Allie (Minh-Anh) Nguyen

About me

Hi! I am a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley under the mentorship of Professor Kara Nelson.

My research lies at the intersection of environmental water microbiology and public health. Specifically, I am interested in wastewater surveillance, direct potable reuse, and microbial water quality.

I am currently involved in three projects for my PhD dissertation. One project focuses on wastewater-based epidemiology, specifically investigating the persistence of viral nucleic acid signals in wastewater and how surfactants may affect their stability. Another project explores how sub-sewershed-level sampling can enhance efforts to improve health equity in wastewater-based surveillance. In my third project, I study the impact of blending purified direct potable reuse water with conventional drinking water directly within distribution systems, with a focus on implications for drinking water quality and safety.

In my free time, I enjoy film photography (check out my photos here), dancing, and exploring the San Francisco Bay Area :)

Education

Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (anticipated 2027)
M.S in Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (2023)
Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, University of Minnesota (2022)

selected publications

2025

Benchmarking Concentration and Extraction Methods for Wastewater-Based Surveillance of Eight Human Respiratory Viruses: Implications for Rapid Application to Novel Respiratory Threats

Audrey Liwen Wang, Minxi Jiang, Allie Nguyen, and 4 more authors

Environmental Science & Technology, Aug 2025

Abs PDF

To provide early warning and support a rapid response to a novel virus through wastewater surveillance, it would be ideal to understand in advance which concentration and extraction methods can reliably detect and quantify any virus of concern. We compared four concentration methods (polyethylene glycol precipitation, ultrafiltration, immunomagnetic separation, and adsorption-vortex) and two extraction methods (proteinase K and phosphate-buffered saline) for quantifying eight common human respiratory viruses in wastewater samples.