Kura Duba

Arizona State University is recruiting two Ph.D. students for the Integrated Algae Biorefinery Lab in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment within the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. The lab focuses on sustainable engineering, resource recovery, and circular bioeconomy technologies. Research opportunities include algae-based recovery of critical minerals and rare earth elements, supercritical CO₂ extraction and separation technologies, membrane separation and purification, hydrothermal processing, and biomass valorization. Students may also contribute to integrated biorefinery development, process optimization, and sustainability assessment. The work connects chemical, environmental, biochemical, bioprocess, and biological or biosystems engineering approaches to the development of sustainable processes. The research environment is associated with Arizona State University and the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation, providing an interdisciplinary setting for studying algae valorization, separations, resource recovery, and biorefinery systems.