Kevin T. Finneran

Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering

"Engineers are all about control, but you can’t really control the environment; you can really only influence it."

3221 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory

205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

Phone: 
(217) 244-7956
Fax: 
(217) 333-6967

Kevin Finneran received a B.S. degree in Environmental Sciences (1996) from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Microbiology (2001) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. From 2002 to 2004 Dr. Finneran was an Environmental Microbiologist with GeoSyntec Incorporated in the Boston-Area office. His work at GeoSyntec included both basic research and applied field bioremediation investigations. He joined the faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the fall of 2004.

Dr. Finneran is a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the American Chemical Society (ACS). He serves on the editorial board of Soil and Sediment Contamination: An International Journal. He is a member of the scientific advisory board for the Association for Environmental Health Sciences (AEHS) bi-annual Contaminated Soils, Sediments, and Water conference.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Finneran’s research focuses on anaerobic microbial ecology, emphasizing basic microbial physiology and its role in biodegradation and how it can be adapted for bioremediation strategies. Metals, radionuclides, and organic compounds are investigated in contaminated subsurface aquifer material to determine the relevant metabolic pathways, microbial community or population dynamics, and competing factors that influence the contaminant’s fate and transport. Research is conducted with pure cultures and aquifer material at the bench scale and adapted to larger scales when appropriate.