Cammie Fausey Wins PEO Sisterhood Award

For her work designing nano-enabled water treatment technologies, Camrynn “Cammie” Fausey, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical and environmental engineering, was selected to receive a $15,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood.

In the labs of Menachem Elimelech and Julie Zimmerman, Fausey designs water treatment methods for arsenic, mercury, and bacteria using sunlight and multifunctional fibers made of photocatalytic and adsorptive nano-materials. She is currently designing fibers coated with graphene oxide and titanium dioxide for the enhanced oxidation and adsorption of arsenic from water, as well as fibers made of molybdenum disulfide for both the adsorption of mercury and inactivation of bacteria.

In June, she was the first author of a study published in Chemical Engineering Journal on using nanotechnology to remove arsenic from drinking water. And earlier this year, she presented a talk at AEESP Research and Education Conference on removing mercury from water.

The P.E.O. Scholar Awards (PSA) were established in 1991 to provide substantial merit-based awards for women in the U.S. and Canada who are pursuing a doctoral-level degree at an accredited college or university. Scholar Awards recipients are a select group of women chosen for their high level of academic achievement and their potential for having a positive impact on society. 

The P.E.O. Sisterhood, founded January 21, 1869, at Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is a philanthropic educational organization dedicated to supporting higher education for women.