts of acid mine drainage and the potential for a career pivot.
After finishing her undergraduate degree Akbari moved into a master’s program for mining engineering but still considered a future in environmental engineering. She later applied to Temple in the middle of her master’s program, not sure if she’d be accepted. To her surprise, she was admitted and made the whirlwind move from Iran to Philadelphia to begin her PhD program just two weeks after successfully defending her master's thesis.
With limited knowledge of PFAS when she first started, Akbari quickly got to work learning more about her new field of environmental engineering. Now two years into the program, her PhD thesis proposal has been approved as she moves forward with her research focus.
While her main focus is completing her PhD, Akbari is still planning for the future. She hopes to work in industry for a few years with the long-term plan to attend law school and become an environmental lawyer, citing the widespread impact policy can have in the environmental field.
“I think having some people that are experts in a field and know the field knowledge and the law about it, they can set the law and enforce the law. That’s going to be really helpful for the whole world. I think right now we need that,” Akbari elaborates.
In March, Akbari will attend PittCon as part of her Young Chemist Award. She will present the research she submitted for the award and is looking forward to discussing her research with colleagues.
Above all research aspirations, Akbari hopes to leave her mark on the environmental field.
“Being someone who can control something, even small things like help less people release pollution into the environment, that’s going to be my job in life. I think you can make a difference and make big changes in your work.”