Gyu-hyeon Han, a master's student in the Department of Environmental and Energy Convergence at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU), advised by Professor Seong-Wook Jin, received the Excellence Award at the '2025 KoSSGE Paper Competition' hosted by the Korean Society of Groundwater and Soil Environment. 

Han was recognized for the excellence and completeness of the paper he prepared based on research titled "Evaluation of Denitrification Reaction Rates and Isotope Fractionation in Organic Matter–Based Permeable Reactive Barriers via Column Experiments." 

In this study, the researchers assessed changes in denitrification reaction rates during long-term operation of organic matter–based permeable reactive barriers and identified changes in the compositions of nitrate and water stable isotopes associated with nitrogen compound transformation processes. It is expected that these results will provide basic data for predicting the service life of permeable reactive barriers and for characterizing isotope variation to improve nitrate removal efficiency in groundwater. 

Han said, "I sincerely thank Professor Seong-Wook Jin for his meticulous guidance and encouragement, and my colleagues in the Applied Environmental Geology Laboratory. I will work even harder to develop as a researcher in this field as a result of this award."