Postdoctoral research fellow William Tarpeh is one of five inductees into the University of Michigan chapter of the Bouchet Honor Society, which recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and a commitment to diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.
The Bouchet Society is named for Edward Bouchet, the first African-American PhD recipient in the U.S (Physics, Yale University, 1876). A national network, it connects scholars who exemplify scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academy.
Tarpeh works with Professors Krista Wigginton and Nancy Love on determining the fate of pharmaceuticals in producing urine-derived fertilizers. During his PhD at UC Berkeley, he designed and evaluated novel processes for nitrogen recovery from separately collected urine. His primary research interests include physicochemical resource recovery from under-utilized waste and engineering process technologies for sustainable sanitation.