Shane Trussell
President & CEO - Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Rhodes Trussell
Chairman of the Board - Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Celine Trussell
Chief Financial & Strategy Officer - P.E., BCEE
Bryan Trussell
Director of Engineering - P.E., BCEE
Eileen Idica
Director of Engineering - Ph.D., P.E.
Brian Pecson
Director of Engineering - Ph.D., P.E.
Aleks Pisarenko
Director of Plant Operation and Maintenance Services, Ph.D., WTPO Level 5
Keel Robinson
Director of Business Development
David Hokanson
Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, Potable Reuse Lead, UV Treatment Lead
Jean Debroux
Ph.D.
Emily Owens-Bennett
P.E., BCEE, Drinking Water Lead
Brett Faulkner
P.E., WW Operator Level 3, Biological Treatment Lead
Luciana Pereyra
Ph.D.
Brie Post
P.E., Drinking Water Specialist
Elise Chen
P.E., AWTO Level 5, WW Operator Level 5, Treatment Plant Operations Lead
Anya Kaufmann
P.E., Potable Reuse Lead
Teresa Venezia
Applied Research and Field-Testing Lead
Mitchel (Mitch) Bartolo
P.E., Water Reuse Specialist
Aviv Kolakovsky
P.E., AWTO Level 4, WW Operator Grade V, Treatment Plant Operations Specialist
Rodrigo Tackaert
P.E., AWTO Level 5, WW Operator Level 3, Membrane Treatment Lead
Emily Holland
Bryce McFerrin
Jacob Newman
Nicholas Babcock
Kaitlyn Chin
Estefania Escobar
Andrew Rudchenko
David Aponte
Tim Dinh
Wen Cong
Zakiyyah Brown
Ben Christensen
Federick (Fed) Pinongcos
Niloufar Gharoon Dastjerdi
Brandon Cruz
Emily Townsend
Oliver Reynolds
Michael Sherer
Aidan Hasegawa
Domenec Jolis
Aarthi Mohan
Samantha Hogard
Matthew Verbyla
Marcus Lira
Sofia Martinez
Owen Zuidema
Michael Karish
Matthew Demer
Shane Trussell
President & CEO - Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Shane is the President of Trussell Technologies, Inc. with more than 25 years of experience, a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley studying membrane bioreactors, an M.S. from UCLA and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC Riverside. Shane has authored more than 60 publications and is a registered professional engineer in California. Shane is a passionate about finding elegant and simple solutions to the complex challenges facing utilities with climate change threatening our water quality and supply. Shane has been involved in the planning, design, permitting, operation and optimization of indirect and direct potable reuse projects. He has also served as the Principal Investigator on research projects that developed critical information to fill important data gaps that supported the development of potable reuse regulations (both surface water and direct) in California.
Phone
858-314-4134
Location
San Diego Office
Rhodes Trussell
Chairman of the Board - Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Dr. Trussell is known, worldwide, as an authority in water treatment, his career characterized by application of fundamental science to improve water technology. He has advised the Cities throughout the United States and on every continent overseas, working on dozens of treatment plants, from less than one mgd to more than 900 mgd. Dr. Trussell is often called upon to help utilities manage projects where public health and the support of regulatory authorities is critical. Since founding Trussell Technologies at the turn of our new century, Trussell has shifted the focus of his work to developing new sources of water for the southwest, particularly through potable reuse. Dr. Trussell still serves as a technical advisor and the QAQC lead for several projects. In recent decades, his most satisfying professional work has been with the Water Reuse Association. Over his career Dr. Trussell has been honored by the profession several times, including: membership the National Academy of Engineering, the AMWA D. R. Boyd Award, the AAEE Kapp Lecture, the AEESP F. G. Pohland Medal, the AWWA A.P. Black Award, the CA-NV AWWA G. F. Fuller award, the IWA Global Water Award, the NWRI Clark Prize, the ASCE/EWRI Simon Freese Award and the CA WateReuse President’s Award.
Phone
626-463-0394
Location
Pasadena Office
Celine Trussell
Chief Financial & Strategy Officer - P.E., BCEE
Céline C. Trussell has a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the French Engineering school E.S.T.P (Ecole Spéciale des Travaux Publics) in Paris, an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from U.C. Los Angeles and an MBA from the U.C. San Diego Rady School of Management. Ms. Trussell is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California with 14 years of experience. Ms. Trussell has authored 10 publications. Her areas of focus are water treatment and design with a strong emphasis on membrane applications for desalination and water treatment. She has been involved in membrane treatment processes feasibility, pilot testing, detailed design and cost estimating. Ms. Trussell also has experience in conventional water treatment studies and designs. Ms. Trussell conducted extensive pilot studies of water treatment processes (conventional water treatment, ozone, DAF, Actiflo, MF/UF, RO, etc.).
Phone
858-314-4129
Location
San Diego Office
Bryan Trussell
Director of Engineering - P.E., BCEE
Bryan Trussell has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mr. Trussell is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California with more than nineteen years of work experience. Bryan worked for nine years with Los Angeles Sanitation, bringing valuable insight and perspective to the many challenges facing today’s utilities. Since joining Trussell Tech in 2013, he has helped lead several advanced treatment projects, including pilot testing Terminal Island’s UV-Cl2 advanced oxidation process (first in a reuse application), assessing soil aquifer treatment on recycled water using soil columns, and most recently helping Metropolitan Water District establish the first pathogen crediting framework for membrane bioreactors (MBRs). Mr. Trussell is an active member of the California Water Environment Association, including serving on the board for its local section and several statewide committees.
Phone
626-463-0385
Location
Pasadena Office
Eileen Idica
Director of Engineering - Ph.D., P.E.
Dr. Eileen Y. Idica is a Principal Engineer at Trussell Technologies with over 15 years of experience in civil and environmental engineering. Eileen’s recent experience has focused on supporting utilities in regulatory permit development, compliance, and reporting for the California Division of Drinking Water and Regional Water Quality Control Boards, particularly for potable reuse via surface water augmentation (under the new 2018 regulations) and groundwater replenishment (under the newer 2014 regulations). Eileen also frequently works in the owner’s advisor role to review and provide technical recommendations during the design process for traditional design bid build projects and alternative delivery methods (such as design build and progressive design build) for reuse facilities, and during the construction, startup and commissioning processes to ensure the procurement of reliable and efficient equipment and treatment systems, and to streamline regulatory compliance and reporting.
Phone
858-314-4130
Location
San Diego Office
Brian Pecson
Director of Engineering - Ph.D., P.E.
Dr. Pecson is the Director of Engineering leading Trussell’s Oakland office. He has over 20 years of experience in engineering and public health that allows him to address a variety of complex issues in the treatment of water, wastewater, and recycled water. Dr. Pecson is working on multiple emerging topics including direct potable reuse (DPR), onsite reuse, and contaminated groundwaters. Recently, he has specialized in the development of public health criteria for emerging applications, the evaluation and testing of technologies that meet these criteria, and the design of full-scale treatment systems for both drinking water and recycled water. Dr. Pecson works closely with California’s Division of Drinking Water and has helped negotiate several innovative reuse permits. He recently served as the Principal Investigator for two key pathogen-related research projects supporting DPR regulatory development in California (WRF4951 and WRF4989). Dr. Pecson has authored 27 research papers on topics ranging from pathogen and chemical control strategies to public health protection and risk assessment.
Phone
510-457-2201
Location
Oakland Office
Aleks Pisarenko
Director of Plant Operation and Maintenance Services, Ph.D., WTPO Level 5
Aleksey (Aleks) N. Pisarenko has a B.S. in Chemistry from York College of PA and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Miami University. Aleks has over 13 years of experience in the water industry and is a certified Grade V Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator with over 9 years of experience with operation and maintenance of Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) processes. Aleks was the lead engineer for the design, construction management, start-up, and testing of the 1.6 MGD ozone/BAC pretreatment integration to the City for San Diego’s 1 MGD Pure Water Demonstration Facility and other projects at the facility to inform the design, permitting, and optimization of operation and maintenance of the future 30 MGD North City Pure Water Facility.For his Ph.D. work, Aleks was part of the team that investigated perchlorate ion formation in sodium hypochlorite and developed strategies to minimize potential contamination of drinking water. This work led to development of Hypochlorite Assessment Model, which can be used to predict sodium hypochlorite decomposition and formation of chlorate and perchlorate ions. During his postdoc experience at Southern Nevada Water Authority, Aleks was involved in several Water Research Foundation (WRF) projects such as 1648, 1667, and 1693 on the use of ozone in reuse as pretreatment to membrane systems, contaminant destruction and associated formation of oxidation byproducts such as Nitrosamines and Perfluoroalkyl Substances. More recently Aleks took active roles in recent WRF projects including 4765, 4832, 4991, 4954, and 5035, covering topics such as constituents of emerging concern, the use of ozone and BAC in potable reuse as a substitute to RO or as additional barriers for attenuation of chemical peaks and novel real-time event detection and response system. Aleks is a co-author of more than 27 peer-reviewed publications and over 60 technical presentations on diverse topics in potable water reuse and was Subject Matter Expert to CA-NV AWWA and CWEA Committee working on the development of AWT Operator Certification program.
Phone
858-314-4127
Location
San Diego Office
Keel Robinson
Director of Business Development
Keel Robinson serves as a Principal Engineer and the Director of Business Development at Trussell. As a Principal Engineer, Keel has led our team on multiple potable reuse projects to deliver advanced water purification facilities including Pure Water Monterey (Monterey One Water), Pure Water Soquel (Soquel Creek Water District) and Pure Water Antelope Valley (Palmdale Water District). Keel also has been essential towards supporting the implementation of potable reuse treatment solutions with the City of Los Angeles at the Terminal Island, Donald C. Tillman, and Hyperion Water Reclamation Plants. Keel is the Principal Investigator for the Water Research Foundation’s Evaluation of CEC Removal by Ozone/BAF Treatment in Potable Reuse Applications and serves on the NWRI’s expert panel for One Water Nevada. As Director of Business Development, Keel helps our team develop relationships with key industry partners to deliver innovative and sustainable treatment solutions for our clients. Keel is a recognized process and regulatory expert in potable reuse with 27 years of experience as both an advanced water treatment technology supplier and as an engineering consultant. Keel has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Phone
510-457-2210
Location
Oakland Office
David Hokanson
Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, Potable Reuse Lead, UV Treatment Lead
Dr. Hokanson is an expert on physical and chemical processes applied to water treatment and potable reuse, with over 25 years of experience and more than 75 publications. He has developed engineering design tools for water treatment for the EPA & for wastewater reuse onboard the International Space Station for NASA. He has spent the last 15+ years at Trussell Technologies on projects involving physical and chemical treatment, drinking water treatment, ocean water desalination, and potable reuse. He is a Registered Civil Engineer in California, a licensed Professional Engineer in Michigan, and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer.
Phone
(626) 463-0388
Location
Pasadena Office
Jean Debroux
Ph.D.
Jean Debroux, Ph.D. has 35 years’ experience serving clients in the water industry. Focused mainly on potable reuse and drinking water planning and design projects, Jean is a water quality and physical-chemical treatment process specialist. Jean received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Florida and a M.S and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder evaluating disinfection by-product formation nationally and water quality transformations during soil aquifer treatment in budding groundwater recharge projects in the Southwestern United States. As a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University, Jean continued his potable reuse research with investigations into the fate and transport of wastewater derived contaminants in full-scale groundwater recharge projects. Jean has performed applied research throughout his career and has been a member of four NWRI Independent Advisory Panels on potable and non-potable reuse in California. At a previous firm, Jean managed senior technical specialists and mentored staff as the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer. Most recently, Jean was the co-Principal Investigator of DPR-4, a Water Reuse Foundation and California State Water Resources Control Board grant investigating the fate of regulated and non-regulated chemical contaminants through advanced treatment trains to support the formation of California’s Direct Potable Reuse regulations. Jean is the author of over 45 water quality publications to date including refereed journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings. Jean has also made over 50 presentations at water related conferences and has been an invited speaker at 14 regional, national, and international events.
Phone
415-632-8341
Location
Oakland Office
Emily Owens-Bennett
P.E., BCEE, Drinking Water Lead
Emily Owens-Bennett is a Supervising Engineer with more than 13 years of water quality and process treatment project experience with Trussell. Ms. Owens-Bennett specializes in water quality assessment and evaluating treatment options and optimization through analytical testing, for projects spanning a wide range of applications. She has worked with several utilities to develop regulatory and permitting documents, including Title 22 Engineering Reports, reports to support permit amendments, Monitoring and Reporting Plans, and Operation Plans. Recent project experience has included planning-level design efforts for several potable water projects. Ms. Owens-Bennett has a B.A. in Geology and Environmental Studies from Whitman College and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Ms. Owens-Bennett is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California.
Phone
(626) 463-0389
Location
Pasadena Office
Brett Faulkner
P.E., WW Operator Level 3, Biological Treatment Lead
Brett Faulkner has a B.S in Civil Engineering from University of Colorado, Boulder, and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from San Diego State University. Mr. Faulkner is a registered professional engineer in the state of California with over 12 years of professional experience. Mr. Faulkner operated the City of San Diego’s Pure Water Demonstration Facility (PWDF) as a certified Grade 3 wastewater operator. The PWDF has a production capacity of 1 MGD and includes ozone, biologically activated carbon filtration, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, and UV advanced oxidation. Mr. Faulkner’s expertise is in water, wastewater, and advanced treatment with an emphasis on process design and optimization. He is skilled in wastewater treatment modeling and has utilized biological modeling to evaluate, optimize, and/or design treatment processes at more than 15 facilities ranging from 3 to 300 MGD. Mr. Faulkner currently provides routine operational support and as-needed engineering services to over 6 wastewater agencies in California resulting in improved effluent water quality and treatment reliability, reductions in operating cost, and the education and empowerment of operations staff. Mr. Faulkner is active in the CWEA and serves on the board of the San Diego chapter.
Phone
(858) 232-2874
Location
San Diego Office
Luciana Pereyra
Ph.D.
Luciana Pereyra has a B.S. in Food Engineering from National University of Mar del Plata and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University. She performed her doctoral research on the biomolecular characterization of the microbial communities responsible for the remediation of mining-influenced water in passive anaerobic treatment systems. An important contribution of her research was the development of a method to quantify genetic biomarkers of key microbial functions involved in the remediation process. Dr. Pereyra also conducted postdoctoral research at Colorado State University and Lund University (Sweden) in the areas of biofuels from microalgae and industrial biotechnology, respectively. Her interests include potable reuse and biological processes in water and wastewater treatment.
Phone
858-314-4396
Location
San Diego Office
Brie Post
P.E., Drinking Water Specialist
Brie Post has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Montana State University and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Her work experience includes post stabilization treatment design including cost estimation, writing Title 22 Engineering Reports and design reports, drafting process design drawings for advanced water treatment systems, data analysis and regression modeling for enhanced treatment plant efficiency and executing tracer studies.
Phone
(510) 457-2202
Location
Oakland Office
Elise Chen
P.E., AWTO Level 5, WW Operator Level 5, Treatment Plant Operations Lead
Elise Chen has a B.S. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California. Since joining Trussell Technologies in 2014, Ms. Chen has worked in the field on numerous demonstration and full-scale Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) facilities in the Southern California area. Ms. Chen leverages her operations experience to shape various aspects of potable reuse projects like AWT operator training, start-up and commissioning support, facility optimization studies, prequalification of membrane technologies, control strategy optimization. In addition, she has been involved in several research projects to advance the water industry’s understanding of potable reuse. Her general interests include water and wastewater treatment, water reuse, and increasing water security for future generations.
Phone
858-314-4131
Location
San Diego Office
Anya Kaufmann
P.E., Potable Reuse Lead
Anya Kaufmann is a Senior Engineer and a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California. Ms. Kaufmann specializes in permitting, planning, and design of potable reuse projects in California. She has been instrumental in supporting the regulatory and permitting approach for the first two reservoir water augmentation projects in California: the Pure Water San Diego Program and the East County Advanced Water Purification Project. Recently, Ms. Kaufmann has used her potable reuse permitting experience to advance direct potable reuse (DPR) in California. She participated in one of the key research projects for the State Water Resources Control Board that helped them with ongoing DPR regulatory development. She has also worked with multiple clients to develop DPR project concepts in the absence of DPR regulations. To complement her permitting experience, Ms. Kaufmann has experience with process design for advanced treatment trains. Ms. Kaufmann uses her knowledge of process design and regulatory requirements to develop successful, implementable projects for her clients.
Phone
(510) 457-2208
Location
Oakland Office
Teresa Venezia
Applied Research and Field-Testing Lead
Ms. Teresa Venezia has a B.S and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University La Sapienza and a M.A. in Governance, Auditing and Control Systems from the University of Roma Tre, both in Rome, Italy. She has extensive experience in pilot testing for water reuse and reclamation applications, particularly testing the effect of ozone pretreatment of secondary effluent on MF fouling, the effect of ozone pretreatment on reverse osmosis (RO) membrane performances, implementation of ozone dose-control strategies, effect of ozone on NDMA formation and on EDCs (endocrine disruptor compounds) reduction. She has evaluated perchlorate removal from groundwater using ion exchange or biological processes.She has designed and tested a laboratory apparatus to perform ozone demand and decay tests, tested a laboratory instrument for the detection of explosive compounds; She has studied the contribution of atmospheric deposition of toxic contaminants to contamination of urban stormwater runoff; she has worked on waste recovery and recycling using the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) approach and sustainable technologies, and she has worked on a variety of water quality projects as well. Ms. Venezia’s experience includes project planning, project writing, laboratory work and field work.
Phone
626-463-0395
Location
Pasadena Office
Mitchel (Mitch) Bartolo
P.E., Water Reuse Specialist
Mitchel (Mitch) Bartolo has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering Science from the University of California at Berkeley and a M.S.E. in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His master’s thesis work investigated the use of enhanced coagulation for the removal of naturally occurring fluoride and organic matter from drinking water sources. Throughout Mr. Bartolo’s professional career, he has contributed to several aspects of potable reuse projects around California including pathogen crediting, Regional Water Quality Control Board and Division of Drinking Water regulatory approval, pilot and demonstration facility testing, and advanced treatment process selection and design. His general interests include water reuse, water and wastewater treatment, and the realization of sustainable water resources in California. Mr. Bartolo is currently a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California and is based out of Trussell’s San Diego office.
Phone
(858) 314-4389
Location
San Diego Office
Aviv Kolakovsky
P.E., AWTO Level 4, WW Operator Grade V, Treatment Plant Operations Specialist
Aviv Kolakovsky has a B.S. in Biotechnology from Mikhmoret School of Marine Sciences, Israel and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from San Diego State University. His work experience at Trussell Tech includes operation and maintenance of various water reuse demonstration facilities and pilots; design, construction and testing of water treatment pilots for several research projects; project engineer on design and review teams of full scale and demonstration facilities for water reuse in California; tracking and interpreting water quality data to evaluate treatment train functionality, carrying out laboratory analyses for water quality parameters, and testing water quality by collecting samples. Aviv also has 8 years of experience with irrigation and water distribution projects in the Israeli agricultural sector.
Phone
(858) 354-8214
Location
San Diego Office
Rodrigo Tackaert
P.E., AWTO Level 5, WW Operator Level 3, Membrane Treatment Lead
Rodrigo Tackaert is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California, a certified Grade III Wastewater Operator, and certified Grade V Advanced Water Treatment Operator, with six years of experience. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego and a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Mr. Tackaert has been engaged in the design of multiple potable reuse projects as well as optimization of monitoring strategies, evaluation of treatment train performance, and execution of pilot testing for product pre-qualification. He has vast experience with membrane treatment processes, including MF and RO. Mr. Tackaert incorporates his operational expertise to provide clients with designs that serves the intended function while keeping the operator experience in mind.
Phone
(858) 284-6067
Location
San Diego Office
Emily Holland
Emily Holland is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California and has a B.S in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her master’s thesis was focused on nitrogen removal in wastewater using a process called bioaugmentation with a proprietary blend of microbial cultures. She operated a pilot-scale batch reactor to assess how well the proprietary blend of microbial cultures removed nitrogen compared to natural bacteria at different stages of the wastewater treatment process at the San Luis Obispo Wastewater Treatment Plant. At Trussell Tech, Ms. Holland assists with operating reverse osmosis and breakpoint chlorination pilot studies, estimating operation and maintenance costs for a full-scale reverse osmosis system, and writing operation plans for potable reuse facilities.
Phone
510-731-4949
Location
Oakland Office
Bryce McFerrin
Bryce McFerrin has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to returning for the master's degree and joining Trussell Technologies, he worked two years as a research and development engineer and six months as an operations team manager with Chemours. His engineering experience with Chemours includes lab-scale and pilot-scale testing for process changes, operation cost optimization modeling, writing operation procedures for new or altered chemical processes, aiding with design of specialized process analyzers, generating performance dashboards for daily operational key performance indicators, revising statistical process control systems, and leading a regulatory process hazards analysis for a high-hazard process. His operations experience with Chemours includes managing four shifts of chemical plant operators, overseeing daily production needs for a chemical slurry process, leading implementation of new safety initiatives, and aiding with various job quality improvement projects for the operators. With Trussell Tech, Bryce will be assisting with technical report write-ups, data analysis, and operational troubleshooting and optimization.
Phone
510-219-8486
Location
Oakland Office
Jacob Newman
Jacob Newman has a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Since joining Trussell Technologies in 2020, Mr. Newman has worked on projects related to drinking water treatment, potable and non-potable reuse, and desalination. His select project experience includes regulatory support for free chlorine alternative virus disinfection credit for recycled water, preparation of Title 22 Engineering Reports and Operations Plans for several recycled water and indirect potable reuse (IPR) projects, pipe loop testing and water quality assessment for a corrosion integration study, rapid small-scale column testing for PFAS removal, and collimated beam testing for validation of UV disinfection systems. Additional experience includes development of a planning study for coastal brackish groundwater treatment, bench-scale testing for virus inactivation with chloramines, and preparation of training materials for drinking water treatment operators.
Phone
626-463-0392
Location
Pasadena Office
Nicholas Babcock
Nicholas Babcock has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northern Arizona University and a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Mr. Babcock’s previous work includes firsthand experience with conventional and advanced wastewater treatment processes including ozone-biofiltration and reverse osmosis piloting. He currently assists with multiple water reuse projects at Trussell Tech including the Pure Water Demonstration Facility in San Diego.
Phone
858-284-6707
Location
San Diego Office
Kaitlyn Chin
Kaitlyn Chin has a B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. While at U of M, she assisted two PhD students on investigating virus fate in water matrices and predictive modeling of virus inactivation by UV disinfection. Her previous research involved exploring methods and analysis of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in daily wastewater samples to predict trends using wastewater-based epidemiology. Her current work at Trussell Technologies involves water quality sampling and data collection, aiding in design projects, and the preparation of technical reports.
Phone
619-961-3439
Location
San Diego Office
Estefania Escobar
Estefania Escobar has a B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. As part of her research work, she assisted in the construction and validation of a novel, low-cost IoT water quality sensor for household tap installation. During the large-scale deployment of these sensors in Ann Arbor, MI, she was responsible for monitoring and analyzing the drinking water quality data from the wireless sensor network and performing maintenance on the sensors. At Trussell Technologies, she assists in bench-scale testing for treatment process simulation, performs various laboratory analyses for water quality, and aids in the preparation of technical reports for water treatment and reuse projects.
Phone
626-260-7665
Location
Pasadena Office
Andrew Rudchenko
Andrew Rudchenko has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Prior to joining Trussell, he worked at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, providing regulatory oversight on soil and groundwater remediation projects. At Trussell, Mr. Rudchenko supports full-scale and pilot-scale testing in the field, conducts laboratory analyses for water quality parameters, analyzes and interprets water quality data, and assists with the preparation of technical reports. His recent project experience includes executing functional testing of ozone dose control strategies and providing operational support for a 10 MGD ozone pilot plant at a wastewater reclamation facility and assisting with the construction and operation of a granular media filtration pilot plant to evaluate filtration rates up to 8 gpm/sf at a drinking water treatment facility. He has also conducted routine bench-scale tests evaluating the long-term formation and impact of chemical addition order on the formation of disinfection by-products including trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids.
Phone
626-463-0386
Location
Pasadena Office
David Aponte
David Aponte has B.S. in Environmental Engineering from San Diego State University. During his time at SDSU, he was part of the Water Innovation and Reuse Lab. He assisted in the research of EOC degradation rates in sludge from two lab scale parallel anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors, as well as helped to operate, monitor, and maintain the bioreactors. His current work at Trussell involves water quality analysis, process optimization, data analyses, and aid for technical reports and operation plans.
Phone
(858) 833-5166
Location
San Diego Office
Tim Dinh
Tim Dinh has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His master’s thesis investigated the impact of nanoparticle incorporation on reverse osmosis membrane structure and performance. Mr. Dinh’s prior work experience includes three years assisting with wastewater discharge permitting at the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and a summer internship working in wastewater quality and control at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. His current work at Trussell involves performing water quality sampling and analysis at the Pure Water Demonstration Facility in San Diego in addition to preparing technical reports and experimental designs for various water reuse projects.
Phone
408-824-8476
Location
San Diego Office
Wen Cong
Dr. Wen Cong (E.I.T.) has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Zhejiang University, a M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a focus on Water Quality Engineering. She has extensive research experience on drinking water disinfection, with a focus on viruses. She performed studies on Coxsackievirus, Human Adenovirus, and Bacteriophage PR772, about their inactivation kinetics by chlorine and UV, inactivation mechanisms with quantitative PCR as a tool, and viral sensor development. Since joining Trussell in December 2022, Wen has been helping with tech memo development and lab management. Her work interest includes drinking water treatment process, disinfection, and disinfection byproducts, and she is starting to develop interest in potable and non-potable reuse and wastewater.
Phone
(626) 487-3198
Location
Pasadena Office
Zakiyyah Brown
Zakiyyah Brown has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from University of Southern California. Their research background includes investigation of disinfection byproducts formation during advanced wastewater treatment for potable reuse. Using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, Zakiyyah conducted quality control and assurance of total organic halogen quantification using a new, non-adsorptive method. In her undergraduate research studies, she conducted kinetic release studies of organic dissolvable pellets for groundwater remediation. Prior to working at Trussell, Zakiyyah spent a year teaching science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics concepts to children of ages five years old and older at a process art design studio using her research background in environmental engineering.
Phone
(626) 808-3394
Location
Pasadena Office
Ben Christensen
Ben Christensen has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. While at Cal Poly, Ben aided in a bench scale forward osmosis desalination study and made contributions to an algae biofuel project. Before returning for the master’s degree, he spent time as a lab technician for a winery on the central coast of California. Ben’s masters work pulled from a project he began at Trussell as a summer intern which sought to develop a high-frequency data processing control framework for an ozone disinfection system in a direct potable reuse scenario. At Trussell Mr. Christensen continued his work on this project in addition to assisting in the operation of reverse osmosis piloting, routine water quality data collection and analysis, and technical report writing.
Phone
(858) 280-1050
Location
San Diego Office
Federick (Fed) Pinongcos
Federick (Fed) Pinongcos has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Civil Engineering (emphasis in Environmental Engineering) from San Diego State University. His master’s thesis focused on investigating the anthropogenic sources of microbial contamination that occurs in the San Diego River during storm events. Mr. Pinongcos’ prior work experience include stormwater sampling and surface water monitoring. He has done work for the SD Coastkeeper, SD Regional Water Quality Control Board, SD River Conservancy, and SD River Park Foundation. Prior to joining Trussell, he was conducting research in Trinidad and Tobago under the Fulbright Program where he was looking at the phytoremediation potential of vetiver grass and red mangroves. His current work at Trussell includes lab analyses for various water quality parameters, data analyses, and aiding in technical reports.
Phone
(858) 683-9644
Location
San Diego Office
Niloufar Gharoon Dastjerdi
Niloufar Gharoon's expertise includes viral RNA monitoring and quantification across the water reclamation facility and sewer systems (wastewater-based epidemiology), report development for public health official use and local agencies, soil columns design and operation to assess the soil aquifer treatment capability for nutrients and viral removal, disinfection by-products monitoring, including THMs and HAAs at drinking water distribution networks; organic matter characterization using fluorescence spectroscopy.
Phone
(510) 507-2108
Location
Oakland Office
Brandon Cruz
Brandon Cruz has a B.S in Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University and a M.S in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. During his undergraduate degree, he was a member of the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment center where he assisted research on nanoparticle-enabled optical fibers. Here, he performed experiments on UV microbial inactivation via chemical actinometry and spectroradiometry. He also led a project on degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with reactive oxygen species through titanium dioxide nanoparticle photocatalysis on optical fibers. At UC Berkeley, he evaluated bench scale ion exchange and membrane systems for nutrient recovery from source separated urine. At Trussell, Brandon has supported work on risk-based health benchmark evaluation for onsite non-potable water systems (ONWS) and potable reuse. He is also involved in design projects, permitting, and internal project management.
Phone
(510) 424-1119
Location
Oakland Office
Emily Townsend
Emily Townsend has a B.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California. While pursuing her master’s degree, Emily worked in the Marine Trace Element Laboratory (MTEL) at USC and investigated the biogeochemical cycling of important trace metal nutrients, like iron, cadmium, and zinc, throughout the global oceans. Emily assisted with the development of the Pelagic Ecosystem Research Incubator (PERI) project as part of the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE). The objective of the PERI-SCOPE project was to design and employ larger-scale incubation systems (referred to as PERIcosms) for the manipulation of oligotrophic marine ecosystems so that we may better understand how these ecosystems function. Emily co-led several collaborative field campaigns in which the PERIcosms were used to investigate the impacts of variable nutrient supply on the microbial ecology of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Emily’s current work at Trussell involves assistance in monitoring and reporting for compliance and proposal writing.
Phone
(858) 603-4121
Location
San Diego Office
Oliver Reynolds
Oliver Reynolds has a B.S. in Civil Engineering – Environmental from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. While at Cal Poly Pomona Oliver completed his senior project on environmental remediation of surface water bodies in California. He helped research and design an integrated solution of floating islands and bioretention basins to remove excess nutrients from surface water bodies and improve water quality. Oliver’s prior work experience involved permitting and design of water systems with Glendale Water and Power as an intern in the water engineering department. Oliver holds his Water Treatment (T1) and Water Distribution (D1) Operator Certification from the State Water Resources Control Board. Oliver’s current work at Trussell involves assisting in the operation of reverse osmosis piloting, routine water quality data collection and analysis at the Pure Water Demonstration Facility in San Diego, and technical report writing for various water reuse projects.
Phone
(626) 536-2744
Location
San Diego Office
Michael Sherer
Michael Sherer has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama and an M.S.E. in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Trussell, Michael worked as a water/wastewater process engineer in Texas for over 8 years. In that role, Michael has worked on numerous treatment plant projects (both greenfield and rehabilitation/expansion of existing facilities) from conceptual design through construction. He has extensive experience in designing groundwater treatment processes, including low pressure membranes for treating groundwater under the influence of surface water, greensand filters for iron and manganese removal, and reverse osmosis membranes for arsenic removal and brackish groundwater desalination. Michael also has experience creating water quality sampling plans, designing wastewater treatment processes, developing potable reuse feasibility studies, evaluating corrosivity of water, helping clients with regulatory coordination, and estimating construction costs.
Phone
(512) 645-4092
Location
San Diego Office
Aidan Hasegawa
Aidan Hasegawa (EIT) has a B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles, and a M.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. During his graduate degree, Aidan was involved in Gadgil Lab for Energy & Water Research where he researched low-cost phosphorus extraction from synthetic urine using electrocoagulation with various electrode configurations. He also engaged in a variety of projects across his undergraduate and graduate careers, such as optimizing desalination plants, testing membrane fouling potential, modeling river flows, and conducting life-cycle assessment. Prior to working at Trussell, Aidan’s internships provided him with experience working with stormwater capture and reuse infrastructure, renewable energy construction, and water treatment plants. Finally, Aidan participated in the UCLA chapters of SHPE, EWB, and ASCE, where he volunteered, tutored, and held leadership positions.
Phone
(760) 607-9859
Location
Pasadena Office
Domenec Jolis
Dr. Domènec Jolis has more than thirty-five years of experience in wastewater treatment engineering, with special emphasis on biological treatment. He has led numerous research projects covering many unit processes including primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment as well as anaerobic digestion and solids handling and has published extensively on the results. While working at publicly owned treatment facilities on optimization, troubleshooting and upgrade of processes, Dr. Jolis enjoyed teaching the fundamentals of process engineering to engineers and operations and maintenance staff.
Phone
(510) 384-0074
Location
Oakland Office
Aarthi Mohan
Aarthi Mohan is a Senior Engineer (Category II) at Trussell’s San Diego office. Her interests lie in the nexus of drinking water, water reuse and analytical instrumentation. Previously, she worked with the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) Water Quality Research & Development Division contributing at various capacities (lead/assist) to projects sponsored by the Water Research Foundation (#5035, 5031, 5053, 5210, 5205) or the Bureau of Reclamation’s Desalination and Water Purification Research Program. Most of these were reuse projects and entailed pilot operations [(ozone (O3)/ biological activated carbon (BAC)], nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO)], analytical method development [charged aerosol detection (CAD)], disinfection by-products (DBPs) [bromate, haloacetonitriles (HANs)] and other concerning contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Prior to SNWA, she was a graduate research assistant at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) working on drinking water projects that broadly included regulated and unregulated DBPs, freshwater oil spills, O3 and ultraviolet (UV)-based advanced oxidation processes and taste and odor issues. At UMass, her projects were mostly sponsored by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and partly by the Philadelphia Water Department. Aarthi has a Bachelors in Civil Engineering from Anna University, India and a Masters and PhD in Civil/Environmental Engineering from UMass.
Phone
(858) 588-6282
Location
San Diego Office
Samantha Hogard
Samantha received her B.S. in environmental engineering in 2016 from the University of Florida. She then conducted her graduate work at Virginia Tech while working at the Hampton Roads Sanitation District. She worked at HRSD’s 1-MGD demonstration-scale IPR facility optimizing advanced treatment processes including coagulation/flocculation/ sedimentation, ozone, BAF, and GAC operations. She also participated in extensive pilot testing to improve the ozone/BAF reuse process. Her Ph.D. research was broadly aimed at validating pathogen reduction in carbon-based water reuse applications. She completed her Ph.D. in 2023 and joined Trussell shortly after.
Phone
(858) 217-7051
Location
San Diego Office
Matthew Verbyla
Dr. Matthew Verbyla has M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Florida. In 2017, he joined the Environmental Engineering faculty at San Diego State University (SDSU), where he is currently an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering. During the 2024-25 academic year, he will be completing a one-year sabbatical from SDSU and will be working part-time with Trussell Technologies. His areas of expertise include the fate and transport of waterborne pathogens in engineered and natural systems, data analysis for pathogen removal crediting in water reuse systems, and quantitative microbial risk assessment. Dr. Verbyla has more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has managed more than $1 million dollars in research grants from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Water Research Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the California State Water Resources Control Board. He has contributed to pathogen crediting in potable reuse projects in California as a member of independent advisory panels for through the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) and as the principal investigator for Water Research Foundation project 5047, where he developed Guidance for Study Plans and Reporting Data for Pathogen Removal Credits in Wastewater Treatment Systems.
Phone
(619) 483-5195
Location
San Diego Office
Marcus Lira
Marcus Lira has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His master’s thesis focused on the recovery of winery wastewater for drip irrigation through the use of a bench-scale ultrafiltration membrane system. His research looked to determine if the UF effluent met regulation standards for crop irrigation, while analyzing the wastewater’s effects on key membrane operating parameters. At Cal Poly, he participated in the Environmental Competition International (ECi) team competition, placing first overall. Prior to joining Trussell full-time, Mr. Lira had previously completed two internships and worked part-time with the company. He also served as a teacher’s assistant at Cal Poly, where he instructed a noise and vibrations laboratory. His work at Trussell consists of assisting in the development of pilot systems, performing water quality analyses, aiding in the preparation of technical memorandums, and conducting QA/QC of technical reports.
Phone
(626) 524-4012
Location
Pasadena Office
Sofia Martinez
Sofia Martinez has a B.S in Environmental Engineering from Drexel University. For her senior design project, she produced a sustainable landfill management strategy for a retired impoundment formerly belonging to DuPont, aiming to reduce the flow of groundwater through the unlined landfill and prevent leachate containing organic material from mobilizing naturally occurring arsenic in the soil. The design included a slurry wall, cap, pollinator garden, and in-situ sodium permanganate injection system. At Drexel’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, she worked on multiple domestic and international projects, including a pipe replacement project in Ecuador and a latrine design/implementation project in Guatemala. She traveled to Guatemala to create a base plan for the latter project and coordinated with CBOs and local government to secure funding for the project. She also worked on the start-up of the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Baltimore, conducting electrical and mechanical start-up of equipment and the headworks facility and creating Operating & Maintenance manuals for on-site equipment. She has additional experience working on the Willamette River superfund site in Portland, Oregon, creating a list of contaminants of concern (COCs) found on site and evaluating position papers submitted by potentially responsible parties. Prior to joining Trussell, she consulted on projects for the Philadelphia Water Department’s division of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), designing sustainable sewer retrofits for the city of Philadelphia’s Green City Clean Waters plan in order to address its long-standing issue with combined sewer overflows.
Phone
(626) 318-8381
Location
Pasadena Office
Owen Zuidema
Owen Zuidema (he/him) is an associate engineer at Trussell’s Oakland office with a background in Civil and Environmental Engineering, holding an M.S. from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley. With a passion for water resource management in California, Owen has experience in water treatment engineering, environmental research, and sustainable construction. At the East Bay Municipal Utility District, he played a major role in design calculations, feasibility studies, and project coordination, contributing to critical drinking water projects in the Bay Area. While earning his master’s degree at UC Davis, he concentrated on water resources engineering and performed a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of lithium extraction from geothermal deposits in the Salton Sea basin in Southern California. Additionally, his research at UC Berkeley focused on wastewater-based epidemiology, where he contributed to public health efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Owen is fluent in English and Spanish, and he is proficient in a variety of engineering software tools. He is eager to leverage his skills and experiences to make a radical impact in urban infrastructure and resource management.
Phone
(510) 299 2585
Location
Oakland Office
Michael Karish
Michael Karish is an associate engineer. He has a M.S. from UC Berkeley in environmental engineering and a B.S. from UC Berkeley in environmental engineering science. He previously did an internship with Trussell in which he worked on the day-to-day field work and the data analysis of a non-potable reuse pilot project for the East Bay Municipal Utility District. During the internship he made a tool in R to allow for quick removal of data characteristic to maintenance events. As an undergrad, Michael did research in the Alvarez Cohen Lab doing both wet lab and data work related to the laccase degradation of PFAS. He also gained hands on engineering experience as a project lead in a rocketry club at Cal. As a master’s student, Michael was a TA for organic chemistry. Michael is particularly interested in using biology and chemistry to design more efficient and drought adapted water treatment systems.
Phone
(510) 813-8535
Location
Oakland Office
Matthew Demer
Matthew Demer has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis. For his senior design project, he modeled existing and proposed alternative technologies for the recycling of air and water on the International Space Station. He has contributed to chemistry research on organometallic catalysis at The Scripps Research Institute, and on electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to value added products at Caltech. Prior to joining Trussell, Matthew worked at bioprocessing companies performing industrial fermentation process improvement and biochemical analyses. Matthew’s current work includes supporting the Pure Water Demonstration Facility and other water reuse projects.
Phone
(858) 310-7774
Location
San Diego Office
