Mirna Stas, Office Manager

Mirna is responsible for managing the IT₂ office, including responsibilities in client relations, and financial management. Mirna is responsible for correspondence with clients to address all of their analytical service needs.

Irem Albak (M.P.P. University of Erfurt), Project Coordinator

Irem is tasked with overseeing the implementation and tracking of all client projects from beginning to end to ensure TATs are met. Irem is responsible for processing analysis requests by receiving, logging and labelling of samples, and issuing reports of completed projects. Furthermore, Irem maintains consistent communication with clients to provide project updates and respond to further inquiries.

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Shamila Khurshid, Bookkeeper/Accounts Specialist

Shamila is responsible for post journal entries and reconciling accounts, preparation of trial balance of books, and maintenance of general ledgers. Furthermore, Shamila is responsible for calculation and preparation of cheques for payrolls, supplier invoices, government remittances as well as other expenditures. She also undertakes the completion and submission of tax remittance forms, workers’ compensation forms, pension contribution forms and other government documents.

Lana Stas, Human Resource (HR) Administrator

Lana handles all HR related inquiries, administers HR related documentation, assists in recruitment, and issues all relevant correspondence for new hires.

Adam Mihailov (B.Sc. University of Waterloo), Isotope Technician

Adam is responsible for the analysis of samples on the Gas Chromatography – Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (GC-IRMS). Adam’s responsibilities include: the preparation of inorganic samples for ³⁷Cl, ⁸¹Br, and ⁸⁷Sr/86Sr. Adam is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of the GC-IRMS system. Adam is involved in most research and development projects that IT₂ conducts.

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Nikki Nguyen (B.Sc. University of Waterloo), Isotope Technician

Nikki is responsible for the analysis of samples on the Elemental Analyzer – Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (EA-IRMS). Nikki’s responsibilities include the preparation and analysis of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon (DIC & DOC) for ¹³C, the preparation of inorganic carbon samples for ¹⁴C radiocarbon analysis, the extraction and analysis of dissolved sulphates for ³⁴S and ¹⁸O, the preparation and analysis of carbonates for ¹³C and ¹⁸O, and the analysis of solid samples for ¹³C and ¹⁵N. Nikki is involved in most research and development projects that IT₂ conducts.

Richard Drimmie (B.Sc. Waterloo), Tritium Technician
Richard is responsible for the tritium analysis which includes, sample pre-treatment (ion exchange, Azeotropic distillation), electrolytic enrichment, post-treatment, preparation, and finally counting via the Liquid Scintillation Counter (LSC).

Tatyana Jackson (B.Sc. University of Waterloo), Isotope Technician
Tatyana is responsible for the extraction and analysis of dissolved sulphates for ³⁴S and ¹⁸O, the preparation and analysis of carbonates for ¹³C and ¹⁸O, and the analysis of solid samples for ¹³C and ¹⁵N.

Dr. Jordi Palau
Dr. Jordi Palau is Hydrogeologist focused on the study of water contamination. Currently, he is a Postdoc at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology, University of Barcelona. His main research topic is the development of isotope methods to assess degradation processes of chlorinated aliphatic compounds in the subsurface. Stable isotope methods are an attractive tool to investigate transformation processes because they are associated with a characteristic shift of the isotope ratio of the contaminants. The major purpose is the use of compound specific dual isotope analysis (³⁷Cl/³⁵Cl,¹³C/¹²C and ²H/¹H) to obtain mechanistic information about the type of transformation and to elucidate the degradation pathway.

Dr. Massimo Marchesi
Massimo Marchesi is currently a Postdoctoral International Fellowship (PIF) at Politecnico di Milano. His research interests are pursuing the development and application of innovative tools, particularly stable isotopes for contaminant characterization and remediation in the subsurface including:
¹³C, ²H, and ³⁷Cl Compound-Specific Stable Isotope Analysis (CSIA) for source appointment and natural degradation processes evaluation of chlorinated solvents and hydrocarbon contaminants;
stable isotopes ³⁴S, ¹⁸O, ¹⁵N, ²H, and ¹³C to infer water sources, geochemistry, source appointment, and natural attenuation of several compounds such as NO₃^–, SO₄², CO₂, and CH₄;
And CSIA for remediation assessment including Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA), In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO), Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRB) bio-sparging, and land sulphate application among others.
Massimo Marchesi visits IT² regularly for innovative stable isotope analysis development and applications. Recently, ²H and ³⁷Cl-CSIA methods for less investigated compounds such aromatic solvents were developed while a new project with regards to CSIA and stable isotope application dealing with explosive related contaminants including nitro aromatics is currently under development.

Liu Zhu Chen

Liu is a doctoral candidate form China University of Geosciences. Liu’s research focuses on bromine and carbon isotopic analysis of organic contaminants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). She has determined the carbon isotope of some selected PBDEs congeners from different suppliers by EA-IRMS, she has also performed bromine isotopic analysis of these congeners by off-line methods. This work is very helpful for contamination source appointment of PBDEs in the environment. Liu is now working on compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of carbon for PBDEs by SPME-GC-C-IRMS, she is also performing carbon isotopic fractionation of PBDEs during different degradation process, which is useful for the identification of transformation of these compounds in the environment. Furthermore, Liu is looking at how compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of bromine for PBDEs could be set up in the future.

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Dr. Mustafa Eissa
Dr. Eissa was granted his PhD in hydrogeology and flow modeling from the University of Nevada Reno, USA in August 2012. He worked as a graduate research assistant in the hydrologic science division at the Desert Research Institute for five years from September 2007 to September 2012. Currently, he is a visiting researcher at IT² conducting research with Dr. Orfan Shoukar Stash concerning carbon dating, characterization of seawater intrusion, determination of groundwater recharge sources and contaminant transport, water resource portability, and sustainability in coastal aquifers.

Research Interests:

My research interests focus on groundwater resource sustainability, isotopes tracing, water-rock interactions, geochemistry, sea water intrusion, groundwater management, and solute transport. I am interested in groundwater modeling and analytical and numerical solutions (MODFLOW, SEAWAT) for assessing groundwater flow. My PhD dissertation focused on water-rock interactions, geochemical modeling (NETPATH), multi tracer isotopes, and groundwater sustainability in the Wadi Watir watershed, Sinai, Egypt. The main objectives of my dissertation are for the determination of groundwater recharge sources in the Wadi Watir watershed. This research will allow better groundwater management downstream, in the quaternary coastal aquifer to avoid seawater intrusion from the Gulf of Aqaba, and upwelling of deep saline layer in this aquifer, using a 3-D variable-density flow model (MODFLOW/SEAWAT). I also utilize different isotopic tracers (¹⁴C, ¹³C, ¹⁸O, ²H, ³⁷Cl, ⁸¹Br, ⁸⁷/⁸⁶Sr and¹¹B) that have an impact on the determination of groundwater recharge sources, seawater, and rock water interactions. In addition, I am working towards quantifying the annual groundwater recharge for local hydrogeological basins using analytical and numerical models.

Ahmad Abuharara

Ahmad’s project focuses on the geochemical capabilities of the coupled isotopes of water (noble gases and atmospheric gases), and radiogenic isotopes (Sr, H, O, Cl, Br) for the determination of: magma sources of heat, the age of water in the reservoir (to avoid overexploitation of water reserves not renewed at human scale), the spatial extent of the geothermal fluid circulation within the volcanic structure and outside it, and the volumes of re-injected fluids and the invasion rate of them within high enthalpy areas.

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Fatemeh Vakili (D.Sc. University of Waterloo), Isotope Specialist

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