OSU Graduate Student Wins Poster Contest at an Annual Energy Conference

EPSCoR Update - November 2023 

OSU Graduate Student Wins Poster Contest at an Annual Energy Conference

Damilare Ajagbe, a Ph.D. student in Dr. Babu Fathepure’s laboratory at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, won first place in the 2023 Roger Farer Annual Conference’s student poster competition, which was held on October 10, 2023 at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK. The conference was hosted by the Oklahoma Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEEOK) and the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council (OREC).

 Mr. Ajagbe presented his work on bioremediation of oil-contaminated hypersaline produced water using halophilic bacteria. To determine the potential of the isolated bacteria for produced water clean-up, Mr. Ajagbe investigated the ability of the bacteria to tolerate high salinity, degrade hydrocarbons, and tolerate heavy metal toxicity. 

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Ajagbe’s research is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OIA-1946093 through the OK-NSF EPSCoR.