The Grainger College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Na Wei

Na Wei
Na Wei
  • Associate Professor
(217) 333-1965
3215 Newmark Civil Engineering Building

Primary Research Area

  • Environmental Engineering and Science

Research Areas

For More Information

Journal Editorships

  • Editor, Journal of Hazardous Material
  • Associate Editor, Critical Reviews in Biotechnology

Research Interests

  • The overarching theme of our research is to understand and manipulate microbial systems at the molecular level for beneficial applications towards environmental sustainability. Our research lies at the interface of environmental engineering and synthetic biology, specific areas of reseach are below.
  • Plastic degradation and upcycling (biocataslyst engineering, AI-driven enzyme discovery)
  • Resource recovery from waste streams (e.g., recovery of rare earth elements, phosphorus recovery)
  • Renewable biocatalysis for water reclamation and reuse
  • Disease control to protect public health

Primary Research Area

  • Environmental Engineering and Science

Research Areas

Honors

  • NSF CAREER Award (2017)
  • CAPEES Founding President Best Paper Award (2017)
  • American Chemical Society C. Ellen Gonter Research Paper Award (2023)

Teaching Honors

  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (2023)
  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (2024)