PI - Dr. Carla Ng
Dr. Carla Ng is Associate Professor and Fulton C. Noss Faculty Fellow in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She also holds secondary appointments in Environmental and Occupational Health and Chemical & Petroleum Engineering. She received her PhD in Chemical & Biological Engineering from Northwestern University and MS and BS in Chemical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo. See her Google Scholar Profile for full publication list.
Postdoctoral scholars
Dr. Yuexin Cao received her doctoral degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2024. She currently continues to work in the Ng Lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Her research interest is using in silico tools (e.g., molecular simulations, PBPK modeling, QSAR, and machine learning) and in vivo approaches (the zebrafish embryo assay) to predict the toxicity and toxicokinetics of PFAS.
Dr. Oindrila Ghosh joined the Ng Lab in December, 2024. She completed her Undergraduate in Chemistry from the University of Delhi, and Masters in Environmental Sciences from Nalanda University, both in India. She graduated with a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2024. She has experience in developing passive sampling methods to measure bioavailability of persistent and emerging pollutants, mathematical modeling of mass transfer kinetics in surface water and sediment porewater. In her current role as a Postdoc at UPitt, she is engaged in development of community engaged sampling methods, conducting exposure assessment studies of PFAS and SVOC/VOC contaminated matrices including, dust, sediment, water, air and fish tissues and developing analytical method on gas/liquid chromatographic instruments for analyzing trace concentrations of SVOCs and PFAS.
Dr. Qianwei (Joyce) Li received her Bachelors degree from East China University of Science and Technology (2019), her PhD in Biological Engineering and a graduate certificate in Data Science & Analytics from the University of Missouri-Columbia (2024). Her previous research field was in lignocellulosic biomass fractionation and its conversion to nanomaterials. Joining the group in July 2024, she currently focuses on predicting the toxicity of PFAS using computational methods.
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Graduate Students
Ruiwen Chen joined the Ng Lab in August 2021. He received his Master’s degree in analytical chemistry from the Huazhong Agricultural University in China in 2009. He worked at the Dioxin National Lab, Agilent Technologies, and Utah State University for several years before returning to academic research. Leveraging his experience in analytical methods and model development, Ruiwen’s Ph.D. project focuses on PFAS interactions with biological phases using complementary in-vitro approaches and PBPK modeling.
Meredith Kulak joined the Ng lab in August 2022. She has a BS in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and earned her MS in Environmental Engineering in 2024 on her way towards the PhD. Her dissertation project is focused on developing novel sorbents for PFAS removal from drinking water by leveraging their interaction with proteins. She has also been involved in regional sampling and analysis of PFAS in drinking water, surface water, soils, and sediments in the Western PA and eastern Ohio areas associated with ongoing industrial activity and the East Palestine train derailment in 2023.
Melissa Marciesky, a graduate student in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering department, joined the Ng lab in Spring 2021. She has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. Her NIH-funded project aims to improve the accuracy of molecular simulations of highly fluorinated substances as a stepping stone towards enabling the design of enzymes capable of degrading these so-called "forever chemicals." Her dissertation research involves benchmarking quantum chemical methods for prediction of fundamental PFAS properties and investigating their interactions with metals often found within enzyme active sites.
Fatemeh Shabhani joined the Ng Lab in January 2025. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Shahid Beheshti University, Iran, and her Master’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran. Her research focuses on molecular simulations and validation, toxicokinetic modeling, and fish tissue fractionation as part of the SERDP-funded "Biomimetic Chromatography for Rapid Assessment of Bioaccumulation (BioCRAB) in PFAS-impacted aquatic food webs" project.
Arundhati Tewari received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Delhi Technological University in 2019 and her Master of Applied Science in Civil & Mineral Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2022. Her prior work involved bioremediation techniques for treating pharmaceuticals in wastewater and standardizing a method for creating microplastic stock suspensions in drinking water. Since joining the Ng Lab in January 2023, Arundhati has focused on studying the occurrence of PFAS in developing countries, with specific projects in Suriname and Ghana aimed at assessing contamination in environmental matrices and understanding potential exposure pathways. Additionally, she is investigating the distribution of PFAS within concrete and asphalt structures associated with fire training areas, fire stations, crash sites, and equipment testing areas, and is developing methods to mitigate ongoing emissions from these materials.
UnderGraduate Researchers
Aaron Winchell is an undergraduate chemistry student at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been working in the Ng lab since 2023 to develop methods for tissue fractionation as a means to understand the internal distribution of PFAS in fish cells and tissues. Prior to graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in Spring 2025, Aaron will present this work at the 2025 ACS Spring meeting in San Diego.
Ng Lab Alumni
Dr. Zhaokai Dong received his PhD in the Ng Lab at the University of Pittsburgh in December 2023. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr. Clare Robinson at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada.