Desirée Plata

Dr. Desirée Plata is The Gilbert W. Wilson Career Development Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Desirée holds a PhD in Environmental Chemistry and Chemical Oceanography from the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (2009) and a B.S. in Chemistry from Union College in Schenectady, New York (2003).

Dr. Plata was the John J. Lee Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale and the associate director for research at the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering. She previously served in the civil and environmental engineering department at Duke, where she was active in several international research networks (LCNano funded by the EPA and the Partnership for International Research and Education funded by the NSF). Plata’s primary focus is in the area of environmental chemistry, with applications in minimizing the environmental impact of emerging industries.

Recent Publications (selected)

• Karatum O, Bhuiya MMH, Carroll MK, Anderson AM, Plata DL. Life cycle assessment of aerogel manufacture on small and large scales: Weighing the use of advanced materials in oil spill remediation.Journal of Industrial Ecology2018 DOI:10.1111/jiec.12720.
• Sumner AJ, Plata DL. Exploring the hydraulic fracturing parameter space: A novel high-pressure, high-throughput reactor for investigating subsurface chemical transformations. Environmental Sciences: Processes and Impacts 2018 DOI:10.1039/C7EM00470B.
• †Hoelzer K, †Sumner AJ, Karatum O, Nelson RK, O’Connor MP, Drollette BD, D’Ambro E, Getzinger GJ, Ferguson PL, Reddy CM, Elsner M, Plata DL. Indications oftransformation products from hydraulic fracturing additives in shalegas wastewater. Environ. Sci. Technol. 201650(15), 8036–8048.DOI:10.1021/acs.est.6b00430.†co-first authors.
• Liggio J, Li S-M, Hayden K, Taha YM, Stroud C, Darlington A, Drollette BD, Gordon M, Lee P, Liu P, Leithead A, Moussa SG, Wang D, O’Brien J, Mittermeier RL, Brook J, Lu G, Staebler R, Han Y, Tokarek TT, Osthoff HD, Makar PA, Zhang J, Plata DL, Gentner DR.Oil Sands Operations Are a Major Source of Secondary Organic Aerosols. Nature 2016 534, 91-94. DOI:10.1038/nature17646.
• Dasgupta S, DiGiulio RT, Drollette BD, Plata DL, Brownawell BJ, McElroy AE. Hypoxia depresses CYP1A induction and enhances DNA damage, but has minimal effects on antioxidant responses in sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) larvae exposed to dispersed crude oil. Aquatic Toxicology 2016 177, 250-260. DOI:10.1016/j.aquatox.2016.05.022.
• Petersen E, Flores-Cervantes D, Bucheli T, Elliot L, Fagan J, Gogos A, Hanna S, Kaegi R, Mansfield E, Montoro Bustos A, Plata DL, Reipa V, Westerhoff P, Winchester MR. Quantification of carbon nanotubes in environmental matrices: Current capabilities, case studies, and future prospects. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2016 50 (9), 4587-4605. DOI:10.1021/acs.est.5b05647.
• Drollette BD, Hoelzer K, Warner NR, Darrah TH, Karatum O, O’Connor MP, Nelson RK, Reddy CM, Vengosh A, Jackson RB, Elsner M, Plata DL. Elevated levels of diesel range organic compounds in groundwater near Marcellus gas operations are derived from surface activities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015 112 (43), 13184-13189. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1511474112.
• Getzinger G, O’Connor MP, Hoelzer K, Drollette BD, Karatum O, Deshusses MA, Ferguson PL, Elsner M, Plata DL. Natural Gas Residual Fluids: Sources, Endpoints, and Organic Chemical Composition after Centralized Waste Treatment in Pennsylvania. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015 49 (14), 8347-8355. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b00471.
• Kekacs D, Drollette B, Brooker M, Plata DL, Mouser PJ. Aerobic biodegradation of organic compounds in hydraulic fracturing fluid. Biodegradation. 2015 26 (4), 271-287. DOI: 10.1007/s10532-015-9733-6.
• Down A, Schreglman K, Plata DL, Elsner M, Warner N, Vengosh A, Moore K, Coleman D, Jackson RB. Pre-drilling background groundwater quality in the Deep River Triassic Basin of central North Carolina, USA. Applied Geochemistry. 2015. 60, 3-13. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2015.01.018.
• Plata DL, Hemingway JD, Gschwend PM. Polyparameter linear free energy relationship for wood char-water sorption coefficients of organic sorbates. Environ. Toxicol. & Chemistry. 2015. 34 (7), 1464-1471.DOI:10.1002/etc.2951.
• Jackson RB, Down A, Phillips NG, Ackley RC, Cook CW, Plata DL, Zhao K. Natural gas pipeline leaks across Washington, DC. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2014. 48 (3), 2051-2058. DOI:10.1021/es404474x.
• Plata DL, Reddy CM, Gschwend PM. Thermogravimetry- mass spectrometry for carbon nanotubes detection in complex mixtures. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012 46 (22), 12254-12261. DOI: 10.1021/es203198x.
• Flores-Cervantes DX, Plata DL, MacFarlane JK, Reddy CM, Gschwend PM. Black carbon in the ocean: Inputs and cycling of highly recalcitrant organic carbon in the Gulf of Maine. Marine Chemistry 2009, 111 (3-4), 172-181.
• Plata DL, Sharpless CM, Reddy CM. Photochemical degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in oil films. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42 (7), 2432-2438. DOI:10.1021/es702384f.
• Arey JS, Nelson RK, Plata DL, Reddy CM. Disentangling oil weathering using GC×GC. Part II. Mass transfer calculations. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007, 41 (16), 5747-5755.
• Nelson RK, Kile BM, Plata DL, Sylva SP, Xu L, Reddy CM, Gaines RB, Frysinger GS, Reichenbach SE. Tracking the Weathering of an Oil Spill with Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography. EnvironmentalForensics 2006, 7, 33–44.

Honors & Recognition:

• Yale Innovation Summit, Pitch Contest 1^st Place Winner, 2018
• Department of Energy Innovation Crossroads (co-founder,N^th Cycle LLC), 2018
• Young Investigator Sustainability Fellow, Resnick Institute, Caltech, 2017
• Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conf., Environ. Sciences: Water, 2016
• NSF CAREER Award, 2016
• Odebrecht Award for Sustainable Development (2^ndPlace), 2015
• National Academy of Sciences US-Korea Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, 2013
• National Academy of Engineers Frontiers of Engineering Fellow, 2012
• National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, 2011
• Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conf., Environmental Nanotechnology, 2011
• Mt. Holyoke College Student Government Association Mentoring Award, 2011
• George “Gera” P. Panteleyev Award for greatest contribution to the MIT/WHOI Joint Program, 2009
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, 2004
• Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, 2001