Wen Zhang, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE

Principal Investigator
Professor

Phone: (973) 596-5520 
Fax: (973) 596-5790
Email: wen.zhang@njit.edu

Office Location: Colton Hall 211

Find us on the map: 

 Wen's Research Group​

Explore the Nano World 



He has secured more than 5 million dollars of competitive research funding in the past 10 years as faculty. His research has been funded from federal agencies such as NSF, EPA, USDA, DOI, DOE and various industries. Dr. Zhang has filled or received 4 approved US patents with three undergoing commercialization (e.g., microwave-catalytic membrane technology, nanobubble technology and algal removal boat). His patented technologies are licensed by NJIT  to new start-up companies (i.e., PureNanotech Inc.) in partnerships with NJIT, NJII and other commercial collaborators.

Wen is the recipient of a number of prestigious national awards in the US, including the 2011 Simon Karecki Award from the Global Research Collaboration and SEMATECH Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing, the 2012 CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), the 2013 CIBA/ACS Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) Young Scientist Travel Award, the 2014 ExCEEd Teaching Fellows by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the 2016 ASCE New Jersey Section's Educator of the Year and the 2022 Edison Patent Award for this proposed project of a microwave-enabled reactive membrane filtration system. He also led the Chinese American Professors in Environmental Engineering (CAPEES) as the president from 2020-2022 and received the Science/US-China Environmental Education Foundation Environmental Educator Award and Award for Distinguished Service as well as the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Distinguished Service Award in 2022.  

Wen Zhang is a professor of NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with a second appointment in the Department of Chemical and Material Engineering. Wen is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) registered in the States of New Jersey and Delaware. He is an American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES) Board Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE). Wen received his B.S from Tsinghua University in 2004, M.S. from Tongji University in 2007, and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2011. Dr. Zhang's research integrates nanotechnology into environmental engineering to develop innovative solutions for environmental sustainability.


Dr. Zhang has a board spectra of research interests and footprints in colloidal science and interfaces, nanomaterial synthesis and characterization, catalytic processes and engineering. His expertise includes environmental behavior and interfacial processes of nanomaterials, microplastics and soft particles such as microbes and bubbles, reactive membrane filtration systems for desalination and emerging contaminant removal, microalgal removal and harvesting processing using magnetophoretic separation and reactive membrane filtration processes. His latest research also expands to agricultural applications of nanobubbles, lithium/cobalt recovery from spent lithium-ion batteries, induction-heating membrane distillation, microwave-enabled water and air purification. More details are available at Zhang’s website: www.wenresearch.com

​​​​Education

Ph.D.                                     Environmental Engineering                                Georgia Institute of Technology                            2011

M.S.                                      Environmental Engineering                                Tongji University                                                    2007

B.S.                                       Environmental Engineering                                Tsinghua University                                               2004


Employment

07/2017–present           Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, NJIT

09/2012–06/2017          Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, NJIT
01/2012–09/2012          Research engineer I, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology 
08/2011–01/2012          Postdoctoral scientist, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
08/2009–07/2011          Ph.D. student, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

08/2007–08/2009          Ph.D. student, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built  Environment, Arizona State University
12/2006-06/2007           Process Engineer, Shanghai Aton Environmental LLC.


Professional Services

2016                              National Science Foundation (NSF) CBET panelist 
2016-2017                     AWWA NJ Research & Technology Transfer Committee  
2014-2016                     Editorial Board member for Nature Environment and Pollution Technology Journal

2014-2015                     New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute (NJWRRI) proposal reviewer 
2015–present                Members of Services Committee in the Environmental Chemistry Division of ACS

2013-present                 Director of The Environmental Engineering Teaching Laboratory

2013-present                 Faculty Library and Academic Computing Committee Member at NJIT

2015-present                 York Center Advisory Board at NJIT

2012–present                Member of Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO)
2011–present                Member of Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
2008–present                Member of Colloidal and Surface Science Division and Environmental Chemistry Division of ACS
2012–present                Member of American Society of Microbiology (ASM)
2008–present                Member of American Water Works Association (AWWA)

2016-present                 Affiliate Member of American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE)


Honers and Awards

2022       The CAPEES’s Environmental Educator Award
2022       2022 CAPEES Distinguished Service Award
2022       2022 AEESP Distinguished Service Award
2022       2022 Edison Patent Award from The Research & Development Council of New Jersey
2019       Faculty advisor for Founding President Best Paper Award, CAPEES

2016      ASCE New Jersey Section's Educator of the Year
2015      Hamilton Syringe Product Grant ($1,000), Hamilton Company

2014      ExCEEd 2014 Teaching Fellowship by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
2014     
 CIBA/ACS Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) Young Scientist Travel Award
2013      Travel Grant for Workshop on International Perspectives on Quantitative Microbial Risk, Drexel University
2013      Travel Grant for AEESP NSF Ethics Education Workshop
2012      Syringe Grant Program Award, Hamilton Company
2012      CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award
2011      Simon Karecki Award, SRC/SEMATECH Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing.
2011      Certificate of Merit for Presentation at ACS 241st National Meeting
2011      Certificate of Appreciation for the Peer Review Contribution, ACS
2008      Travel Grant recipient, Division of Graduate Studies (DGS), Arizona State University
2007      Outstanding Graduate Award, City of Shanghai, China
2006      Kwang-Hua Scholarship, Tongji University
2006      2nd-class Presentation Award, 1st Forum of Environmental Science, Shanghai
2006      Distinguished Assistant Award, public affair management office, Tongji University
2004      Scholarship of Scientific Achievement for Undergraduates, Tsinghua University
2003      Campus Award, 21st Challenge Cup Competition, Tsinghua University
2003      Excellence and Originality Award in 6th Business Planning Competition, Tsinghua University


Advisee Awards

2022      Jianan Gao received 2022 Heh-Won Chang, PhD Fellowship in Green Chemistry award from the ACS Green Chemistry Institute
2022      Samuel Solomon. ENVR Undergraduate Student Award
2022      Jianan Gao received the 2021 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) Division of the American Chemical Society.
2022      Shan Xue received the 2021 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) Division of the American Chemical Society.
2021      Jianan Gao received ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) Certificate of Merit Award, ACS

2021      Fangzhou Liu, Dr. Raymond M. Manganelli Scholarship Award, New Jersey Water Environment Association

​2021      Fangzhou Liu, Modern-Day Technology Leader, The 2021 BEYA STEM Virtual Conference

​2021      Fangzhou Liu, Student Poster Contest Winner in 2021 New Jersey Site Remediation Virtual Conference.

2021     NSF INTERN grant recipients: Fangzhou Liu and Jianan Gao. 

2020     NSF INTERN grant recipients: Xiaonan Shi and Qingquan Ma. 
2020     Wangyi Fu, China Scholarship Council Overseas Scholarship among 500 recipients globally in 2020

2019     Shan Xue, Louis Berger International Scholarship Award

2019     Fangzhou Liu, Certificate of Merit Award, The Environmental Chemistry Division of National American Chemical Society
2019     Wanyi Fu, Founding President Best Paper Award, CAPEES 
2019     Leqi Lin, Second place in Graduate student poster competition (NJIT)
2019     Leqi Lin, First place in Graduate student poster competition (NJWEA)
2019     Leqi Lin, Third place in Graduate student poster competition (NJAWWA)
2019     Paula Andrea Heredia Guerrero, the New Jersey Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association (LSRPA) Scholarship. 
2018     Sarah Garcon (Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student working with Wen Zhang), NAME Green Technology Scholarship

2018     Leidy Manzueta. Techquest third place award, the 2018 Innovation Day.
2018     Wanyi Fu. John J.LaGrosa Scholarship Award, The New Jersey Water Environment Association (NJWEA)

2018     Wanyi Fu. 2018 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry, ACS

2017     Andrea Cano received Madame Mau Outstanding Female Engineering Student Award &John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil and       

             Environmental Engineering Outstanding Senior Award

2016     Marah Magpile received the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry 2016 Undergraduate Award

2016     Mehaz Moon and Andrea Cano received the 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship

2016     Wanyi Fu received Student Research Poster Competition First Place Award from AWWA New Jersey

2016     Andrea Cano and Maira Valenci received The 2016 TechQuest First Place Award

2016     Arisha Javed received the 2016 URI Student Seed Grant (Phase I)

2016     Andrea Cano, Maira Valencia, and Mehaz Moon received the 2016 URI Student Seed Grant (Phase I)

2015     Marah Magpile received the 2015 Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship 

2015     Michael Agbakpe received the Doctoral Excellence Award

2015     Marah received the 2016 URI student seed grant (Phase II)

2015     Marah, Christina, and Julissa received the 2015 URI Student Seed Grant (Phase I)
2014     Michael Agbakpe won the first place in the 2014 Dana Knox Student Research Showcase

2014     Nesseline Belceus received the 2014 Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship

2013     Christopher Kozak received the 2013 Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship