Edward Apraku

Edward Apraku is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. His dissertation examines the tandem removal of eutrophic pollutants and recovery of commodity chemicals from wastewater using polymeric materials and electrochemical techniques. While his primary focus lies in the technical dimensions of environmental remediation, he is equally intrigued by the policy and regulatory intricacies, especially those impacting communities of color. As a Partnerships for Climate Justice in the Bay Area Fellow, he worked with Belle Haven Action, a local environmental-focused grassroots organization in Menlo Park, to identify the environmental injustices that plague the marginalized community and research investment strategies to move towards equitable remediation. He continued his public service interest as a Graduate Public Service Fellow and is currently the first-ever graduate student to sit on the Haas Center’s National Advisory Board. He’s interested in the intersection of community-based research, public policy and advocacy, and engineering. 

Edward was born in Kumasi, Ghana, and raised in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. The combination of inadequate water quality in Ghana and water scarcity in Arizona sparked his interest in environmental engineering and he graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Outside of research, he is involved in diversity and equity-focused programs in the School of Engineering and the university broadly. He serves on the board of Stanford LGBTQ+ Alumni Association and Stanford’s Black Men’s Guild. In 2023, he was selected as the Student Speaker for Stanford Engineering’s Welcome Convocation for graduate students. In his free time, Edward enjoys playing volleyball, consuming and reviewing media on Letterboxd and Goodreads, attending concerts, and exploring San Francisco parks.