Team

Dr. Paola A. Baldaguez Medina is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During her graduate studies, she was recognized as an Alfred P. Sloan Scholar and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Her doctoral research focused on the development of redox-active electro-sorbents and reactive separation processes for the remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water systems.

Her research integrates electrochemical engineering, separation processes, and advanced functional materials to develop sustainable solutions for water treatment, desalination, environmental monitoring, and critical material recovery. Her group investigates electrochemically mediated adsorption and separation technologies, including capacitive deionization, contaminant sensing, heavy metal remediation, and rare earth element recovery, with a particular emphasis on low-cost carbon materials and biomass-derived electrodes.