Iskandar (Alex) Karam Iskandar

Chief, Geochemical Sciences Division

Dr. "Alex" Iskandar, a soil chemist, has been chief of the Geochemical Sciences division since 1986, having started at CRREL as a Research Chemist in 1975. Dr. Iskandar's background is in soil science and water sediment chemistry. He is interested in chemical transport, site assessment, site investigation, hazardous waste treatment, heavy metals fate and effects, and effect of soil freezing and thawing.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION:

• Chemistry of freezing and frozen soils
• Hazardous waste site assessment and remediation
• Geochemistry of heavy metals

RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Current research projects which Dr. Iskandar is supervising include:

• Ex-Situ and in-situ bioremediation and bioventing pilot studies at FAA and Air Force sites in Alaska
• Developing a model to predict the transformation of organic and inorganic contaminants and their transport through seasonally frozen soils under the influence of biological, geological, and chemical processes.
• Trace elements in the environment
• Soil remediation, especially of heavy metals

Past areas of research include:

• Soil freezing to control the migration of hazardous wastes in soils & subsoils
• Nitrogen and phosphorus transformations in soils
• Land treatment of wastewater
• Chemistry of sediments and waters
• Radioactive and stable isotope tracers
• Biogeochemistry and soil survey/land classification
• Chemistry of subsea permafrost

EDUCATION:

Postdoctoral Research Associate, 1972-1975, University of Wisconsin, working on environmental chemistry, thermal pollution, and accumulation of trace metals in aquatic ecosystems.

Ph.D., 1972, Univ. of Wisconsin, major in soil science and minor in water chemistry.
M.S., 1967, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, major in soil science.
B.S., 196l, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, major in soil science.

RECENT SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Iskandar, I. K. and D. C. Adriano (eds.). in press. Remediation of Soils Contaminated with Metals. Science and Technology Letters, Northwood, England.

Selim, H. M., S. K. Xue, and I. K. Iskandar. 1995. Transport of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine in soils. Soil Science 160: 328-339.

Xue, S. K., I. K. Iskandar, and H. M. Selim. 1995. Adsorption-desorption of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine in soils. Soil Science 160: 317-326.

Reynolds, C. M. and I. K. Iskandar. 1995. A modeling-based evaluation of wastewater application practices on groundwater quality. USA Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Report 95-2.

Adriano, D. C., I. K. Iskandar and I. P. Murarka (eds.). 1994. Contamination of Groundwaters. Advances in Environmental Science. Science Reviews, Northwood, England.

Selim, H. M. and I. K. Iskandar. 1994. Sorption-desorption and transport of TNT and RDX in soils. U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Report 94-7.

Iskandar, I. K. and H. M. Selim (eds.). 1992. Engineering Aspects of Metal-Waste Management. Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, MI.

Selim, H. M., M. C. Amacher and I. K. Iskandar. 1990. Modeling the transport of heavy metals in soils. USA Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH, CRREL Monograph 90-2.

Chamberlain, E., I. K. Iskandar, and S. E. Hunsicker. 1990. Effect of Freeze-Thaw Cycles on the Permeability and Macrostructure of Soils. In Proceedings of the 1990 International Symposium on Frozen Soil Impacts on Agricultural, Range, and Forest Lands, K.R. Cooley (ed.), March 21-22, 1990, Spokane, WA.

Iskandar, I.K. 1987. Ground freezing controls hazardous waste. The Military Engineer, 79(516):455-456.

Iskandar, I. K. 1986. Effect of freezing on the level of contaminants at uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Special Report 86-19.

Iskandar, I. K. and T. F. Jenkins. 1985. Potential use of artificial freezing for contaminant immobilization. Proceedings, International Conference on new frontiers for hazardous waste management, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15-18 Sep, 1985, pp. 128-136.

Page, A. L., T. L. Gleason III, J. E. Smith Jr., I. K. Iskandar and L. E. Sommers (eds.). 1983. Proceedings of the 1983 Workshop on Utilization of Municipal Wastewater and Sludge on Land. University of California, Riverside, CA.

Iskandar, I. K. 1982. Overview of models used in land treatment of wastewater. USA Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab, Special Report 82-1. (27 pages)

Iskandar, I. K. (ed.). 1981. Modeling Wastewater Renovation - Land Treatment. Wiley Interscience, NY. (802 pages)

Iskandar, I. K. and H. M. Selim. 1981. Modeling nitrogen transport and transformation in soils: II Validation. Soil Science 131:303-312.