Students working within the Environmental Process Engineering (EPE) track of Environmental Engineering focus on phenomena that govern the origin, transport and transformation of contaminants in our environment and technologies 
for reducing the associated risks to human health and environment. Research includes chemical processes that affect the fate of trace metals in the environment, transport and impacts of nanomaterials, molecular biological methods to monitor and improve performance of engineered microbial systems; biodegradation of organic contaminants, development of advanced membrane processes for water treatment and reuse, energy technologies and their impacts, and the properties, measurement and effects of ambient aerosols.
CORE FACULTY Marc Deshusses, Professor - Environmental biotechnology, biofilms, biofiltration, gas-phase sensors based on functionalized nanomaterialsClaudia K. Gunsch, Assistant Professor - Identification of gene expression variations linked to vapor-phase biofilter performance, Development of biosensors capable of pathogen and contaminant detection in water and air, Use of DNA chips to study the microbial ecology of groundwater and air treatment systems, Isolation and identification of novel genes in environmentally relevant microorganisms, Development of methods to control the release of genetically engineered microorganisms in natural and controlled environments.Heileen Hsu-Kim, Assistant Professor - Environmental chemistry; biogeochemical cycling of pollutant metals; aquatic geochemistry; water-particle surface processes; transformation of metals in engineered ecosystems Andrey Khlystov, Assistant Professor - Effect of ambient aerosol on the global climate and how aerosol hygroscopic growth affects the magnitude of climate forcing; exploring the relationship between particulate matter and adverse health effects; and development of new automatic measurement techniques to study the properties and transformations of ambient aerosol. Karl G. Linden, Adjunct AssociateProfessor - Applications of emerging ultraviolet technologies for disinfection of water and wastewater, control of disinfection by-products, and oxidation of organic contaminants. J. Jeffrey Peirce, Associate Professor - Environmental engineering, hazardous waste engineering, physical, chemical, and biological aspects of particle-fluid interactions, models of trace gas emissions from waste- amended and chemically-applied soils. Mark R. Wiesner, James L. Meriam Professor - Environmental nanotechnology, membrane science, water treatment, water reuse, desalination, colloidal and interfacial processes, and environmental systems analysis.