Salini Sasidharan

Dr. Sasidharan is an emerging young scientist in the critical areas of Environmental Science and Engineering, including groundwater quantity and quality management, sustainable irrigated agriculture, and resilient urban and rural water resources infrastructures. Her research focuses on various challenges of managed aquifer recharge (MAR), including vadose zone monitoring,  water quantity, water quality (virus, bacteria, and other contaminants), clogging, engineering designs of the infrastructure (drywell, ASR, ASTR, infiltration basin), flow and contaminant transport numerical modeling, subsurface characterization for MAR site selection, and regulatory standards for sustainable groundwater management. Salini is a leading member of the Oregon Water Initiative, College of Agriculture Science, OSU. 

Salini is the first to evaluate the performance of a vadose zone infiltration system called drywell and advocated its use as a potential MAR technique to mitigate urban flooding and recharge the groundwater table. Her research supported the Army's Net Zero Program. Salini proposed using drywell as a MAR technique in agricultural fields in Central Valley in conjunction with Ag-MAR and was funded by USDA-NIFA (0.5M USD). Surface clogging and in-situ clay mobilization reduce the lifespan of MAR, and she is conducting research on colloid retention, release, and transport of colloids and pretreatment techniques for source water. Regulatory and policy concerns over microbial pathogen migration from subsurface to groundwater challenge MAR’s operation. Salini’s research has improved the fundamental understanding of pathogen attachment and addressed a critical knowledge gap in the Australian and Californian MAR Guidelines.

Salini has received an Outstanding Research Award for Postdoc from the University of California Riverside (UCR) International Ph.D. Student Scholarship from NCGRT Australia, Best Postgraduate Award for Public Research Output from Flinders University Australia, and Best Outgoing Student Award for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students from MA College, Mahatma Gandhi University India.

Salini is an excellent communicator and teacher and has served in leadership positions in university organizations. She has supervised experimental research of Ph.D., MS, and undergraduate students from Australia, China, South Korea, and USA. She has served as the UCR postdoc association chair and organized a conference. She received Professors for Future Fellowship from UC Davis and organized a virtual symposium on stakeholders' engagement. Salini was the winner of a TED-style talk for the postdoc association conference held at UC Irvine. She is also an advocate for STEM education for K-12 students and for promoting higher education to the international community.