Erica Fuhrmeister (she/her), PhD
Principal Investigator
Erica Fuhrmeister (she/her), PhD
Principal Investigator
Appointments
Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
School of Public Health, the University of Washington
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
School of Engineering, the University of Washington
Education
Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering - University of California, Berkeley
M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering - University of California, Berkeley
B.S. Environmental Engineering - Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Fuhrmeister enjoys eating her way through Seattle's excellent culinary offerings. She has an affinity for anything sweet, especially doughnuts.
Megan O'Brien, MS (she/her)
Research Scientist
Megan is a research scientist in the Fuhrmeister lab at UW. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Environmental Health Science from Baylor University. Her research interests include wastewater-based epidemiology, bioinformatics, and environmental toxicology. Currently, she is investigating detection and enrichment strategies for ARGs found in wastewater.
In her free time, Megan enjoys kayaking, rock climbing, and reading.
Angelo Ong
Graduate Student
Angelo is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Health. He completed his master's degree in Environmental Health in 2024 and received his bachelor's degree in Microbiology from the University of Washington in 2019. He spent three years working as a researcher in the Environmental and Occupational Health Microbiology Lab (EOHML) at UW. At EOHML, Angelo worked on numerous projects including SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance, disinfectant development and testing, and bacteriophage assays. He has wide interests in infectious diseases, environmental surveillance, and ecology in the human microbiome.
Hinako Kawabe (she/her)
Graduate Student
Hinako is currently pursuing a PhD in the department of Chemical Engineering in the Xenobiology Lab-Marchand Group at UW. She received a B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Princeton University. She collaborates with the Fuhrmeister lab on developing highly multiplexed detection assays for pathogen and antimicrobial resistance genes combining non-standard nucleic acids and next-generation sequencing.
In her free time, Hinako likes to bake, sing (karaoke), and explore Seattle’s cafes.
Briahna Koger (she/they)
Graduate Student
Briahna is a 2nd year master's student pursuing a M.S. in Environmental Health Science at the University of Washington Seattle. She recently completed her B.S. in Biology at the University of Washington Bothell. While at UW-B, Briahna spent a year working with Dr. Keya Sen's lab, searching for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae within the crow-infested wetlands on campus. Her research interests are on environmental antimicrobial surveillance and the dissemination of antimicrobials from urban bird populations. Currently, she is working on monitoring for sexually transmitted infections in wastewater.
In her free time, Briahna likes to play video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering, as well as spending time with friends and family.
Dabojani Das, PhD (she/her)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dabojani is a NIEHS Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Temple University. She also holds a Master's in Environmental Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a Bachelor’s in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. Her project focused on examining the diversity of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) within microbial communities in wastewater around the King County area and evaluating their transformation processes in the water matrices. She is now a wastewater engineer with Seattle-King County.
In her free time, Dabojani enjoys trying new cuisines, traveling, and spending time with her family, especially her toddler (son), Mayan.
Irmarie Cotto, PhD (she/her)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Irmarie was an NSF ASEE Postdoctoral eFellow at the University of Washington. She holds a Ph.D. (2022) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Northeastern University and a Master of Science (2016) and Bachelor's degrees (2012) from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM). Irmarie has experience using molecular methods and bioinformatics and is interested in exploring the impact of animal husbandry on antibiotic resistance in the household environment. She was co-mentored by Prof. Karen Levy in DEOHS.
Irmarie likes traveling with friends and family and walking with her dog Thanos.
Lizi Rott
Graduate Student
Lizi graduated in 2023 with a MS from the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington. She received her bachelor's degree in Biology, Health, and Society from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include the epigenome, antibiotic resistance genetics, and water quality. Her master’s thesis investigated antimicrobial prescription patterns in veterinary medicine. Lizi is now a toxicologist at Boeing.
Anysiah Taylor (she/her)
Undergraduate Student
Anysiah Taylor graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in Public Health-Global Health. Her interests include exploring the intersections between the built environment and public health. Anysiah is interested in infectious disease prevention and response, public health policy interventions, environmental justice, and One Health. While in the Fuhrmeister lab, she worked on targeted sequencing methods for antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater. Currently, Anysiah is working at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as part of the 2024 CDC's Public Health Associate Program.
Ruohan Hu (she/her)
Undergraduate Student
Ruohan graduated with a bachelor's degree in public health-global health at University of Washington. She is interested in water quality, climate change, biostatistics, and is also open to exploring other fields! While in the Fuhrmeister lab, she worked on bioinformatic analyses of sequencing data from wastewater, developing skills in R and python.