Environmental pollution is a global concern that is threatening the well-being of all life forms including humans. The cost of cleaning up contaminated sites is high and phytoremediation, the use of plants for removal of environmental pollutants, offers an attractive option due to its low cost and safety of implementation. The hairy roots technology has potential to become an excellent platform...

The objective of our research is to screen and search for suitable plant species for phytoremediation of mercury-contaminated soil. Currently our effort is specifically focused on mercury removal from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Site, where mercury contamination is a major concern in the Y-12 Watershed area. In order to cost effectively implement those remediation efforts cu...

Dear Editor, In their recent article published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Anna Ogar et al. (2015) have shown, thanks to a careful experimental design, that the addition of diazotrophic bacteria together with mycorrhizal fungi significantly improves plant growth and performance. Strikingly, the addition of inoculum containing only diazotrophs but not mycorrhizal fungi had c...

Flannigan, and Nick Erdman. Thanks to Richard specifically for offering endless assistance and support in spite of many difficulties I encountered along the way. Above all, I would like to thank Jerry Schnoor for his guidance throughout the course of my graduate studies. In addition, I would like to thank all the amazing professors that comprise the Environmental Engineering department and thei...