Heileen Hsu-Kim

Image of Heileen Hsu-Kim

Assistant Professor

Professor Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim is an aquatic chemist whose research investigates biogeochemical processes that affect the fate of trace elements in the environment. In particular, she is interested in the biogeochemical cycling of pollutant metals and interfacial processes controlling the fate and bioavilability of nanoparticles in aquatic systems.

Dr. Hsu-Kim's current research projects are focused on mercury biogeochemistry, the environmental implications of nanomaterials, and the impacts of coal ash disposal and coal mining on water quality. A central theme to her work is the utilization of chemical speciation for understanding and predicting the persistence, mobility and bioavailability of metals and minerals in the aquatic environment.

The methodologies her group employs for this research include laboratory techniques for quantifying trace metal speciation, water-surface interactions, and in-situ applications of solid-state microelectrodes to determine important aquatic constituents in water and sediment.

Contact Information:
Education:

PhDUniversity of California, Berkeley2004
MSUniversity of California, Berkeley1999
BSMassachusetts Institute of Technology1998

Research Interests:

Aquatic chemistry and geochemistry, trace element environmental chemistry, nanogeoscience, mercury biogeochemistry, water-particle surface processes.

Specialties:

Water, Resources and Treatment
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Impacts

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions:

  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2012
  • Early Career Research Award, Department of Energy, Office of Science, 2011
  • NSF Ridge 2000 Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2004
  • ACS Environmental Chemistry Division Graduate Student Paper Award, 2003
  • UC-Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, 2000
  • National Physical Science Consortium Graduate Student Fellowship, 1998-2004
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 1998

Courses Taught:
  • CEE 461L.001 - CHEM PRINCIPLES IN ENV ENG
  • CEE 461L.01L - CHEM PRINCIPLES IN ENV ENG
  • CEE 461L.02L - CHEM PRINCIPLES IN ENV ENG
  • CEE 561L.001 - ENVIRONMENTAL AQUATIC CHEM
  • CEE 561L.01L - ENVIRONMENTAL AQUATIC CHEM
  • CEE 561L.02L - ENVIRONMENTAL AQUATIC CHEM

Representative Publications: (More Publications)
    • Zhang, T.; Kim, B.; Levard, C.; Reinsch, B. C.; Lowry, G. V.; Deshusses, M. A.; Hsu-Kim, H., Methylation of mercury by bacteria exposed to dissolved, nanoparticulate, and microparticulate mercuric sulfides, Environmental Science & Technology, vol 46 no. 13 (2012), pp. 6950–6958 [es203181m], [doi].
    • Yang, X.; Gondikas, A. P.; Marinakos, S. M.; Auffan, M.; Liu, J.; Hsu-Kim, H.; Meyer, J. N., Mechanism of silver nanoparticle toxicity is dependent on dissolved silver and surface coating in Caenohabditis elegans, Environmental Science \& Technology, vol 46 no. 2 (2012), pp. 1119-1127 [es202417t], [doi].
    • Gondikas, A. P.; Morris, A.; Reinsch, B. C.; Marinakos, S. M.; Lowry, G. V.; Hsu-Kim, H., Cysteine-induced modifications of zero-valent silver nanomaterials: Implications for particle surface chemistry, aggregation, dissolution, and silver speciation, Environmental Science \& Technology, vol 46 no. 13 (2012), pp. 7037–7045 [es3001757], [doi].
    • Deonarine, A.; Lau, B. L. T.; Aiken, G. R.; Ryan, J. N.; Hsu-Kim, H., Effects of humic substances on precipitation and aggregation of zinc sulfide nanoparticles, Environmental Science \& Technology, vol 45 no. 8 (2011), pp. 3217-3223 [es1029798], [doi].
    • Aiken, G. R.; Hsu-Kim, H.; Ryan, J. N., Influence of dissolved organic matter on the environmental fate of metals, nanoparticles, and colloids, Environmental Science \& Technology, vol 45 (2011), pp. 3196-3201 [es103992s], [doi].
    • Zhang, T. and Hsu-Kim, H., Photolytic degradation of methylmercury enhanced by binding to natural organic ligands, Nature Geoscience, vol 3 no. 7 (2010), pp. 473-476 [NGEO892], [doi].
    • Ruhl, L.; Vengosh, A.; Dwyer, G. S.; Hsu-Kim, H.; Deonarine, A., Environmental impacts of the coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee: An 18-month survey, Environmental Science \& Technology, vol 44 no. 24 (2010), pp. 9272-9278 [es1026739], [doi].