PhD Theses
Author: Lu Huang, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: November 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Committee: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture, Dr. Helen Jarvie, Dr. Maria Dittrich
Author: Igor Markelov, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: January 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Nandita Basu, Dr. George Arhonditsis, Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Sergei Katsev
Title: Interactions of Phosphate and Silicate with Iron oxides in Freshwater Environments
Author: Md Abdus Sabur, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: April 2019
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons
Committee: Dr. Carol Ptacek, Dr. Thai Phan, Dr. Roland Hall, Dr. Grant Ferris
Title: Hydrobiogeophysics: Linking geo-electrical Properties and Biogeochemical Processes in Shallow Subsurface Environments
Author: Adrian Mellage, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: December 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Yuxin Wu, Dr. Alex Furman, Dr. Anthony Endres, Dr. Frank Gu
Title: Tracing Redox cycles during Microbe Clay Interactions Using Stables Iron Isotopes
Author: Bingjie Shi, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: October 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Eric Roden, Dr. Laura Hug, Dr. Paul Schroeder, Dr. David Blowes
Title: Watershed Ecosystem Services: Linking Economic Valuation and Ecohydrology
Author: Tariq Aziz, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Jie He, Dr. Steve Evans, Dr. Alain-Désiré Nimubona, Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture
Author: Zahra Akabarzadeh, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Sergei Katsev, Dr. William Taylor, Dr. Nandita Basu, Dr. Anniet Laverman
Title: Coupling Reactive Transport and Travel Time Modeling at Watershed Scale
Author: Gabriel Bacca-Cortes, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Jan Fleckenstein, Dr. David Rudolph, Dr. James Craig, Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Title: Perturbations to nutrient and carbon cycles by river damming
Author: Taylor Maavara, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: June 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Christiane Zarfl, Dr. Brian Kendall, Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Jens Hartmann
Author: Helen Powley, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: April 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen,
Committee: Dr. Kathleen Ruttenberg, Dr. Hans Dürr, Dr. Ralph Smith, and Dr. Michael Krom
Author: Ekaterina Markelova, cotutelle PhD between Unversity of Waterloo and Université Grenoble Alpes
Date: January 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture, and Dr. Laurent Charlet
Committee: Dr. Grant Ferris, Dr. Matthew Lindsay, Dr. David Blowes, Dr. Mark Servos, Dr. Alex Sobolev, and Dr. Benoît Madé
Title: Biogeochemistry of selenium isotopes: processes, cycling and paleoenvironmental applications
Author: Kristen Mitchell, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Date: September 2012
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Paul Mason
MSc Theses
Author: Mehdi Ramezanzadeh, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: February 2023
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Neil Thomson and Dr. Dave Rudolph
Title: Field derived phosphorus accumulation rates and fractionation in bioretention cells
Author: Ariel Lisogorsky, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2022
Supervisors: Dr. Elodie Passeport and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Author: Riley Mills, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2022
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Matthew Ginder-Vogel and Dr. Eric Roden
Title: Impact of Winter Soil Processes on Nutrient Leaching in Cold Region Agroecosystems
Author: Konrad Krogstad, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: February 2021
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Laura Hug and Dr. Dave Rudolph
Author: Heather Townsend, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2021
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Scott Smith and Dr. Thai Phan
Title: Influence of a dammed reservoir on nutrient (N, P, Si) loads and ratios of the Thames River, Ontario
Author: Nady Kao, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Committee: Dr. Ryan Sorichetti (Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks) and Dr. Nandita Basu
Author: Shengde Yu, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: September 2020
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada) and Dr. Nandita Basu
Author: Linden Fairbairn, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Thai Phan, Dr. Chris Parsons
Title: Phosphorus Legacies and Water Quality Risks: A Vulnerability-Based Framework in Southern Ontario
Author: Tamara Van Staden, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2019
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Nandita Basu and Dr. Chris Parsons
Title: Bioenergetics of mixotrophic metabolisms: A theoretical analysis
Author: Stephanie Slowinski, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: June 2019
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Laura Hug and Dr. Carol Ptacek
Author: Christine Ridenour, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2017
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Chris Parsons
Title: Assessing Microbial Viability and Biodegradation Capabilities in Sandstone
Author: Elaine Secord, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: November 2017
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Industrial Supervisors: Evan Cox (Geosyntec Consultants, Inc.), and Dr. David Reynolds (Geosyntec)
Committee: Dr. David Blowes and Dr. James Longstaffe
Author: Tatjana Milojevic, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Elodie Passeport, Dr. Lingling Wu, Dr. Scott Smith
Title: Plastic Debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes: Classification, Distribution and Environmental Drivers
Author: Alex Driedger, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: June 2015
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Kristen Mitchell and Dr. Andrea Vander Woude
Author: Amanda Niederkorn, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: May 2015
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. David Rudolph and Dr. Michael English
Title: Metal loads in an urban catchment (Don River, Ontario)
Author: Sana Louie, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Date: January 2015
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. David Blowes and Dr. Bruce MacVicar
Author: Saliy Shaker, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2014
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Nandita Basu and Dr. Jens Hartmann
Title: Effect of organic carbon substrates on denitrification rates in riparian sediment
Author: Melisa Hollingham, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2013
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture
Committee: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. John Spoelstra
Title: Aqueous speciation of selenium during its uptake by green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Author: Xu Zhang, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Date: March 2013
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture
Undergraduate 4th Year Theses
Kathleen Murr (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2021)
Thesis Title:
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Jane Ye (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2021)
Thesis Title:
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Homa Kheyrollah Pour (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Haoya Yin (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)
Thesis Title: Critical evaluation of bioretention cells for nutrient control in urban watersheds with cold climates
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Mahyar Shafii
Jianqi Kang (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)
Thesis Title: The effect of soil composition and temperature on sorption-desorption mechanisms of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Bingjie Shi
Victoria Elgersma (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)
Thesis Title: Natural Source Zone Depletion in Vadose and Saturated Zones Contaminated by Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Bingjie Shi
Nidhu Jagoda (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)
Thesis Title: Temperature and moisture controls on CO2 flux dynamics in northern peatlands
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Andrei Ivan Miler (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)
Thesis Title: Temperature Sensitivity of a DNA-Based Biosensor for Hg2+ Detection in Natural Water Samples
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Kunfu Pi
Riley Mills (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2019)
Thesis Title: The Influence of Snow Cover on Soil Temperature and Freeze-Thaw Cycles
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Zhejun He (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2019)
Thesis Title: Understanding the key environmental factors controlling the fate and transport of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) in soils
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Stephane Ngueleu
Heather Townsend (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2018)
Thesis Title: Effect of freezing and thawing cycles on solute transport in agricultural soils
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Jiawei Pan (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2018)
Thesis Title: SIP as geophysical signature to understand the soil physical and hydraulic properties
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Adrian Mellage
Linden Fairbairn (BSc), Department of Biology, (2017)
Thesis Title: Effects of salt-water intrusion on carbon dioxide fluxes in coastal peatlands
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Joel Kim (BSc), Department of Biology, (2017)
Thesis Title: Phosphorus bioavailability to algae
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Christopher Parsons
Stephanie Slowinski (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2016)
Thesis Title: Quantifying the role of groundwater and seasonal drivers of nutrient silica fluxes in the lower Grand River
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Danny Hyumin Oh (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2015)
Thesis Title: The influence of water table fluctuation on nutrient dynamics in sand from a freshwater beach environment
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Dr. Avid Banihashemi, and Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Rachele Fischer (BSc), Department of Chemistry, (2014)
Thesis Title: Identifying phosphorous species in the sediment of an eutrophic Nordic lake
Supervisor: Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture
Krista Thrasher (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2014)
Thesis Title: Solid-phase Geochemical Investigation of Groundwater - Lake Interactions at Beaches of the Great Lakes
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Tatjana Milojevic (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2014)
Thesis Title: Contribution of Soil Organic Carbon to the Denitrification Process and Nitrous Oxide Production under Denitrifying Conditions
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Joey Jiangyue Ju (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2013)
Thesis Title: Land-use Impact on Amorphous Silica at the rare Charitable Research Reserve
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Hans Dürr, and Dr. Kristin Mueller
Eric Mcquay (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2013)
Thesis Title: Electrical Conductivity as a Signal of Microbial Activity in Areas of Fluctuating Water Tables
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
