1997: Bachelor of Science, Department of Chemistry and Deparment of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

1999: Master of Science, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

2003: Doctorate of Philosophy, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Kwan, Wai P. and Voelker, Bettina M., "Predicting oxidation rates of dissolved contaminants during in situ remediation using Fenton's reaction." Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 2004, 228, 352-ENVR.
• Kwan, Wai P. and Voelker, Bettina M. "Influence of electrostatics on the oxidation rates of organic compounds in heterogeneous Fenton systems." Environmental Science & Technology, 2004, 38(12), 3452-3431.
• Kwan, Wai P. and Voelker, Bettina M. "Rates of hydroxyl radical generation and organic compound oxidation in mineral-catalyzed Fenton-like systems." Environmental Science & Technology, 2003, 37(6), 1150-1158.
• Kwan, Wai P. and Voelker, Bettina M., "Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide and organic compounds in the presence of dissolved iron and ferrihydrite." Environmental Science & Technology, 2002, 36(7), 1467-1476.
• Kwan, Wai P. and Voelker, Bettina M., "Heterogeneous Fenton-like chain reactions initiated by iron oxides." Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 2000, 220, 283-ENVR.

I was a graduate student in professor Bettina Voelker's group and worked on using Fenton-like chemistry to remediate groundwater.

A brief overview of Fenton chemistry . . .

In 1894, H. J. H. Fenton reported the oxidation of malic acid in a solution of ferrous ion and hydrogen peroxide. Further studies showed that the combination of Fe²⁺ and H₂O₂ can oxidize many substrates, and this type of chemistry is known as "Fenton chemistry."

It is generally believed that the Fenton reaction proceeds via this pathway:

where OH* denotes the hydroxyl radical. This reaction has a rate constant of 76 M^-1 s^-1 at pH 3, room temperature.
The iron is a catalyst in this system because it can be regenerated by

Some other important reactions involve the reactive radicals, OH* and HO₂/O₂^-.

The system is not simple, and the nature of some of the intermediates are still being debated in literature.

The abstract of my doctoral work.