Ileana Callejas is a fourth-year Ph.D. student within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is currently teaching a microbiology lab at Mount Saint Mary’s University, and led an international fieldwork campaign in Belize during summer 2022. She also recently partnered with GeoLatinas to publish a short article in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment for Hispanic Heritage Month! The bilingual (English & Spanish) article discusses the importance and ways satellite remote sensing can be used to monitor coastal water quality.
Ileana is interested in the intersection between environmental engineering, environmental microbiology, and remote sensing. She previously worked on projects quantifying antibiotic resistance genes in commercial fertilizers in Southern California and enzyme kinetics in sub-soils in Northern California. Her research concerns the fate and transport of pollutants in water and soil, namely antibiotic resistance genes, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and pathogens. Her work will also leverage remote sensing for coastal water quality management. She received her BS in Environmental Science with a minor in Environmental Engineering in 2018 and MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2019 from UCLA. Ileana is a Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship & GOFP recipient, a Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) Fellow, Charles F. Scott Fellowship recipient, and a CDLS Early-Career Fellow. She hopes to become active in teaching courses in sustainability and science education. Ileana is a first-generation Latina born and raised in Los Angeles, CA.
