Hazardous Substance Research Centers/South & Southwest

Professor Hughes chairs the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research specializes in the area of environmental biotechnology, in particular determining how the novel metabolic capabilities of living organisms can be harnessed to improve the environment in which we live. Recent research projects under Dr. Hughes' direction have focused on how bacteria and plants metabolize hazardous organic pollutants. In particular, chlorinated solvents, nitroaromatic compounds and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The current focus of these studies centers on interactions between contaminant phase distribution (i.e., non-aqueous, sorbed, soluble) and metabolic rates, along with the analysis of product formation and distribution. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.