Daniel Lipus is a graduate student at University of Pittsburgh in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. He is currently analyzing microbial diversity in Marcellus Shale flowback water. Daniel utilizes next generation sequencing and metagenomic tools to collect information on potential microbial metabolic pathways occurring in these extreme environments. Additionally he uses atomic absorption spectroscopy, ion chromatography and colorimetry to evaluate physical and chemical properties of produced water samples.