Environmental Health Science and Engineering are pleased to welcome Dr. Aaron Bivins for his seminar, “Resilient by Design: Engineering Human Civilization to Prevent Infectious Disease,” on Friday, January 16, at 11:40 AM in 1456 Driftmier Engineering Center (597 D. W. Brooks Drive).

Seminar Description:
Of the 1 trillion microbial species estimated to exist, only about 1,400 are known to be human pathogens. And yet, these few microorganisms remain a persistent source of disease and death among humans. Sanitary engineers designed the earliest bulwarks against infectious diseases in human civilization and laid the foundation for the discipline now known as environmental engineering. As the emergence of novel pathogens accelerates in the Anthropocene, engineering control is crucial for resource-efficient mitigation of infectious disease transmission in the built and natural environments. Novel environmental microbiology and risk assessment techniques promise the ability to observe, predict, and prevent infectious disease. We will consider the potential of environmental engineering to reform microbially naïve policy and design, as exemplified by the Bivins Lab’s recent work on on-site wastewater treatment systems in coastal Louisiana and passive sampling of microorganisms from the environment.

Dr. Aaron Bivin’s Bio:
Dr. Aaron Bivins is a public health engineer working to mitigate infectious diseases via microbially-informed engineering and policy design. His research integrates environmental microbiology and engineering principles to produce quantitative decision-making frames for public health engineering. In support of these efforts, Dr. Bivins and his team work in three distinct modalities. They develop novel techniques to detect and quantify microorganisms in the environment. They use these quantitative risk assessment techniques to translate microbial data streams into human health risks via modeling. Finally, they integrate model-derived insights into decision making processes to better mitigate infectious disease transmission through engineering control. In support of his research, Dr. Bivins has spent significant time working across cultures, including research projects in India (2017 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar), Mozambique, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Jamaica. His research interests are informed by his professional practice designing hydraulic infrastructure, including water distribution, wastewater collection, and stormwater systems. Dr. Bivins completed his PhD in environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a licensed civil engineer in Georgia and a board-certified environmental engineer.