Grand Challenges: Wayne State researchers are tackling Detroit’s toughest environmental problems

Wayne State researchers, including Dr. Carol Miller, walk along the beach on Belle Isle in Detroit.

DETROIT - Detroit has always rebuilt itself. You can see it in the skyline, the neighborhoods and the factories reborn as tech hubs. But under that grit lies unseen problems - polluted air, contaminated water, aging infrastructure and a city still dealing with the long-term effects of its industrial history.

Wayne State University's Grand Challenges initiative directly confronts these problems, serving as a call to action for researchers committed to making actual progress.

"We wanted themes that matter to Detroiters," said Dr. Ezemenari M. Obasi, vice president for research & innovation. "These challenges had to be connected to what communities tell us they're living with every day - air quality, water, health and the environment."

Wayne State researchers extract samples from the Detroit River near Belle Isle.

Among the four themes in the initiative, one stands out in a city defined by the Great Lakes, auto exhaust and environmental justice: How do we build sustainable environments that improve both quality of life and length of life?

Across Midtown, Wayne State researchers are seeking answers grounded in Detroit's realities.

If there's one message Dr. Carol Miller keeps coming back to, it's this: water connects everything.

Miller, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering, is a long-time leader in Great Lakes research. Her work shows how chemicals from everyday products - medicines, cleaners, cosmetics - move through wastewater systems before winding up in rivers and lakes. But when asked about the most important step toward a sustainable environment, she didn't start with labs or technology. She started with people.

"To improve quality of life in Detroit," she said, "the most immediate impact comes from raising people out of poverty and supporting the needs of their communities."

When Dr. Miller focuses strictly on environmental factors, she points to issues that have haunted the Motor City for decades. "I would say the removal or mitigation of legacy environmental pollutants," she said. "These cause a long-term impact on health and quality of life."

That includes cleaning up chemicals left behind by old gas stations, dry cleaners and factories.

Air pollution is another priority.

"Transportation exhaust continues to be a huge concern in pockets of the city," she said. "I'm confident that if that air pollution could be reduced, the length of life and the quality of life of people in those areas would be improved."

Dr. Kishore Gopalakrishnan's research bridges algal biotechnology, ecotoxicology, and applied bioprocessing with a strong focus on sustainable water treatment and circular bioeconomy solutions.

Her research also includes identifying and tracking contaminants below our feet - in the soil, groundwater and the myriad of water infrastructure piping under Southeast Michigan. Dr. Miller's group studies sustainable remediation that includes approaches to harvest energy from polluting sources. But her message never strays far: science only matters if it improves lives.

"One of the critical steps is greater use of the One Health approach," she said. "We need to break down the silos between human health, animal health, environmental health and economic health."

Dr. Kishore Gopalakrishnan, a research scientist in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, sees wastewater differently than most people.

Where many see something that's thrown away, he sees nutrients, carbon and possibilities. "Our aim is to grow microalgae in wastewater so we can remove the nitrogen and phosphorus before it reaches rivers or lakes," he explained. Those nutrients are exactly what fuel harmful algal blooms.

Then the algae become a resource.

"We can harvest these algae, and it's rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids," he said. "It can be used as a feed in aquaculture instead of relying on fish oil from wild-caught fish."

His guiding principle is simple: "We need to rethink waste as part of a circular system. What leaves one process should be the input of another."

Dr. Gopalakrishnan's work also tackles microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, and how contaminants move through the food chain. He believes the most promising solutions are the ones that follow nature's lead.

"The most promising solution would be nature-based and circular. Systems that work with biology instead of against it."

PhD student Qisen Wang and Dr. Yongli Wager in their lab developing a VOC sensor monitoring prototype that can be applied underground for long-term and real-time subsurface soil vapor VOCs monitoring.

Dr. Yongli Wager studies the water-energy connection, and her work sits where pollution, technology, and human health meet. She focuses on emerging contaminants, bioenergy and real-time pollution detection - all with an eye on long-term sustainability.

Her approach is wide-angle and practical.

"We basically do research in the water, energy, environmental nexus," said Dr. Wager, an associate professor of civil and environmental Engineering at the College of Engineering. "We want to understand contaminants like microplastics and how to remove them, and we also work on converting waste into energy in ways that are truly sustainable."

Dr. Wager's team builds sensors that can monitor volatile chemicals underground, a tool that could help communities facing vapor intrusion from old industrial sites. She also evaluates whether new waste-to-energy technologies are actually sustainable when measured over their entire life cycle.

Everything she studies returns to a core belief: good technology only matters if it protects people.

Dr. Timothy Dittrich tracks what most of us never see - radioactive materials, rare earth elements and other hidden contaminants moving through soil and groundwater.

Dr. Dittrich, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the College of Engineering, leads the REUSE (Rare Earths from U.S. Extractions) project, a $3.1 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project that transforms cleanup sites into places where pollutants are removed and valuable materials recovered. It's cleanup and resource recovery working side by side.

Wayne State researchers don't stay inside their labs. Their work connects with local water authorities, aquaculture businesses, neighborhood groups, health agencies, and state and federal partners.

"It's important that the chosen themes align with community-identified challenges," Dr. Obasi said. "They need to be centered on impacting our communities."

The Grand Challenges initiative is about building trust, guiding policy, strengthening collaboration and shaping a future where Detroiters can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live longer, healthier lives.