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 at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).
He received B.S. and M.S. in environmental engineering from Tsinghua University and Tongji University respectively and a Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology.
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). He was the former co-editor in Chief for Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances from 2021 to 2025.
Dr. Wen Zhang leads the laboratory of the Nanotechnology in Sustainable Environment and Agriculture (NiSEA). The center has two major missions: (1) mitigating the impact of climate change through sustainable agricultural irrigation and food disinfection, and (2) developing nanotechnology-based materials and processes for sustainable pollution mitigation and resource recovery. Dr. Zhang has a broad spectrum of research interests and footprints in colloidal science and interfaces, nanomaterial synthesis and characterization, catalytic processes and engineering that translate to vibrant scientific research and technology transfer activities. The laboratory conducts extensive research into the interfacial processes (e.g., adsorption, reactions, aggregation and dissolution) of various materials, such as nanomaterials, microplastics, microbes, and bubbles. Additionally, they explore reactive membrane filtration systems for resource recovery, desalination and contaminant removal. Dr. Zhang’s recent research includes innovative applications of nanobubbles in agriculture, the recovery of lithium and cobalt from spent lithium-ion batteries, induction-heating membrane distillation, and microwave-enabled water and air purification. More details are available at Zhang’s website: www.wenresearch.com.
SELECTED HONOR AND AWARDS
2025 New Jersey’s INNOVATE100 HONOREE
2025 CAPEES-Starlight Innovation Award
2024 Top 2% Stanford University Global Researchers (approximately 10,000,000 scientists evaluated totally) according to the study carried out by Professor John P.A. Ioannidis at Stanford University. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.16.613258
2024 CAPEES-UCEEF Frontier Research Award
2024 Newark College of Engineering (NCE) Outstanding Researcher Award
2023 Grand Prize for University Research in the AAEES Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science Competition
2023 The IAAM fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM), Gammalkilsvägen, Ulrika, Sweden.
2022 The CAPEES’s Environmental Educator Award
2022 2022 Edison Patent Award from The Research & Development Council of New Jersey
2012 CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award
2011 Simon Karecki Award, SRC/SEMATECH Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
- Editorial services
- Editor in Chief for Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances (2022-2025)
- Associate editor for Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (2020-2022)
- Committee
- 2026 Chair of the 2026 Nanobubble Conference (https://nanobubble2026.org)
- 2024 Committee Members of 2024 Nanobubble Conference (https://nanobubble2024.net)
- 2023-2026 AAEES Chair of the Student and Young Professionals Committee
- Project Co-Director of Community Based Adaptation (CBA) Project to address climate change impact in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of Nauru, Tuvalu and Tonga.
- 2020-2022 President of CHINESE-AMERICAN PROFESSORS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE (CAPEES) poster competition
- US Delegation of ISO/TC281 on fine bubble technology and water treatment applications.
PROFESSIONAL LICENSES
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Associate (LEED GA), Registration number: 10760016, 2012-present
- Professional Engineer. Registered in the States of New Jersey and Delaware. License Number: 24GE05249100 and 18140. 2014-present
- Board Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE), American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES). Certification Number: 15-10003
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Fellow of National Academy of Innovators (NAI)
- Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM), Gammalkilsvägen, Ulrika, Sweden.
- Member of International Water Association (IWA), 2023-present
- Senior member of National Academy of Inventors (NAI), 2021-present
- Member of Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO), 2012–present.
- Member of Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), 2011–present.
- Member of Colloidal and Surface Science Division and Environmental Chemistry Division of American Chemistry Society (ACS), 2008–present.
- Research Fellow funded by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), 2009–2012.
TEACHING EXPERIENCES
- Environmental Microbiology (EnE 661) at New Jersey Institute of Technology since fall 2013. Student enrollment per semester: 20-30
- Introduction to Environmental Engineering (EnE 262) at New Jersey Institute of Technology since fall 2012. Student enrollment per semester: 30
- Nanotechnology minor Course (NANO 488): Monitoring and Removal Engineered Nanomaterials/Nanoparticles at New Jersey Institute of Technology starting from fall 2014. Student enrollment per semester: approximately 15-20