Join us for the Interdisciplinary Research Fellows Showcase as part of Graduate Student Appreciation Week. Woodruff School students Abby Robb and Autumn Routt will present their innovative, original research, followed by an award ceremony for the Woodruff School Graduate Students Awards Competition. Afterwards, faculty, staff, and students, are invited to stay for a happy hour with food, drinks, and networking.
When: Monday, March 31, 2025
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Where: MRDC 4211
RSVP
Speakers:
Abby Robb
Advisors: Steven Biegalski and Pete La Pierre
Project Title: Sodium and Potassium Anion Effects of Cesium-137 Removal of Simulated Hanford Tank Waste Supernate.
Abstract: Treatment of the 56 million gallons of waste at the Hanford site represents one of the world’s largest radiological clean-up efforts. One of the first steps in that process involves the treatment of tank waste supernate to remove cesium, thus enabling the disposition of that waste as contact handled low activity waste. The Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) process was recently started up to achieve that separation. This process relies on crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange media for the separation of cesium from the sodium-laden supernatant. While it is readily recognized that other period 1 cations (sodium and potassium) will significantly impact the capacity of the CST for cesium, it is less well known that the anion composition of the supernate can significantly impact the cesium capacity, and thus the quantity of CST that will eventually be required for treatment of 21-million gallons of tank waste at Hanford. Batch contacts were performed with a variety of anion matrices at typical sodium concentration of 5.3 ± 0.3 M Na (with and without K+ present). The results demonstrated that the anion composition can significantly affect the amount of Cs loaded onto the CST. Systematic studies of varied anion concentrations from NaOH, NaNO3, Na2CO3, NaNO2, KNO3, and KCl were further explored to determine Cs distribution coefficient trends. These trends were combined to model the distribution coefficient, Kd, of more complex samples using their known anion concentrations.
Biography: Abby Robb is a second year Ph.D. student in the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering program in the Woodruff School. She received her bachelor's degrees in chemistry and Spanish from Whitworth University in Washington State. Her interest in nuclear science began during her undergraduate studies and prompted her to start a Post-Bachelor appointment at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where she became involved in projects that supported the tritium production program and cleanup of Hanford radiological tank waste. After coming to Georgia Tech following a gap year, she knew she wanted to continue supporting the Hanford clean up project, and this fellowship has allowed her to collaborate with PNNL for this work.
Autumn Routt
Advisors: Greg Sawicki and Lena Ting
Project Title: Impacts of Added Mass on Standing Balance Control: Implications for Stability in Pregnancy.
Abstract: Falls in pregnancy are a serious issue. They are one of the most common reasons for trauma-related hospitalizations in pregnancy and happen roughly as often as falls occur in women over the age of 70. This research seeks to understand the causes of increased fall risk in pregnancy. Potential factors contributing to instability include mass gain, hormonal influences on tissue properties, differences in physical activity levels, and psychological concerns, like an increased fear of falling. Maintaining stability in pregnancy may require altering neural control strategies to adapt to these changes. By comparing pregnant fallers, pregnant non-fallers, and non-pregnant controls with and without added mass during perturbed balance trials, we can isolate the factor of added mass and study its impact on balance strategies at the whole-body and neuromuscular levels.
Biography: Autumn Routt is a second year Ph.D. student in the Woodruff School. She earned her bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia in 2023. During her undergraduate studies, she researched muscle atrophy in astronauts and studied the impacts of estrogen on skeletal muscle regeneration in mice under Silvia Blemker. Now, her research focuses on quantifying the impacts of added mass on whole-body balance to prevent falls in pregnant people. She is grateful for the opportunity to conduct interdisciplinary research that is afforded to her by this fellowship.