Faculty

Leadership

  • Ulrike Tschirner
    Director of the Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering 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
Associate 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]
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]
Patrick Huelman
Associate Extension Professor

Building Science, Building Systems, Building Performance, High-Performance Homes, Energy Systems, Residential Ventilation, Energy Efficient Design, Building Durability, Indoor Air Quality

 [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]
Kevin Janni
Professor, Extension Engineer

Ventilation and air quality

 [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]
Ping Wang
Professor

Nanobiotechnology, biocatalysts for biotransformation, Bio-based and bio-active materials; biosensors

Our research explores biocatalysis engineered with nanoscale technology to embrace growing challenges faced in sustainability development, including environment protection and bioresource utilization, food safety and precise agriculture, green energy and health industries.

 [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]