Department of

Faculty

Leadership

Hua Zhao
Department head
Bo Hu
Director of the Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering undergraduate program
Omar Espinoza and Tim Smith
Co-Directors of the Sustainable Systems Management undergraduate program
Roger Ruan
Director of the Bioproducts and Biosystems Science, Engineering and Management graduate program

Faculty

Name	Areas of Interest	Email
Abdennour Abbas Associate Professor	Bionanotechnology, Nanotechnology, Rapid Diagnostics, Food Safety	[email protected]
Min M Addy Research Associate Professor	Food Safety, Food Processing, and Renewable Energy	[email protected]
Brett Barney Professor	Biofuels and high value chemicals from bacteria and algae, Biofertilizers for aquaculture and nitrogen based agriculture	[email protected]
Mrinal Bhattacharya Professor	Biodegradable polymers, tissue engineering, nanobiosensors	[email protected]
John Chapman Research Associate Professor, Director of Erosion and Stormwater Management Certification Program	Erosion prediction, and storm water quality. Surface water quality impacts from soils and the built environment and the interaction of fluids and particulate matter.	[email protected]
Paul Chen Research Professor	Food and bioprocessing engineering, healthy and functional foods, liquid and solid waste management and utilization, and renewable energy and bioproducts	[email protected]
Rui Cheng Assistant Professor	Remote Sensing, Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence, Hyperspectral Imaging, Land-Climate Feedbacks, Surface Process Modeling	[email protected]
Erin Cortus Associate Professor, Extension Engineer	Sustainable Livestock Production	[email protected]
Omar Espinoza Director of Undergraduate Studies, Associate Professor	Marketing and Management of Biobased Products, Circular Economy, Process Improvement, Supply Chain Management, Performance Measurement, Product Development, Environmental certification	[email protected]
Rebecca Forman Teaching Assistant Professor	Erosion prevention and stormwater quality	[email protected]
Jason Hill Professor	Air quality; Bioenergy; Climate change; Energy; Food; Life cycle assessment; Sustainability	[email protected]
Bo Hu Professor	Bioprocess development, Environmental remediation	[email protected]
Peter Huajiang Huang Research Associate Professor	Process Modeling & Analysis, Product Separation/Purification, Biorefineries	[email protected]
Natalie Hunt Teaching Assistant Professor	Food Systems, Systems Thinking, Alternative Cropping Systems, Life Cycle Analysis, Sustainability Literacy, Quantitative Literacy, Cropping System Diversification	[email protected]
Forrest Izuno Professor	Value-added crops/cropping systems, social and economic improvements for rural areas. Agricultural Production System Resilience, BMPs for Agricultural Water Quality, and Application for Plasma in the Liquid Phase.	[email protected]
Zhenong Jin Assistant Professor	Mapping agriculture features using high-resolution satellite imagery, forecasting crop yields, integrating crop models with remote sensing for precision nitrogen management, impacts of climate change on agroecosystem, digital and precision agriculture.	[email protected]
Christian Lenhart Research Associate Professor	I work on ecological restoration and management practices in relation to hydrologic and water quality benefits.	[email protected]
Joe Magner Research Professor	Environmental and Ecological Engineering. Exploring the ecological connect between increased precipitation and groundwater.	[email protected]
Beth Nelson Research Associate Professor, Director, North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program	Local and sustainable food system, sustainable ag systems and practices	[email protected]
John Nieber Professor	Hydrologic processes simulation and modeling, impact of land use activities on water quality	[email protected]
Shri Ramaswamy Professor	Biomass Conversion and Utilization, Renewable Energy, Bioprocessing	[email protected]
Roger Ruan Professor and Director	Renewable Engineering and Environment, and Food Engineering	[email protected]
Gary R Sands Professor	Water management and quality for agricultural systems	[email protected]
Steve Severtson Professor	Coatings and adhesives, polymer films	[email protected]
Vasudha Sharma Assistant Extension Professor	Irrigation water management	[email protected]
Timothy Smith Professor	Corporate sustainability, product stewardship, sustainable systems policy and market adoption	[email protected]
Ulrike Tschirner Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies	Biomass conversion, Bioplastics, Renewable Energy, Pulping, Bleaching	[email protected]
William Tai Yin Tze Associate Professor	Nanocellulose/nanocomposites, materials and adhesives from biomass solid wastes	[email protected]
Bruce Wilson Professor	Water Resources and Ecological Engineering	[email protected]
Ce Yang Associate Professor	Precision Agriculture, High-throughput Phenotyping, Remote Sensing, Drone Hyperspectral Imaging, Machine Learning.	[email protected]
Jiwei Zhang Assistant Professor	System biology; Genome editing and large-scale phenotyping; Genetic engineering; Plant biomass conversion; Wood decay fungi; Bioremediation.	[email protected]
Hua Zhao Head and Professor	Biocatalysis, biomass utilization, biofuel, biopolymer, coal liquefaction, ionic liquids	[email protected]

Adjunct & Teaching Faculty

Name	Areas of Interest	Email
Charles Abbas Adjunct Professor		[email protected]
Yanling Cheng Adjunct Associate Professor	Renewable energy and wastewater treatment, food wastes digestion and compost for fertilizers, and food safety	[email protected]
Holly Dolliver Adjunct Professor	Soil health, soil physics, soil pedology, geomorphology	[email protected]
Qinghuang Charles Geng Adjunct Professor	Food processing, biotechnology, renewable energy, bio-engineering	[email protected]
Sara Heger Adjunct Assistant Professor, Research Associate	Waste Treatment	[email protected]
Roman Kanivetsky Adjunct Professor	Water resources, groundwater	[email protected]
Jeppe Kjaersgaard Adjunct Professor		[email protected]
Dharma Kodali Adjunct Professor		[email protected]
Brock Lundberg Adjunct Assistant Professor	Food Processing, Agricultural based products	[email protected]
Cindy McComas Adjunct Associate Professor	Sustainable business practices, pollution prevention, energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy, and industrial energy efficiency.	[email protected]
HS Muralidhara Adjunct Professor	Biologics, membrane applications	[email protected]
Heidi Peterson Adjunct Professor	Nutrient Management, Agricultural Soil and Water Conservation (Soil Health/Water Quality)	[email protected]
Joel Peterson Adjunct Assistant Professor		[email protected]
Srinivas Rallapalli Adjunct Assistant Professor	Environmental and Ecological Engineering	[email protected]
Koray Sekeroglu Adjunct Assistant Professor	Fluid handling components, Material testing, Plastic Failure Analysis	[email protected]
Udai Singh Adjunct Assistant Professor	Stormwater management	[email protected]
Jerrold Winandy Adjunct Professor	My research involves defining the mechanisms and effects of chemical, biological and thermal degradation of wood and biocomposites. Wood and Biocomposite Science and their Engineering Properties.	[email protected]

Faculty

Leadership

Faculty

Adjunct & Teaching Faculty

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