Lisa Alvarez-Cohen is the vice provost for academic planning, Fred and Claire Sauer Professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. She was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2010 for the discovery and application of novel microorganisms and biochemical pathways for microbial degradation of environmental contaminants. She is also a Fellow of the

American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

Early life and education

Alvarez-Cohen studied engineering and applied science at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and graduated in 1984. She was a postgraduate student at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where she earned her

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

degree in 1985 and a PhD in 1991.

Research and career

Alvarez-Cohen works in environmental microbiology and ecology. She joined the faculty at

in 1991, and was the first woman to achieve tenure in Berkeley's Civil & Environmental Engineering Department. She is interested in species that can perform environmentally relevant functions, including studies of

biotransformation Biotransformation is the biochemical modification of one chemical compound or a mixture of chemical compounds. Biotransformations can be conducted with whole cells, their lysates, or purified enzymes. Increasingly, biotransformations are effected ...

and the fate of environmental water contaminants. Alvarez-Cohen uses

omics Omics is the collective characterization and quantification of entire sets of biological molecules and the investigation of how they translate into the structure, function, and dynamics of an organism or group of organisms. The branches of scien ...

based molecular tools to optimise

bioremediation Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi in mycoremediation, and plants in phytoremediation), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, wate ...

. Amongst other contaminants, Alvarez-Cohen's lab have studied the remediation of trichloroethene, aqueous film forming foams and arsenic: *

Trichloroethene Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an organochloride with the formula C2HCl3, commonly used as an industrial metal-degreasing solvent. It is a clear, colourless, non-flammable, volatile liquid with a chloroform-like pleasant mild smell and sweet taste.

is a contaminant that is routinely found at

Superfund sites Superfund sites are Pollution, polluted locations in the United States requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations. Sites include landfills, mines, manufacturing facilities, processing plants where toxic waste h ...

. Trichloroethene is often included on the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

priorities list, and is typically dechlorinated using

dehalococcoides ''Dehalococcoides'' is a genus of bacteria within class Dehalococcoidia that obtain energy via the oxidation of hydrogen and subsequent reductive dehalogenation of halocarbon, halogenated organic compounds in a mode of anaerobic respiration calle ...

. *

Aqueous film forming foam Firefighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, thus achieving suppression of the combustion. Firefighting foam was invented by the Moldovan engineer a ...

s have been used since the 1960s to extinguish

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...

fuel fires. They contain

perfluoroalkoxy alkane Perfluoroalkoxy alkanes (PFA) are fluoropolymers. They are copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene (C2F4) and perfluoroethers (C2F3ORf, where Rf is a perfluorinated group such as trifluoromethyl (CF3)). The properties of these polymers are similar ...

s, which can be contaminants due to their impact on human heath. Perfluoroalkoxy alkanes are known to

bioaccumulate Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance faster than it can be lost or eliminated by catabolism and excretion. Th ...

and exhibit toxicity in animals. *

Arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

occurs regularly on the

National Priorities List The National Priorities List (NPL) is the priority list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanup) financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protec ...

in various chlorinated solvents. * Alvarez-Cohen uses

anammox Anammox, an abbreviation for "anaerobic ammonium oxidation", is a globally important microbial process of the nitrogen cycle that takes place in many natural environments. The bacteria mediating this process were identified in 1999, and were a gr ...

to remove nitrogen from

wastewater Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of do ...

. Anammox is cheaper and more efficient than conventional nitrogen sequestration. She uses stable isotope traces to study the fundamental mechanisms of anammox.

Academic service

In 2007 Alvarez-Cohen became chair for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a position she held until 2012. She has served as the diversity director of the

Engineering Research Center and elected chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. She was appointed the vice provost for academic planning in July 2018. Alvarez-Cohen has appeared on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and served on the editorial advisory board of ''

Environmental Science & Technology ''Environmental Science & Technology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published since 1967 by the American Chemical Society. It covers research in environmental science and environmental technology, including environmental policy. ...

''. She has represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

Frontiers of Engineering in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

, and

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

Selected publications

* * *

Awards and honours

* 1994 W. M. Keck Foundation Award for Engineering Teaching Excellence * 2002 Elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

* 2003

Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) is made up of professors in academic programs throughout the world who provide education in the sciences and technologies of environmental protection. The headquarters are lo ...

Distinguished Service Award * 2010 Elected to the

* 2014

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award * 2018

Fellow

Personal life

Alvarez-Cohen is married to Mike Dean Alvarez Cohen, with whom she has two children, Jason and Ryan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez-Cohen, Lisa Living people American women environmentalists American environmentalists American environmental scientists American women chemists Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Stanford University School of Engineering alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology 21st-century American women