Toledo, Ohio native Sam Rush came to Rhode Island to conduct meaningful research on the causes of algal blooms.

“I grew up sailing on Lake Erie, and we have had issues with algal blooms there,” recalled the University of Rhode Island senior during his SURF experience this past summer. “We had a week when we couldn’t cook or wash clothes with water, so that’s what got me interested in this kind of research.”

Rush worked under Dr. Arijit Bose, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Rhode Island, figuring out how to use gold nanoparticles to detect chemicals such as nitrate and phosphate in seawater.

“I made the templates for the gold nano-sensors,” explained Rush. “Every day, I would make up a procedure for my designs, and test things like binding agents and temperature which may create the most responsive sensor.”

For Rush, finding the right combination of chemical materials to produce a nano-sensor which could actually detect contaminants was a long process.

“It is a lot of lab work, and understanding what is fully going on with my experiments was tough,” he said.

The Toledo native credited his graduate mentor, Akram Abbasi, for guiding him through the challenging aspects of his research. Rush enjoyed his work so much that he has continued to conduct research with Bose and Abbasi into the school year, and is a regular visitor to the Rhode Island Consortium for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology’s lab at URI.

“Algae can act as a natural concentrator for certain nutrients, so I have been testing the gold nano-sensors in algae to see if we can detect nitrates and phosphates at a low concentration in seawater,” explained the URI senior. “The questions I am trying to answer are: How do the algae uptake the nanosensors? Where are the sensors going? How long will the sensors stay in the algae when put back in sea water?”

Although his SURF and SURF+ research experiences have been formative, the chemical engineering student says he is not sure graduate school is the path just yet.

“I am done with class for a little bit,” he laughed. “I have always been good with machines and have helped assemble things like wind tunnels and 3D printers, so I’d like to go more into a job where I can work on research equipment.”