She Rocks! Meet Dr. Maya A. Trotz, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at USF

By Guyanese Girl August 22, 2016

Maya A. Trotz, Ph.D., born in Georgetown, Guyana is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF), Tampa. She works at the nexus of geochemistry/water quality and global/community sustainability and education with current and previous student research projects in Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Bolivia, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, and Peru. She currently holds a patent on “Functional composites formed from colloidal polymer particles with photocatalytic metal oxide nanoparticles.”

Dr. Trotz’s interests are interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, applied and seek to forge non-‐ traditional university partnerships. She is a faculty mentor for USF’s Peace Corps Master’s International Program in Water. She currently directs sustainability driven research and education programs for graduate students, undergraduate students, and teachers, funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Education. These include NSF funded “Research Experience for Undergraduates” and “Research Experience for Teachers” programs at USF. As a Visiting Research Scientist at the Caribbean Science Foundation in Barbados during the 2013 academic year she helped to develop and implement the inaugural Sagicor Visionaries Challenge for high school students in 12 different Caribbean countries. Sponsored by Sagicor, the Caribbean Science Foundation, and the Caribbean Examinations Council this challenge asked students to identify a challenge facing their school and/or community, propose a sustainable and innovative solution and demonstrate how that solution used science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Dr. Trotz received a bachelor’s in chemical engineering with a minor in theater from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then a master’s and doctorate in environmental engineering from Stanford University. As a Postdoc she taught at the National Technological University in Singapore on behalf of Stanford University.

You can learn more about Dr. Trotz’s research and accomplishments HERE

Renowned Environmental Engineer, Dr. Maya Trotz, is a ‘Special Person’

Guyanese Girl / About Author

Cloyette Harris-Stoute is a proud Guyanese based in Queens, New York. She's the founder of the Guyanese Girls Rock Blog, Founder & President of Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, Inc. and Owner of Guyanese Girls Rock Apparels. A self-professed techie, she's an IT Manager at a prestigious New York City Hospital. She also owns her own fine jewelry business, Twin Elegance.