Dr. Ameet J. Pinto is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology (GT). Before that, they were an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University (NU) (2016-2021) and a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer (2012-2015) at the University of Glasgow (UG), UK. Dr. Pinto’s research focuses on microbial ecosystems in the engineered water cycle with the vision of creating microbial management frameworks to maximize their beneficial and minimize their detrimental impacts. Their research has been successfully supported by a blend of government, non-profit, and industry and has been recognized by prestigious national and international awards. Dr. Pinto’s advisees have won regional/national scientific competitions, found success in industrial roles, and in academia. Dr. Pinto’s educational activities broadly cater to the training needs of environmental engineers in the classroom and the engineering profession. They have also developed a track record of professional service at the national and international levels with highly regarded professional organizations and top-tier scientific journals.
Dr. Pinto’s research involves the characterization and management of microbial communities in the engineered water cycle at the interface of environment, infrastructure, and health. Their group applies and develops experimental and computational approaches to translate ecological/physiological theory into industry practice.
Dr. Pinto teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on biological process design and modeling, water and wastewater treatment processes, and microbiome engineering.
Khan, F., Gincley, B., Busch, A., Tolofari, D.L., Norton, J.W., Varga, E., McKay, R.M.L, Fuentes-Cabrera, M., Slawecki, T., Pinto, A.J. Integrating machine learning with flow-imaging microscopy for automated monitoring of algal blooms. Environmental Science & Technology. 59(7) 19885-19898. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5c06078
Gincley, B., Khan, F., Alam, M.M., Hartnett, E., Kim, G-Y., Molitor, H., Fisher, A., Bradley, I., Guest, J.S., Pinto, A.J. (2025). Morphotype-resolved characterization of microalgal communities in a nutrient recovery process with ARTiMiS flow imaging microscopy. Water Research. (283) 123801. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123801
He, H., Huo, L., Oosthuizen-Vosloo, S., Pieper, K., Stubbins, A., Yoon, B., and Pinto, A.J. (2025) Building plumbing influences the microdiversity and community assembly of the drinking water microbiome. Water Research. 123244. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123244.
Sudharshan, A., Dai, Z., Gabrielli, M.#, Oosthuizen-Vosloo, S., Konstantinidis, K.T., and Pinto, A.J. (2024). New drinking water genome catalog identifies a globally distributed bacterial genus adapted to disinfected drinking water systems. Environmental Science and Technology. 58(37) 16475-16487. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c05086
Gincley, B., Khan, F., Hartnett, E., Fisher, A., and Pinto, A.J. (2024) Introducing ARTiMiS: A low cost flow imaging microscope for microalgal monitoring. Environmental Science and Technology. 58(30) 13023-13034. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c01928
Johnston, J., Vilardi, K., Cotto, I., Sudarshan, A., Bian, K., Klaus, S., Bachmann, M., Parson, M., Wilson, C., Bott, C., and Pinto, A.J. (2024). Metatranscriptomic analysis reveals synergistic activities of comammox and anammox bacteria in full-scale attached growth nitrogen removal system. Environmental Science and Technology. 58(29) 13023-13034. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c04375
Vilardi, K., Johnston, J., Dai, Z., Cotto, I., Tuttle, E., Patterson, A., Stubbins, A., Pieper, K., and Pinto, A.J. (2024). Nitrogen source influences the interactions of comammox bacteria with aerobic nitrifiers. Microbiology Spectrum. 12 (5), e03181-23. 10.1128/spectrum.03181-23
Gabrielli, M., Dai, Z., Delafont, V., Timmers, P., van der Wielen, P., Antonelli, M., and Pinto, A.J. (2023). Identifying eukaryotes in drinking water metagenomes and factors influencing their biogeography. Environmental Science & Technology. 57, 3645-3660. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09010
Vosloo, S., Huo, L., Chauhan, U., Cotto, I., Gincley, B., Vilardi, K., Yoon, B., Pieper, K.J., Stubbins, A., and Pinto, A.J. (2023) Gradual recovery of building plumbing-associated microbial communities after extended periods of altered water demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental Science & Technology 57(8): 3248-3259. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07333
Cotto, I., Vilardi, K.J. , Huo, L., Fogarty, E.C., Khunjar, W., Wilson, C., De Clippeleir, H., Gilmore, K., Bailey, E., Lucker, S., Pinto, A.J. (2023). Low diversity and microdiversity of comammox bacteria in wastewater systems suggests wastewater-specific adaptation within the Ca. Nitrospira nitrosa cluster. Water Research. 229(1): 119497. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.119497.
A Georgia Tech team was one of the four top finalists selected to win $10,000 in the 2022-2023 AlgaePrize Competition. The competition is hosted by The U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), in partnership with the Algae Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
