Environmental Engineering and Science

Byung J. Kim, P.E.

Byung J.
Kim, P.E.

Adjunct Professor

Byung Kim
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
P.O. Box 9005
Champaign, IL 61826-9005
bjk@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 352-2487

Byung J. Kim is a senior researcher for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a position he has held since 1987.  Prior to that, he was an Environmental Coordinator for the U.S. Forces-Korea/Eighth United States Army from 1981 to 1987.  From 1977 to 1981, he was a senior environmental engineer for the New York State Environmental Conservation District.

He holds a Ph.D. (1981) from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Kim's research focus is in environmental engineering with an emphasis on military engineering and environmental compliance technologies.

Yuanhui Zhang

Yuanhui
Zhang
The Innoventer Professor in Engineering
Associate Department Head, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering 
Yuanhui Zhang
Agricultural Engineering Sciences Building
332B AESB, MC-644
1304 W. Pennsylvania Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
yzhang1@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 333-2693
Fax: 
(217) 244-0323
Research Website

Professor Yuanhui Zhang, P.E.,  joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1996.  He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in biosystems engineering and indoor air quality engineering.

Dr. Zhang holds Ph.D. (1989) and M.S. (1985) degrees in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and a B.S. (1978) in Agricultural Engineering from Shandong Institute of Technology, China.  

His honors and awards have included being named a Fellow of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (2011), being appointed the Endowed Innoventor Professor in Engineering by the College of Engineering and the College of ACES at the University of Illinois (2011), being named a Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (2008), and winning the Henry Giese Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (2008).

Dr. Zhang’s research goal is to enhance quality of life by focusing on the immediate environment of living things, people, animals and plants. One of his research areas is indoor air quality engineering. His team has developed and continued research on aerodynamic filter-less air cleaning and three-dimensional, near-real-time volumetric particle tracking velocimetry (VPTV) for room air flow measurement and modeling. His book, Indoor Air Quality Engineering, has been used as a textbook in several universities.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Zhang's research focuses on indoor air quality; the effect of indoor air quality on occupants; heating, ventilation and air-conditioning control; and waste treatment.

He has pioneered the research in Environment-Enhancing Energy (E2-Energy), in which he combines waste treatment, water cleaning, carbon dioxide sequestration and biofuel conversion into one process. He has successfully converted biowaste, including animal and human waste, food processing waste and algae, into crude oil using thermochemical conversion (TCC), similar to Mother Nature’s petroleum formation, but in a few minutes rather than geological years.
 
Links of Interest: 

Jeremy S. Guest

Jeremy S.
Guest

Assistant Professor 

Assistant Professor Jeremy S. Guest

 

“Understanding the dynamic interactions between nature and society is at the heart of designing more sustainable infrastructure systems.”

 

3221 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory
205 N. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL  61801
jsguest@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 244-9247
Research Website

Jeremy Guest earned his B.S. in civil engineering from Bucknell University (2005), his M.S. in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (2007) and his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan (2012). His honors include receiving the Walter J. Weber Jr. Award in Environmental and Energy Sustainability from the University of Michigan and being named a Rackham Graduate School Predoctoral Fellow (2010-2011) and a Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute Ph.D. Fellow (2008-2010), both at the University of Michigan.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Guest has research interests in the development of biotechnologies and decision-making tools that enable the design of more sustainable environmental infrastructure systems.  His primary focus is on sanitation and the development of bioprocesses that reduce life cycle environmental impacts, reduce costs, and increase performance reliability by achieving energy, nutrient, and product recovery from wastewaters.

Sotiria Koloutsou-Vakakis

Sotiria
Koloutsou-Vakakis

Lecturer and Research Scientist

3230A Newmark Lab
3230a Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, MC-250
205 N. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL    61801
sotiriak@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 265-7646

Dr. Sotiria Koloutsou-Vakakis holds a Diploma degree (National Technical University of Athens, 1985) in Civil-Surveying engineering, an M.A.(University of California, Los Angeles, 1990) in Geography, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993 and 1996) in Environmental Engineering.

She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in air quality and statistics.

An air quality researcher, Dr. Koloutsou-Vakakis has worked on the policy-making aspects of climate change and ozone layer protection. In 1997, she held a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in 1998-1999 she was a NSF-NATO postdoctoral fellow at the University of Athens, Greece.

Research Overview: 
Dr. Koloutsou-Vakakis' research interests are in air quality, air pollution prevention, aerosol physical and chemical properties, and policy aspects of air pollution. She has worked on characterization of physical and chemical properties of ambient aerosol particles, as these relate to climate change and urban pollution.
 
Links of Interest: 

Deborah Thurston

Deborah
Thurston

Professor
Co-Director, Technology & Management
Gutgsell Professor

117 Transportation B
104 S. Mathews Ave.
MC-238
Urbana, IL  61801
thurston@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 333-6456
Research Website

Julie L. Zilles

Julie L.
Zilles

Research Assistant Professor

"Understanding microbial physiology and ecology in engineered systems is critical for improving water treatment."

3230C Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory

205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

jzilles@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 244-2925
Research Website

Julie L. Zilles received her B.S. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1993) and her Ph.D. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin Madison (1999). She joined the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2002 following postdoctoral work in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin Madison. She is a member of the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an affiliate of the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Dr. Zilles currently teaches biological principles of environmental engineering and scientific writing.

Research Overview: 
Dr. Zilles' research interests lie at the intersection of environmental engineering and microbiology. In systems such as biological wastewater treatment, a more complete understanding of the microbial ecology and physiology may be applied to the development of process improvements. Research areas include the effects of agricultural antibiotic use on antibiotic resistance levels in swine waste treatment systems and manure-amended soils, the microbial ecology of denitrification in tile drainage bioreactors, the development of biomimetic membranes for desalination, the microbial physiology of enhanced biological phosphorus removal, and gene expression and genetic adaptation for herbicide degradation in a model dynamic soil system.
Links of Interest: 

 

Vernon L. Snoeyink

Vernon L.
Snoeyink
Professor Emeritus
Ivan Racheff Professor
3230e Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory

205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

snoeyink@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 333-4700

Vernon L. Snoeyink holds a B.S. in civil engineering (1964), M.S. in sanitary engineering (1966), and Ph.D. in water resources engineering (1968), all from the University of Michigan. He was on the faculty of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois from 1969 until 2005, when he retired. From 1985-1999 he served as Coordinator of the Environmental Engineering and Science Program.

Dr. Snoeyink has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in water chemistry and water quality control, as well as a course in cultural awareness and speech enhancement to advanced doctoral students. He is a co-author of the book Water Chemistry (John Wiley, 1980).

Dr. Snoeyink is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Water Works Association, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, and the International Water Association. He served as President of the Association of Engineering and Science Professors and currently is on the Editorial Advisory Board of AQUA.

Dr. Snoeyink's research awards include the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Distinguished Lectureship, the Research Award from the American Water Works Association, the Warren A. Hall Medal from the University Council on Water Resources, the Samuel Arnold Greeley Award and the Simon Freese Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Thomas Feng Distinguished Lectureship from the University of Massachusetts, and theTau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award from the University of Illinois among others. He has been recognized several times at the University of Illinois for excellence in teaching at the Department, College of Engineering and Campus levels, including the Everitt Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1982 and 1998, and the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1983. In 2002, he received the The Multi-Year Faculty Achievement Award for continual commitment to stewardship and excellence in advising.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Snoeyink's research has focused on drinking water quality control. His research program in recent years has centered on the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants from water using adsorption systems, especially granular and powdered activated carbon systems that are coupled with membrane systems. Also, he is investigating the mechanisms of formation and means to control water quality problems that develop in drinking water distribution systems as a result of reactions of iron, aluminum and other inorganic substances.

Links of Interest: 

 

J. Wayland Eheart

J. Wayland
Eheart

Professor Emeritus

3217 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory

205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

weheart@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 333-6962

J. Wayland Eheart holds a B.S. in chemical engineering (University of Maryland 1966), M.S. in chemical engineering (North Carolina State University 1968), and Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering (University of Wisconsin 1975). He has been on the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering since 1978.

Dr. Eheart has taught the following courses in Civil and Environmental Engineering: CEE 241, 292, 341, 339, 439, and 441. He is currently working on a book for the 339 and 439 courses tentatively entitled Environmental Systems Analysis.

Dr. Eheart is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Phi Kappa Phi. He is a member of the Water Resources Standards Committee of ASCE, which has produced the ASCE Model Water Codes and is the editor of a recent ASCE publication from the same committee entitled: Riparian Water Regulations: Guidelines for Withdrawal Limitations and Permit Trading.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Eheart's research focuses on the use of mathematical models and engineering principles in the development of environmental policy. His research has been applied to problems of water and air pollution control, water quantity maintenance, groundwater remediation and monitoring, as well as assessment of and adaptation to global climate change.

Links of Interest: 

Charles J. Werth

Charles J.
Werth
Professor
Arthur and Virginia Nauman Faculty Scholar 
Associate Head for Graduate Affairs
1110 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory

205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

werth@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 333-3822

Charles J. Werth holds a B.S. (Texas A&M University, 1988) degree in mechanical engineering, and M.S. (Stanford University, 1992) and Ph.D. (Stanford University, 1996) degrees in environmental engineering and science. He also holds a Ph.D. minor (Stanford University, 1996) in Chemistry.

Dr. Werth has been on the faculty of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1997.  He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in hazardous waste site assessment, remediation and management, environmental transport modeling, sustainable urban engineering, and drinking water treatment processes.

Dr. Werth is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, and is a Fellow of the Department of Energy's William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory.  He has received a number of awards, including the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award, the Arthur and Virginia Nauman Faculty Scholar Award, the Humbolt Research Fellow Award, and the BP Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Instruction. 

Research Overview: 

Dr. Werth's research focuses on the transport and fate organic chemicals in the environment, and on the development of sustainable technologies for pollution abatement. Specific areas of interest include the study of reactive transport mechanisms of pollutants in porous media (with an emphasis on partitioning and mass transfer), development of catalytic reduction technologies for oxyanions and halogenated organics, and the fate of legacy/emerging pollutants in natural systems and engineered watersheds.

Links of Interest: 

 

Albert J. Valocchi

Albert J.
Valocchi

Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering

"Our graduate students will address society's challenges—problems we can't even imagine today."

2527C Hydrosystems Laboratory

205 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

valocchi@illinois.edu
Phone: 
(217) 333-3176
Fax: 
(217) 333-0687
Research Website

Albert J. Valocchi received his B.S. in Environmental Systems Engineering from Cornell University in 1975 and did his graduate studies at Stanford University in the Department of Civil Engineering, receiving his M.S. in 1976 and Ph.D. in 1981. He has been on the faculty of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois since 1981, and currently holds the rank of Professor.

Dr. Valocchi teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in water resources engineering, groundwater hydrology and contaminant transport, groundwater modeling and numerical methods, and stochastic analysis of porous media transport.

Dr. Valocchi is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Geophysical Union, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the American Society for Engineering Education, and Sigma Xi. He serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, the Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (ASCE), Advances in Water Resources, and the Vadose Zone Journal. He has also served as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Environmental Remediation at Naval Facilities.

Dr. Valocchi has received several awards in recognition of his research and teaching accomplishments. He was a Shell Faculty Career Fellow from 1984 to 1987, and he has been awarded fellowships to lecture and conduct research from NATO and the Danish Research Academy. In 2002 he received the Collins Award for Innovative Teaching from the University of Illinois College of Engineering.

Research Overview: 

Dr. Valocchi’s research focuses upon mathematical modeling of pollutant fate and transport in porous media, with applications to groundwater contamination and remediation. He specializes in the development and application of models that couple physical, geochemical, and microbiological processes over a wide range of spatial scales ranging from the pore scale (micrometers) to the field scale (kilometers).

Links of Interest: 
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