Über mich

Hi everyone, I am Sema and lead the “Advanced (Waste)water Treatment” research group as a SNSF Ambizione Group Leader at the Process Engineering Department of Eawag. Our group focuses on the characterization and optimization of biofilm- and porous media-based processes for water and wastewater treatment and reuse applications. 

I received a Master’s degree in Energy and Process Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin in 2016, with a specicalization in water and wastewater treatment, culminating in an internship and master thesis at Berlin Water Company. Following this path, my doctoral research, conducted under the supervision of Jörg E. Drewes and Uwe Hübner and completed in 2020, focused on characterizing treated wastewater effluents in German river networks and their influence on drinking water supplies via bank filtration. In parallel, I worked on the characterization and optimization of micropollutant and virus attenuation in pilot-scale biological porous media filters for indirect water reuse, specifically by manipulating redox zonation and hydraulic conditions. 

Toward the end of my PhD, I developed a growing interest in understanding the mechanistic basis of functional differences among filtration systems. This led to my Schmidt Science Fellowship, where I transitioned into environmental microbiology and chemistry. At Eawag, I joined the groups of David R. Johnson (Environmental Microbiology) and Kathrin Fenner (Environmental Chemistry) to establish a predictive metabolism pipeline linking chemical structures, their biotransformation products, as well as enzymes and microbial taxa potentially involved in their biodegradation.

Now based again at Process Engineering Department, my research integrates approaches from process engineering, environmental microbiology, and chemistry to better understand and harness the full potential of biological and physical treatment processes. My goal is to support different stakeholders in developing more resilient and sustainable strategies for water and wastewater treatment and reuse.

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