David V.P. Sanchez is an Assistant Professor in the
University of Pittsburgh’s Civil & Environmental Engineering department and
serves as the Assistant Director for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable
Innovation. Dr. Sanchez is the Program Director for the Mascaro Center’s
Sustainability programs overseeing the Master’s in Sustainable Engineering and
the Undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability. He coordinates the Design EXPO
that showcases 90+ projects from ~400 students every semester and serves as the
Director for the Manufacturing Assistant Center’s Makerspace, Constellation
Energy’s Inventor Labs, the Series Workshops and some engineering
collaborations in the community of Homewood.
His research is focused on identifying sustainable designs
that address the Water and Energy grand challenges in the natural and built
environment on a local/regional scale. Current projects include engineering
electrode morphology for bio-electrochemical systems, designing sensors to
identify water quality trends in real-time and, developing hydroponic systems
for the phytoremediation of PFAS, removing off-flavors from Recirculating
Aquaponic systems, and enhancing community agricultural systems.
Dr. Sanchez is the recipient of several awards including a
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, IGERT Traineeship,
Alfred P. Sloan Scholarship, Pittsburgh Business Time Energy Award, and the
Best Mentor Award for Pitt’s Excel program. David actively leads international
engineering trips on behalf of the Swanson School of Engineering.