What's new
We are looking for 2 and more new doctoral students in Fall 2024to work with us for their doctoral programs. Please feel free to contact Prof. Young-Shin Jun (ysjun@wustl.edu) . Here is our group introduction slide.
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September 24, 2024: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Three Distinctive Steps for Heterogeneous Nucleation of Tunnel Structured Mn Oxide on Quartz under Light Exposure" has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science & Technology. We show new pathways how the heterogeneous nucleation can contribute to the variety of poorly crystalline structures of natural Mn oxides found in the environment. 
August 30, 2024: The ENCL's first fall group meeting. We celebrated the new semester start.
August 21, 2024: Congratulations! The ENCL will participate in the newly funded NSF Engineering Research Center (The Carbon Utilization Redesign for Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization (CURB) ERC). |
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August 15-21, 2024: Prof. Jun, Minkyoung Jun and Honhyun Kim traveled to present our research progress at the American Chemical Society meeting in Denver. Prof. Jun also participated in the strategic planning retreat of the ACS Committee on Science and planning two new ACS innovative programs entitled "Elevating Atmospheric Chemistry Measurements & Modeling with Artificial Intelligence" and "Scaling New Heights of Chemistry Education with Artificial Intelligence Tools". Professor Jun also organized a (1) GEOC symposium "Geochemistry and Environmental Chemistry at the Water–Energy Nexus" and an (2) ENVR symposium "ACS Environmental Chemistry Division’s Women in Science & Engineering - Tribute to contributions made to environmental chemistry,”at the ACS Fall Meeting, August 18-22, 2024, in Denver, CO. 
August 18-23, 2024: Ying Wang and Xueyi Liu traveled to present our progress in critical material recovery at Goldschmit meeting in Chicago.
July 26, 2024: Our new DOE project on rare earth element recovery from coal-based resources is highlighted in engineering news "Sustainable technology to extract critical materials from coal-based resources"
July 25, 2024: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "In Situ Monitoring In Situ Monitoring the Nucleation and Growth of Nanoscale CaCO3 at the Oil–Water Interface" has been accepted to be published in ACS Nano. We show important roles of an oil–liquid interface in directing CaCO3 mineralization which are common in natural and engineered systems. Link to the paper
July 22, 2024: Congratulations! Ms. Mingyang Song won a prize of the 2024 Chinese-American Professors in Environmental Engineering and Science (CAPEES) Student Poster Competition. Congratulations, Mingyang! |
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July 19, 2024: Welcome! Future scientists and engineers visited us. The ENCL hosted black middle school students from the BrightPath STEAM Academy and introduce Environmental and Chemical Science and Engineering. 
July 2, 2024: Congratulations! Dr. Ping-I Chou successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "Nanoscale Mineral Formation at Environmental Interfaces." Wonderful summary of your PhD journey! Dr. Chou is ENCL's 15th Ph.D. In September, he is joining Intel as a module development engineer in semiconductor manufacturing. He was recently chosen to be highlighted as Class Acts (highlighting excellent graduating students each year). Check it out here. Best wishes to Dr. Chou! Have greater wings to fly. You are so ready!
June 27, 2024: Dr. Burtrand Lee, a former ACS Petroleum Research Foundation (Materials and Surface Sciences) Program Director, visited and offered a seminar at Washington University. Prof. Jun hosted his visit.
June 24-26, 2024: Prof. Jun attended the annual meeting of the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Argonne National Laboratory. Prof. Jun serves on the Science Advisory Committee. She also met two ENCL alumni (Dr. Yaguang Zhu at Princeton University and Dr. Zhenwei Gao at the University of Chicago) who are currently participarting in AMEWS project. 
June 22, 2024: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Bridging Molecular-Scale Interfacial Science with Continuum-Scale Models" is published in Nature Communications. Link to the paper.
June 19, 2024: Welcome aboard! Mr. Young-Ha Lee joined the group for his summer research. He is a sophomore student in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Have lots of research fun! |
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June 12, 2024: Congratulations! Ms. Minkyoung Jung was selected to receive the ACS Geochemistry Division's Student Travel Award for attending the Fall ACS meeting in Denver. Congratulations, Minkyoung! |
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May 30, 2024: Congratulations! Mr. Honghyun Kim and Ms. Zixuan Xie have officially passed their doctoral qualification exams. Keep up the good work! |
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May 28, 2024: Welcome aboard! Mr. Rodrigo Uribe joined the group for his summer research. He is a junior student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. He received a 2024 McKelvey Undergraduate Fellowship. We look forward to working with you over the summer! |
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May 28, 2024: Welcome aboard! Ms. Zhimeng Bao joined the group for her summer research. She is a freshman student whose major is in Biology and Chemistry, Washington University. She received a 2024 Center for the Environment Summer Research Fellowship. We look forward to working with you over the summer! |
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May 24, 2024: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "The Roles of the Oil Water Interface in Forming Ultra-Small CaSO4 Nanoparticles" is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. CaSO4 at the oil–water interface affects energy and water system efficiencies. We report that nano-spherical amorphous CaSO4 preferentially forms at oil–water interfaces and then transforms to nanorod-shaped gypsum. The finding provides useful insights into mineral scaling during membrane separation and can inform more efficient oil transport in energy recovery systems. Link to the paper
May 14-24, 2023: Prof. Jun visited Seoul National University and Yonsei University, South Koreato promote educational programs at Washington University (McDonnell International Scholars Academy, Mekelvey School of Engineering, and Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering). |
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May 2024: Congratulation, Christina. Her interview as an excellent first-generation college student is highlighted in A New Course. "First-generation college students may not have the same familial models for higher education as their continuing-generation peers, but these driven students craft their own communities and support systems. By charting a different path for themselves, they break down generational boundaries and discover new futures."
May 10, 2024: Congratulations! Ping-I Chou celebrated the commencement day! Best wishes for bright future venture! The ENCL members joined the celebration with the Chou family. Best wishes~
May 9, 2024: Congratulations! Dennis (Ping-I) Chou is highlighted in Class Act as an outstanding doctoral student who is graduating in 2024. Check out his story
Aril 25, 2024: Our group's plastic research has been highlighed in McKelvey Engineering Momentum. (Left: Minkyoung Jung; Right: Andrea Carbonell)
Illustration by Aimee Felter
April 19, 2024: Mr. Tobias Zaidman received Washington University's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations! We look forward to continuously working with you over the summer. |
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April 17, 2024: Congratulations! Ms. Gun Yi Park (2023 ENCL McKelvey Dean's fellowship UG summer researcher) was chosen to be received the prestigious McDonnell International Scholars Academy Fellowship. She will join ENCL to conduct a PhD in August. We look forward to working with you soon. |
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April 12, 2024: Prof. Jun organized the ACS Frontier Fridays Webinar entitled "Accelerating Discovery with AI: Self-Driving Laboratories," Dr. Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Department of Chemistry and Computer Science at the University of Toronto, discussed how these emerging technologies promise to reduce the time for discovery in chemistry and materials science. Check the webinar website for the recording.
April 6, 2024: Hello, Future Woman Scientists and Engineers! Prof. Jun, Ying, and Minkyoung offered a hands-on program with female high school students and participated in a panel discussion as a part of the 2024 Washington University's Women in STEM event and introduced environmental nanochemistry and nanotechnology.
April 5, 2024: Congratulations! From the ACS Environmental Chemistry Division, Dennis and Minkyoung received Certificates of Merit, a recognition of their excellent presentations at the ASC Fall 2023 meeting. Great Achievement! Congratulations!
April 1, 2024: Congratulations! Dennis accepted a full time module development engineer position at Intel. Best wishes for your new and bright journey! We are very proud of you! |
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April 1, 2024: Professor Jun organizes a (1) GEOC symposium "Geochemistry and Environmental Chemistry at the Water–Energy Nexus" and an (2) ENVR symposium "ACS Environmental Chemistry Division’s Women in Science & Engineering - Tribute to contributions made to environmental chemistry," at the ACS Fall Meeting, August 18-22, 2024, in Denver, CO. The abstract submission is due April 1st, 2024. Please join us. You can submit the abstract here!
March 15-March 20, 2024: Prof. Jun, Ping-I Chou, Ying Wang, Xueyi Liu, and Mingyang Song travelled to participate in ACS meeting in New Orleans. We presented our most recent findings at the meeting. Check our talk schedules.
The ENCL reunion at the ACS meeting. Prof. Jessica Ray (ENCL 2015) at the University of Washington and Dr. Yaguang Zhu (ENCL 2022) at Princeton University joined us. Click here to see other activities.
March 8, 2024: Celebrating the 2024 International Women's Day! United Nations Link
January 25-28, 2024: Prof. Jun served as a workshop facilitator at the ACS Leadership Institute, Atlanta, GA. The Committee on Science will lead the brand-new Innovative Program for the future ACS National meetings (Fall 2024 ACS meeting and forward). |
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January 22, 2024: Mr. Ping-I (Dennis) Chou was selected to receive the ACS Geochemistry Division's Student Travel Award for attending the Spring ACS meeting in New Orleans. Congratulations, Dennis! |
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January 19, 2024: Prof. Jun organized the ACS Frontier Fridays Webinar and moderated the discussion. Dr. David Moore, the Carbon Capture Technology Leader for GE Vernova Advanced Research, discussed about scaling up a promising sorbent-based direct air capture (DAC) system by more than 20-fold for a new round of testing in 2024. ~1200 registrants signed up for the DAC Frontier with 95% satisfaction! Link to the webinar website 
January 30, 2024: Ms. Andrea Carbonell joined the ENCL for her undergraduate research. Welcome aboard! |
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January 10, 2024: Congratulations! We were selected to receive a grant from the Department of Energy's Fossil Energy and Carbon Management to develop effective recovery processes of rare earth elements from coal-based resources. Link to the award announcement
January 5, 2024: "Turning trash into treasure to help quench the world’s thirst sustainably" We have started a new project a National Alliance for Water Innovation project supported by the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy to advance desalination and water reuse technologies across the U.S. Check the engineering news Click here for one pager project summary
January 4, 2024: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Supercritical Carbon Dioxide/Nitrogen/Air Extraction with Multistage Stripping Enables Selective Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Fly Ashes” was selected as a 2023 Hot paper of RSC Sustainability. Link to the paper
January 3, 2024: Mr. Tobias Zaidman joined the ENCL for his undergraduate research. Welcome aboard! |
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December 13, 2023: Congratulations! Ms. Minkyoung Jung successfully defended her thesis proposal! Keep up good work!
Virtual handshaking "Congratulations on your successful proposal defense!"
December 13, 2023: Mr. Honghyun Kim and Ms. Zixuan Xie officially assigned to be ENCL PhD students. |
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November 17-19, 2023: Prof. Jun participated in the Strategic Planning workshop of the American Chemical Society's Environmental Chemistry Division, the ACS headquaters, Washington, D.C.
November 4, 2023: Minkyoung Jun presented our EPA project related to phosphate recovery of mineral-hydrogel composites at the 2023 Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference at the University of Missuri, Columbia. Five ENCL members, Minkyoung, Ping-I (Dennis), Ying, Mingyang, and Zixuan, participated in the meeting.
November 2-3, 2023: The 2023 Annual All hands meeting of the Department of Energy's Critical Materials (Ni and Co recovery) Project was held at Washington University in person. This meeting consisted of research progress report, technical discussion, furture planning, instrument setup instruction, early career development panel discussion, and network building. Drs. Sebastien Kerisit, John Loring, and Xinyi Shen from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) visited us. Some of team members from PNNL joined remotely.
October 21, 2023: Welcome, Future Environmental & Chemical Scientists and Engineers! The ENCL offered a hands-on workshop for middle school students from BrightPath's Young Black Scholars LEAP Program (https://brightpathsteam.org/) This workshop provided environmental chemistry lecture and lab activities to Black middle school students and teachers.
September 21-22, 2023: Prof. Jun participated in RSC Advances Ediorial Board Meeting at Burlington House in London, UK.
August 25, 2023: Congratulations! Dr. Zhenwei Gao (ENCL PhD 2022) and Dr. Yaguang Zhu (ENCL PhD 2022) received the 2022 Chinese Government Awards for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad. |
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August 28, 2023: Ms. Christina Alexakos and Ms. Cindy Borrayo-Carrera joined us for undergraduate research. welcome aboard! |
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August 25, 2023: Mr. Honghyun Kim joined the ENCL for his doctoral work. Welcome aboard! |
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August 12-17, 2023: The ENCL attended the ACS Fall meeting in San Francisco. Click here to see all our presentation schedules including our proud alumni presentations. Come and learn about our research! Click here to learn our activities at ACS.
August 13-14, 2023: Join us for a Special COMSCI symposium on "Critical Materials: Perspectives from the industry, government, and research communities" at the ACS Fall 2023 meeting, San Francisco. Prof. Young-Shin Jun serves as a co-chair of the symposium.
Symposium Program; Flyer;
ACS Policy statement on Critical Materials: Prof. Jun served as a writing committee member
August 11, 2023: Ms. Gun Yi Park successfully completed her summer research! Good job! Minkyoung has been a great graduate mentor for Gun Yi. Congratulations to both of you!
August 2-4, 2023, The 36th US-Korea Conference 2023 on Science, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (UKC 2023) is jointly organized by the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA), the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST) and the Korea-US Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO). UKC Conference webiste Prof. Young-Shin Jun served as the chair of the keynote symposium on "Achieving Carbon Neutrality: Perspectives and Challenges." and provided an invited talk in K-Water Symposium. |
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July 23-26, 2023, The 10th International Water Association (IWA) Membrane Technology Conference & Exhibition for Water and Wastewater Treatment and Reuse"Washington University in St. Louis,Co-chaired by Prof. Jason He and Prof. Baoxi Mi. Prof. Young-Shin Jun served as the conference organizing committee and a session chair. Prof. Jun and Dennis presented our membrane work during the conference. Conference webiste |
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July 21, 2023: Prof. Jun,Ying, Minkyoung, and Alex offered a hands-on workshop for middle school students from BrightPath STEAM Academy Summer Camp (https://brightpathsteam.org/) BrightPath STEAM Academy helps address critical educational gaps that impact African American youth, their future and our national economy.
July 9-14, 2023: Prof. Jun presented our carbonate nucleation study at the 2023 Goldschmidt conference, Lyon, France. 
June 26-28, 2023: Prof. Jun attended the annual meeting of the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Argonne National Laboratory. Prof. Jun serves on the Science Advisory Committee.
June 20-23, 2023: ENCL participated in the 2023 AEESP Research & Education Conference, Northeastern University. Dr. Yaguang Zhu and Dr. Zhenwei Gao presented our pH nanoprobe work and Mn oxide nanoplastic work, respectively.
June 12, 2023: Welcome aboard, Ms. Gun Yi Park, a rising senior undergraduate from National Taiwan University and Mr. Alex Shen, a rising senior undergraduate from EECE WashU. They will work with us for their summer research! |
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June 8, 2023: In celebration of the World Environment Day, Congratulations! Prof. Jun wrote a catalyst article "Catalyst: The Roles of Chemistry in Clean Water for All " has been published in Chem. Highlight in the Engineering News.
Free to download for the first 50 times
Link to the paper
June5, 2023: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Surface Functional Groups Affect Iron (Hydr)oxide Heterogeneous Nucleation: Implications for Membrane Scaling" has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science & Technology. This paper provides new insights on incipient membrane scaling: hydrophobicity & functional group density shape iron (hydr)oxide nucleation. Link to the paper Free to download for the first 50 times
June 1, 2023: Congratulations! A collaboration manuscript entitled "Gravity-Driven Controls on Fluid and Carbonate Precipitation Distributions in Fractures" has been accepted to be published in Scientific Report. This paper highlights that the ability to sequester CO2 through carbonate mineralization along fractures will depend on the fracture orientation relative to gravity, with horizontal fractures more likely to seal uniformly. Link to the paper 
The color scale represents the extent of CaCO3 precipitates on surfaces.
May 30-June 9, 2023: Prof. Jun visited Korea to participate in the International Symposium for Smart Water Environmental Management at Ewha Womans University and to promote McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Seoul National University. |
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May 24, 2023: Congratulations! A mega collaboration review paper (300 pages in a word file) was published in Chemical Reviews and highlighted as the Cover Art. The title of the paper is "Oxide- and Silicate-Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment" This paper is a celebration of scientific advances in solid-water interfaces since Brown et al. (1999) seminal Chemical Reviews paper. Prof. Jun is a leading corresponding author of this mega paper and a creator of the Cover Art. link to the paper; Link to the highlight article in Engineering News |
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May 14, 2023: Congratulations! Dr. Albern Tan (The 14th ENCL PhD) and Ms. Zixuan Xie (Master of Science) celebrated their commencement day! Best wishes for many bright future excitements!
May 3, 2023: Congratulations! Our paper "Effects of Sodium and Magnesium Ions on the Photochemically-Induced Heterogeneous Formation of Manganese Oxides and their Structural Evolution" was accepted to be published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C as a part of Dr. Michael Hoffmann Festschrift. Link to the paper
April 21, 2023: Triple Congratulations to Ying, Minkyoung, and Dr. Yaguang Zhu! Ying Wang and Minkyoung Jung received 2023 EECE Graduate Teaching Awards; and Dr. Yaguang Zhu received a 2023 Graduate Student Research Impact Award from the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Washington University.
April 2023: Congratulations, Dr. Hyuna Kwon (2016 ENCL undergraduate member) earned her doctoral degree at the University of California-Riverside and she started a postdoctoral position in Materials Science Division at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Exciting big step and best wishes, Dr. Kwon! |
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March 22, 2023: Congratulations! We were selected to receive a DOE award from the National Alliance for Water Innovation supported by the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy to advance desalination and water reuse technologies across the U.S. Link to the award announcement
March 22, 2023: Celebrating 2023 World Water Day! Water is essential for every one of us. We are happy to have our ENCL mission to support cleaner water! World Water Day 2023 is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. Image source: the United Nations. |
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March 20, 2023:Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Opportunities for emerging wastewater phosphorus recovery technologies to enable circular phosphorus usage in non-traditional hydroponic agriculture” has been accepted to be published in ACS Agricultural Science & Technology. This viewpoint article provides suggestions for a sustainable nutrient recovery and reuse and a circular economy, which supports two UN sustainable development goals (UNSDG):Goal 2 Zero Hunger and Goal 6 Clean Water and Sanitation.
Link to the paper
March 9, 2023: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Supercritical Carbon Dioxide/Nitrogen/Air Extraction with Multistage Stripping Enables Selective Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Fly Ashes”was highlighted as a Jounral cover art of RSC Sustainability. We report the use of supercritical fluids (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and air) as greener solvents to directly and selectively extract REEs from solid waste, without energy- and material-intensive leaching. Link to the paper Cover Art |
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March 8, 2023: Celebrating the 2023 International Women’s Day! Our manuscripts has been highlighted as part of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Women in Materials Science Collection |
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Feburary 27-March 3, 2023: Dennis, Ying, Minkyoung, Mingyang, and Xueyi travelled to Argonne National Laboratory, IL, to conduct X-ray scattering experiments at Sector 12ID-B. 
February 23, 2023: Prof. Jun served as a panel speaker at the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA) Mid-Career Development Workshop. If you are interested in participating inthe workshop, register here. Link to the workshop flyer.
February 17, 2023: Congratulations! A mega collaboration review paper (300 pages in a word file) was accepted in Chemical Reviews. The title of the paper is "Oxide- and Silicate-Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment" This paper is written by 23 leading experts in solid-water interfaces and is a celebration of scientific advances in solid-water interfaces since Brown et al. (1999) seminal Chemical Reviews paper. Prof. Jun is a leading corresponding author of this mega paper. Link to the paper
February 13, 2023: Congratulations to Ying! Ying successfully defended her doctoral thesis proposal. Good job and now enjoy your research more! |
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February 4-7, 2023: Prof. Jun co-organized and presented in the 2023 Mesilla Chemistry Workshop on Aqueous Solution/Oxide Interfaces, Mesilla, New Mexico (Invited only workshop).
February 1-2, 2023: Prof. Jun participated in an NSF sponsored event, Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) on Engineered Systems for Water Security. Report is available here.
January 27, 2023: Congratulations to Dennis! Dennis has been selected as a winner of the 2023 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. |
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January 27, 2023: Welcome aboard. Mr. Bennett Schwartz joined us for his undergraduate research project. Hope you enjoy learning many things in the lab and doing exciting research! |
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January 24-25, 2023: Prof. Jun participated in the Nano4EARTH Kick-off Workshop organized by the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO).
January 10, 2023: New Year Celebration Dinner. The ENCL has a group dinner to celebrate the new year. Be strong together.
January 1, 2023: Happy New Year. The ENCL is celebrating our 15th anniversary since we created on January 1, 2008. Great achievements and great team. Be the change, the ENCL!
December 27, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Oxidative Roles of Polystyrene-Based Nanoplastics in Inducing Manganese Oxide Formation under Light Illumination” has been published in ACS Nano. Here we show that Polystyrene nanoplastics produced peroxyl and superoxide radicals by photolysis, causing unexpected Mn2+ oxidation and controlling the heterogeneous growth rate and crystalline phases of Mn oxides. Link to the paper
Link to the highlight article in Engineering News
December 22, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Photobiological production of high-value pigments via compartmentalized co-cultures using Ca-alginate hydrogels” has been published in Scientific Reports. This study demonstrates the production of high-value pigments and chemicals using a hydrogel-enabled phototroph-heterotroph co-culture consortium. Link to the paper
December 20, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Supercritical Carbon Dioxide/Nitrogen/Air Extraction with Multistage Stripping Enables Selective Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Fly Ashes” has been accepted in RSC Sustainability. We report the use of supercritical fluids (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and air) as greener solvents assisting a phosphonate extractant in directly and selectively extracting REEs from solid waste, without energy- and material-intensive leaching. Link to the paper
December 20, 2022: A look back at the news of 2022. McKelvey Engineering recaps 10 of the most read story throughout 2022 Engineering News. Our new clean energy technology grant story is one of them! |
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December 10-20, 2022: Prof. Jun travelled to Korea to visit the Seoul National University as the McDonnell International Scholars Academy Ambassador. During her visit, she met SNU's faculty and leadership for international educational collaboration and offered McDonnell Academy Open House Events. |
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December 14, 2022: Welcome back, Zixuan! Zixuan will work with us as a laboratory technician. Happy to work with you! |
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December 13, 202: Welcome aboard! Ms. Mingyang Song and Ms. Xueyi Liu officially joined us as permanent doctoral students. Happy to work with you both! Let's have a great teamwork together! |
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December 8-9, 2022: Prof. Jun participated in Energy Insights 2022 conference (invited only), organized by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Resources for the Future (RFF) at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. |
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November 28-30, 2022: Ying and Dennis traveled to conduct in person experiments using Pair Distribution Function at Sector 11, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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November 24, 2022: Congratulations! Dr. Yanzhe Zhu (2014-2015 ENCL undergraduate member) will be a scientific developer at the Emerald Cloud Lab, life science/biotech company in San Francisco. Great venture and exciting big step! We wish all the best, Dr. Zhu! |
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November 22, 2022 (10 AM CT): Please join us to learn about outstanding student works in RSC Advances. Prof. Jun will moderate the webinar to highlight three 2021 outstanding student paper awardees. Link to the blog. |
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October 31, 2022: Welcome aboard! Ms. Xueyi Liu joined the group. She is a 1st year Ph.D. students and conducts research rotation with us. |
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October 31-November 4, 2022: Dennis, Ying, and Minkyoung traveled to conduct in person experiments using Grazing Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering at Sector 12ID-B, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab, IL. |
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October 22, 2022: Welcome, Future Environmental & Chemical Scientists and Engineers! The ENCL offered a hands-on workshop for middle school students from BrightPath's Young Black Scholars LEAP Program (https://brightpathsteam.org/) BrightPath STEAM Academy helps address critical educational gaps that impact African American youth, their future and our national economy. Link to more pictures
October 15, 2022: Congratulations! Mr. Ping I (Dennis) Chou received the Best Student Presentation Award (the first prize) during the 28th Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference at Missouri Science & Technology, MO. Dennis made a great representation of our strong ENCL research. Congratulations, Dennis. Keep up the excellent work!
October 14, 2022: Best wishes to Dr. Albern Tan! We celebrated Dr. Tan's success and new journey at Bayer! Congratulations!
October 13, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Reactive halogen radicals in saline water promote photochemically-assisted formation of manganese oxide nanosheets” was highlighted as a Jounral cover art of Environmental Science: Nano. Cover art Link to the paper |
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October 13, 2022: Congratulations! Dr. Yaguang Zhu (2022 ENCL PhD) received the 2022 Mistletoe Research Fellowship to conduct his research on direct CO2 capture from air. Exciting news! Dr. Zhu joined Princeton in June this year. He has already received his own research funding! |
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October 10-12, 2022: Ying and Minkyoung traveled to conduct in person experiments using Pair Distribution Function at Sector 11, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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October 6, 2022: Congratulations! Dr. Albern Tan successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "Calcium Bearing Mineral-Hydrogel Composites for Phosphate Removal and Recovery." Wonderful summary of your PhD journey! Dr. Tan is ENCL's 14th Ph.D. Late October, he will start a full time research scientist position at Bayer where he will support sustainable environmental engineering practice of Bayer. Best wishes for your new chapter! 
September 30, 2022: Best wishes to Dr. Deoukchen Ghim! We celebrated Dr. Ghim's success and new start at Intel. 
It says "Deoukchen Ghim, Ph.D."! Remember you are always our proud alumnus!
September 22, 2022: Congratulations! Dr. Deoukchen Ghim successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "Advanced Nanomaterials and Module Designs for Efficient Photothermal Water Treatment." So many excellent achievements and growth during the doctoral program. Dr. Ghim is ENCL's 13th Ph.D. In October, he will start a full time engineer position at Intel where he will lead scientific research, enabling manufacture of innovative device architectures. Best wishes for your future!
Virtual handshake, "Congratulations, Dr. Ghim!"
September 13, 2022: Welcome aboard! Mr. Wei Wei (Left, 1st year PhD student) joined the group for conducting research rotation with us. Mr. Andy Kim (right, Sophomore undergraduate student) joined the group for research. |
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September 12, 2022: Congratulations! Dr. Doyoon Kim (ENCL PhD 2018) will start a full time environment operation engineer position in the Active Ingredient Manufacturing Innovation Team at Bayer. We are making greater impacts on innovation in industry! Congratulations! |
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September 9, 2022: Welcome aboard! Ms. Mingyang Song (Left) and Mr. Zehua Wang (Right) joined the group. They are 1st year Ph.D. students and will conduct research rotation with us. |
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September 1-6, 2022: Prof. Jun travelled to attend the Royal Society of Chemistry's Editorial Board Meeting in London, England. |
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August 25, 2022: We received a new award for Chemical and Materials Sciences to Advance Clean Energy Technologies and Low-Carbon Manufacturing that is supported by the U.S. Department of Eenrgy-Basic Energy Sciences. Link to the engineering news |
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August 22, 2022: Congratulations! Prof. Xuanhao Wu (2020 ENCL Ph.D.) started his first day as an assistant professor in the College of Environmental and Resource Sciences (CERS) at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Best wishes for your great success and development! |
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August 22, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Ionic Surface Propensity Controls pH in Nanopores” has been published in Chem. Here we show that pH in nanoproes is lower than that in bulk solution at high salinity and the ion polarization in nanopores plays important roles in controlling nanopore chemistry. Link to the paper;
Read Engineering News that features this article;
Click here to download it for free for the first 50 requests before October 11, 2022
August 19-25, 2022: Prof. Jun, Deoukchen, Albern, Dennis, and Ying will travel to Chicago to attend the American Chemical Society Meeting. Prof. Jun will participate in the Committee on Science Meeting and we will have 8 talks during the meeting. Chect out their schedules and join us. 
***ENCLGroup Reunion at Fall 2022 ACS Meeting in Chicago ***
August 15, 2022: Congratulations! Albern accepted a full time research scientist position at Bayer. After his doctoral thesis defense in October, Albern will support Bayer's environmentally sound operations. Best wishes for your new journey! You will do great, Albern! |
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August 10, 2022: Congratulations! Zixuan Xie successfully defended her master thesis entitled "Selective recovery of rare earth elements using a hydroxyapatite-chitosan composite". Excellent presentation! Wish all the best!
Virtual handshake, "Congratulations, Zixuan!"
August 8-19, 2022: Dennis, Ying, and Minkyoung attended a two weeks transmission electron microscopy workshop offered by Washinton University's Institute of Materials Science & Engineering. |
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July 29, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Reactive halogen radicals in saline water promote photochemically-assisted formation of manganese oxide nanosheets” has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science: Nano. Reactive halogen radicals form from abundant halides in saline surface water and in the highly saline water from energy-water recovery systems. We demonstrate an undiscovered manganese oxidation pathway by reactive halogen radicals. This is the first report of reactive halogen radicals oxidizing transition metal ions and forming oxidized solids under environmentally relevant pH. Link to the paper 
July 29, 2022: Congratulations, Jeremy and Bethany, on completing their summer research. They have successfully presented their findings during the undergraduate symposium. Dennis and Minkyoung were their graduarte mentors. Thank you both for the great mentorship!
July 25-29, 2022: Congratulations, Prof. Jun, on receiving the 2022 Marion L. and Chrystie M. Jackson Mid-Career Clay Scientist Award from the Clay Minerals Society. The award ceremony was held at the International Clay Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, and she delivered a plenary lecture. Watch the recording fof the award lecture.
July 22, 2022: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Yue Hui successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at Caltech with the guidance of Prof. David Tirrell. She is officially Dr. Hui! Dr. Hui worked with us in 2015-2017 as an undergraduate researcher. Best wishes for her ground breaking research at Moderna! |
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July 19, 2022: Best wishes to Dr. Zhenwei Gao! We celebrated Dr. Gao's success and new start in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago.
July 17, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Mineral-Hydrogel Composites for Mitigating Harmful Algal Bloom and Supplying Photo-biorefineries” has been accepted to be published in Science of the Total Environment. Mineral-hydrogel composites enable us to achieve phosphorous removal and recovery from P-contaminated water to prevent harmful algal blooms. Then, these composites can be utilized for valauable lipid generation from algal biorefinery. Link to the paper
July 12, 2022: Welcome, future scientists and engineers (currently high school students) from Washington University's Pre-college Programs. Prof. Jun, Deoukchen, Albern, Dennis, and Minkyoung offered hands-on lab activity module sessions and a lecture that discussed environmental chemistry and nanoparticles.
July 9-22, 2022: Through a highly competitive application process, Ms. Ying Wang was chosen to be a participant for the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, fully supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She travels to both Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory for in person hands-on experience. |
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July 6, 2022: Congratulations! Zhenwei Gao successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "Photochemical Formation Mechanisms and Applications of Mn Oxide Nanomaterials". Excellent work and many exciting findings! Dr. Gao is ENCL's 12th Ph.D. In August, he will start a postdoc position in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago.
Virtual handshake, "Congratulations, Dr. Gao!"
July 5, 2022: Congratulations! Deoukchen accepted a full time engineer position at Intel. After his doctoral thesis defense in September, Deoukchen will lead scientific research at Intel, enabling manufacture of innovative device architectures. Best wishes for your exciting new journey! We are very proud of you! |
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July 5, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled “Photochemical reactions of dissolved organic matter and bromide ions facilitate abiotic formation of manganese oxide solids” has been accepted to be published in Water Research. Dissolved organic matter has been considered as a promoter of reductive dissolution of Mn oxide solids. Here we show that photolysis of dissolved organic matter (DOM) can faciliate the formation of Mn(IV) oxide formation from aqueous Mn2+. Link to the paper
June 29, 2022: Congratulations! Yue Hui accepted a full time scientist position at Moderna where she will develop lipid nanoparticle formulation discovery. Yue did undergraduate research with ENCL (2015-2017) and conducted her doctoral research with Dr. David Tirrell at Caltech. We knew you will do great things for the world! Best wishes! |
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June 28-30, 2022: The 2022 Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP) conference was held at Washington University in St. Louis. Prof. Jun served as the Workshop Chair of the Conference and the Conference Organizing Committee. More than 840 environmental engineers and scientists joined us. Check out 20 Workshops and Program at the 2022 AEESP Conference!
The 2022 AEESP Conference Organizing Committee
Professor Jun received a 2022 AEESP Distinguished Service Award
ENCL reunion during the AEESP conference. Thank you, Prof. Ning Dai at the University at Buffalo, for the best picture that you took for the ENCL!
June 23-25, 2022: Albern, Ying, and Minkyoung will travel to conduct in person experiments with Ultra Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering at Sector 9, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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June 16-20, 2022: Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Dennis, Ying and Minkyoung will travel to conduct in person experiments with in situ Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Grazing Incidence Wide Angle X-ray Scattering at Sector 12, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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June 7-9, 2022: Prof. Jun visited the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at University of Chicago and give an invited talk for the PME distinguished colloquium. |
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June 03, 2022: Congratulations! Minkyoung Jung passed her doctoral qualification exam. Now you can enjoy your doctoral research! The first important milestone has been accomplished! Keep up the good work! |
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May 31, 2022: Welcome aboard! Ms. Bethany Jackson and Mr. Jeremy Acheampong joined the group for their 10 week summer research! Both of them received Washington University Summer Engineering Fellowship (WUSEF). WUSEF is given to exceptional undergraduate students from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM. |
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May 27, 2022: Congratulations! Charlie Skurie accepted a Research Engineer position at Saint-Gobain where he will conduct Life Cycle Assessment. Charlie did undergraduate research with ENCL (2019-2020). Sustainability of engineered processes is critical for every life in the modern society. We wish you a great success, Charlie. Best wishes! |
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May 20, 2022: Best wishes, Dr. Zhu! He departed from the ENCL and will start his postdoctoral position at Princeton University. Best wishes to Yaguang for his successful career development! 
May 19, 2022: Congratulations! Yaguang Zhu, Deoukchen Ghim, and Zhenwei Gao celebrated their commencement day. They were hooded by Prof. Jun. Best wishes!
May 17, 2022: Congratulations to Zhenwei! Zhenwei has accepted a postdoc position in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago. Best wishes to Zhenwei for his future career development! |
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May 14, 2022: Congratulations to Deoukchen! Deoukchen was chosen to receive a 2022 ACS Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division Graduate Student Award! Deoukchen will present his research during ACS meeting in August in Chicago. |
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May 13, 2022: Congratulations! Prof. Jun was recognized as one of the winners of the 2021 ACS ES&T Engineering Excellence in Review Awards. ACS ES&T Engineering |
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May 9, 2022: Congratulations! Prof. Jessica Ray (2015 ENCL Ph.D.) received a 2022 National Science Foundation CAREER Award! Big achievement, Prof. Ray! We are so proud of you. Look forward to hearing many more great news from you and your group at the University of Washington. Link to Prof. Ray website. |
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May 4, 2022: Congratulations! Yaguang Zhu successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "Nanoscale Interfacial Control of Ion Behaviors and CaCO3 Formation in Environmental Systems". Impressive achievements and excellent presentation, Dr. Zhu! Dr. Zhu is ENCL's 11th Ph.D. In June, he will start a postdoc position in the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. 
Virtual handshake, "Congratulations, Dr. Zhu!"
April 25-27, 2022: Ying and Minkyoung traveled to conduct in person experiments using Ultrasmall angle X-ray scattering at Sector 9, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. First beamtime travel for Minkyoung!
April 22, 2022: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Process-Specific Effects of Sulfate on CaCO3 Formation in Environmentally Relevant Systems" has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Our new findings in the sulfate-controlled heterogeneous nucleation and growth of CaCO3 highlight the critical but underestimated roles of sulfate in CaCO3 formation. Link to the paper
April 2, 2022: Hello, Future Woman Scientists and Engineers! Prof. Jun, Deoukchen, and Albern offered a hands-on program with female high school students as a part of the 2022 Washington University's Women in STEM event and introduced environmental nanochemistry and nanotechnology. click here for a bigger size picture
March 25, 2022: Congratulations! Dr. Xuanhao Wu (2020 ENCL Ph.D.) accepted his new position as an assistant professor in the College of Environmental and Resource Sciences (CERS) at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. He received a prestigious One Hundred Talent Professorship. Best wishes for your success in the new journey! |
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March 22, 2022: Congratulations to Deoukchen! Deoukchen has been selected as a 2022 Graduate Student Research Impact Award from the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Washington University. The ceremony will be held on April 6 at 4 PM, Whittaker Hall 100. Please join and celebrate together! |
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March 19-24, 2022: Prof. Jun, Yaguang, Zhenwei, and Albern presented research progress in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring meeting. Prof. Jun also attend the ACS Committee on Science (COMSCI) and provided a Plenary Talk in the symposoim on Advanced (Nano)Materials, Membranes & Manufacturing for Water Treatment and Reuse.
March 8, 2022: Celebrating the International Women's Day! Prof. Jun will serve as a panel for the Virtual Discussion on "Choosing an Academic Career" of the NSF ADVANCE (Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Link to the flyer |
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March 3-6, 2022: Albern, Ying, and Yaguang traveled to conduct in person experiments using Pair Distribution Function at Sector 11, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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March 2-4, 2022: Prof. Jun participated in the U.S. Department of Eenrgy-Basic Energy Sciences (DOE-BES) Roundtable on Foundational Science for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Technologies. Link to the Roundtable Brochure |
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February 24-28, 2022: Deoukchen and Dennis traveled to conduct in person experiments with in situ Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Grazing Incidence Wide Angle X-ray Scattering at Sector 12, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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February 9, 2022: Congratulations! Yaguang has accepted a postdoc position in the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. Yaguang will work with Prof. Kelsey Hatzell for his postodoc research. Best wishes to Yaguang for his successful career development! |
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February 9, 2022: Welcome aboard! Ms. Shaochen Wu joined the group for her research experience. |
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January 26, 2022: Welcome aboard! Ms. Hakyung Lee joined the group for her research rotation. |
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January 14, 2022: Congratulations to Zhenwei! Zhenwei has been selected as a winner of the 2021 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. |
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January 1, 2022: Happy New Year to you all. Let's make wonderful things happen in 2022!
December 27, 2021: All three "Frontier Fridays"
webinars that Prof. Jun organized with 2021 ACS President H.N. Cheng and the ACS Committee on Science (COMSCI) were selected as the most popular ACS webinars in 2021. Visit the websites and enjoy them. 
image credit: ACS
(1) Artificial Molecular Machines: Going from Solution to Surfaces by Sir Fraser Stoddart, 2016 Nobel Laureate, Northwestern University
(2) Lithium-ion Batteries: The Road to Sustainable Energy Storage, by Dr. Amy Prieto, Colorado State University
(3) Skin-Inspired Organic Electronics,by Dr, Zhenan Bao, Stanford University
December 22, 2021: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Prof. Jessica Ray at the University of Washington (2015 ENCL PhD) offered a ACS's C&EN podcast where she talked about clean water and life as an assistant professor.
image source: C&EN
December 17, 2021: Welcome aboard! Ms. Minkyoung Jung officially joined us as a permanent doctoral student. Happy to work with you, Minkyoung! |
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December 1-3, 2021: Albern and Ying conducted in person in situ Ultrasmall, small, and wide angle X-ray scattering experiments at Sector 9, the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab. |
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November 9-11, 2021: Prof. Jun visited Caltech and gave the department seminar for the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Caltech, CA. |
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November 5, 2021: Prof. Jun gave a seminar for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University, NY. |
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November 4-8, 2021: Deoukchen and Dennis travelled to the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab for in person in situ SAXS/GISAXS experiments at Sector 12ID-B. |
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November 1, 2021: Welcome aboard! Ms. Minkyoung Jung and Mr. Shawn Xiao joined the group. They are 1st year Ph.D. students and will conduct research rotation with us. |
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October 28, 2021: Our Life Cycle Assessment of the 2021 Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP) Virtual "Appetizer" Event is now published in AEESP Newsletter. Click here for the LCA article. We look forward to meeting you all in St. Louis in summer 2022! Link to the 2022 AEESP conference website.October 22, 2021: Prof. Jun hosted Dr. Susan Hubbard, the Associate Lab Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA. Dr. Hubbard also met with the ENCL group. Thank you, Dr. Hubbard, for your generous advice and inspiration!
October 18, 2021: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Lijie Zhang (2018 ENCL PhD) started her faculty position in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), NJ. We look forward to hearing about your great success news! Link to Prof. Zhang website. |
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October 16, 2021: Welcome, Future Chemists and Engineers! The ENCL offered a hands-on workshop entitled “Introduction to Environmental Challenges and Environmental Engineering”, for middle school students from BrightPath's Young Black Scholars LEAP Program (https://brightpathsteam.org/) BrightPath STEAM Academy helps address critical educational gaps that impact African American youth, their future and our national economy.
October 14, 2021: Prof. Jun started to serve on the Editorial Board with Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering (Elsevier Journal).
October 6, 2021: Prof. Jun gabe a virtual seminar for the School of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea. |
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September 27-29, 2021: Albern and Ying will travel to the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab for in person in situ PDF experiments at sector 11ID-B! |
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September 28, 2021: Congratulations! Another interesting collarboatrion paper with Prof. Fuzhong Zhang group has been accepted to be published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces."A Biosynthetic Hybrid Spidroin-Amyloid-Mussel-Foot Protein for Underwater Adhesion on Diverse Surfaces"Link to the paper
September 25, 2021: Dennis successfully presented his doctoral research at the Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference. Keep it up good work, Dennis! |
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Spetember 11, 2021: Since September 3rd, we have started new normal in-person group meeting, by strictly following safety guidelines and implementing additional precaution. 
September 11, 2021: Congratulations! Our paper has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science &Technology. The title of the manuscript is "Effects of MoS2 Layer Thickness on Its Photochemically-Driven Oxidative Dissolution" We report that enhanced photocatalytic activity of MoS2 nanosheets promoted their oxidative dissolution, altering their behavior and stability in the environment and during their applications. Link to the paper
September 10, 2021: Welcome aboard! Ms. Anna Hartig joined the group. She is a 1st year Ph.D. student and will conduct research rotation with us. |
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September 10, 2021: Welcome aboard! Ms. Elmira Ramazanova joined the group. She is a 1st year Ph.D. student and will conduct research rotation with us. |
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September 10, 2021: Welcome aboard! Ms. Zixuan Xie joined the group. She is a Master of Engineering student and will conduct research project with us. |
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September 7, 2021: Congratulations! We will start a new project, supported by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Office of Fossil Energy. This project will utilize hydrogel-based nutrient delivery for enhanced algae productivity, promoting CO2 capture from the air and reducing CO2 loss and cost during CO2 utilization. We will collaborate with Dr. Yinjie Tang at WUStL and the research team from Texas A&M University. |
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September 7, 2021: Welcome aboard! Mr. Ryan Whelan joined the group. He will conduct thesis research for his Master of Science program. |
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September 7, 2021: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Classical and Nonclassical Nucleation and Growth Mechanisms for Understanding Nanoparticle Formation" has been accepted to be published in Volume 73 of the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry (Invited only). This article will appear in May 2022. It is a great honor to be part of the excellent annual review collection. Link to the paper
September 3, 2021: Congratulations! In collaboration with Prof. Srikanth Singamaneni group, our paper has been accepted to be published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. The title of the manuscript is "MXene Aerogel for Efficient Photothermally-Driven Membrane Distillation with Dual-Mode Antimicrobial Capability" We developed a MXene (Ti3C2Tx) composite aerogel membrane, which has a high thermal efficiency and shows electrically conductive. These properties enable its photothermal and electric potential bactericidal functionality. Link to the paper
September 1, 2021: Welcome board! Ms. Esther Faronbi joined the group. She is a MARC u-STAR program fellow. |
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August 30, 2021: Congratulations! In collaboration with Prof. Fuzhong Zhang group, our collaboration paper entitled "Microbial Production of Megadalton Titin Fibers with Exceptional Mechanical Performance" was published in Nature Communications. Fantastic teamwork! Link to the paper
August 22-26, 2021: ACS President H.N. Cheng and Drs. Young-Shin Jun, Martin Kociolek, and Michael Morello from the ACS Committee on Science (COMSCI) organized a Presidential Symposium "New Frontiers and Opportunities for Chemistry", the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2021 National Meeting. Click here for more information about the participating invited speakers For a parallel initiative, Prof. Jun also organized ACS Presidential Webinar "Frontier Fridays" Series ( A total of 4027 registrants from 93 countries) |
 Image sorce: ACS
Frontier Fridays Webinar Series (The recordings are available in ACS webinar Archives) - May 28 webinar: Dr, Zhenan Bao, Stanford University - June 11 webinar: Dr. Amy Prieto, Colorado State University - June 25 webinar: Sir Fraser Stoddart, 2016 Nobel Laureate, Northwestern University |
August 22-26, 2021: Prof. Jun, Mr. Zhenwei Gao, Mr. Albern Tan, and Mr. Ping I Chou presented our research during the ACS Fall meeting.
- Professor Jun co-organized and chaired the ACS Presidential Symposium "New Frontiers and Opportunities for Chemistry." She was an invited speaker in Environmental Chemistry Symposium "WISE: Women in Environmental Science and Engineering" and chaired a WISE session.
- Mr. Zhenwei Gao has received the 2021 C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Award from the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
- Mr. Albern Tan and Mr. Dennis Chou successfully presented their research. Excellent jobs, everyone!
August 4, 2021: Congratulations! Our paper has been accepted to be published in ACS Environmental Science & Technology: Engineering. The title of the manuscript is "Engineering Calcium-bearing Mineral/Hydrogel Composites for Effective Phosphate Recovery" We report here that hydrogel composites with calcium phosphate and calcium silicate mineral seeds show promising phosphate recovery and removal performance, supporting a sustainable circular economy of phosphorus. Link to the paper
August 2-3, 2021: Professor Jun, Yaguang, and Ying participated in the workshop on "Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals".
August 1, 2021: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Qingyun Li (2016 ENCL PhD) started her faculty position in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University, NY. We look forward to hearing about your great success news! Link to Prof. Li website |
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July 15, 2021:Congratulations! Our paper has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science &Technology. The title of the manuscript is “Sulfate-controlled Heterogeneous CaCO3 Nucleation and Its Non-linear Interfacial Energy Evolution” We reported a hitherto undetected non-linear relationship between sulfate concentration and interfacial energy. Link to the paper
July 15-19, 2021: Yaguang and Deoukchen travelled to the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab for in person in situ experiments at sector 12ID-B! |
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July 13-14, 2021: Join us at the 2021 Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP) Virtual Appetizer Event. Prof. Jun serves as the Chair of Workshops and will moderate the Platform Session on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). See the detailed information about the workshops
July 12-16, 2021: Albern participated in the 2021 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy, organized by the American Chemical Society. The summer school explores scientific solutions to global sustainability challenges in green chemistry and sustainable energy. |
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July 12-30, 2021: Dennis participates in the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. |
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July 8, 2021: In collaboration with Prof. Fuzhong Zhang group, our collaboration paper was accepted to be published inACS Nano. Excellent collaboration! "Microbial Production of Megadalton Titin Fibers with Exceptional Mechanical Performance" (Link to the paper)
Image from ACS Nano paper
July 2, 2021: Congratulations! Our paper has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science &Technology. The title of the manuscript is “Does Tert-Butyl Alcohol Really Terminate the Oxidative Activity of •OH in Inorganic Redox Chemistry?” This is an intriguing work that we report underappreciated impact of radical scavengers on redox reactions. Link to the paper
June 30, 2021: Congratulations! Prof. Jun was named to receive the 2022 Marion L. and Chrystie M. Jackson Mid-Career Clay Scientist Award (shortly Jackson Award) from the Clay Minerals Society. The award committee recognized for her technical contributions to the structure and reactivity of clay minerals and their surfaces which have made a strong impact in the professional community. |
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June 25, 2021: Congratulations! We have received a new funding from the Petroleum Research Fund from the American Chemical Society. |
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June 25, 2021: Congratulations! Our paper has been accepted to be published in Biomaterials Science. The title of the manuscript is “Cyclic Strain Enhances the Early Stage Mineral Nucleation and the Modulus of Demineralized Bone Matrix” We found that the multiscale spatial distribution of nanocrystals in the fibrous collagen network determines tissue-level mechanical properties more critically than the total mineral content. Link to the paper
June 25, 2021: Albern and Dennis presented their research #EnvChem2021: Chemistry of the Whole Environment Research, organized by the Royal Society of Chemistry's Environmental Chemistry Group. |
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June 22-23, 2021: Prof. Jun attended the annual meeting of the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Argonne National Laboratory. Prof. Jun serves as the Science Advisory Committee.
June 21-25, 2021: Prof. Jun co-organized the workshop entitled “Oxide- and Silicate-Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment”. Great teamwork!
June 13, 2021: Welcome aboard! Ms. Ying Wang officially joined us as a permanent doctoral student. Happy to work with you, Ying! |
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June 7, 2021: Welcome aboard! Mr. Kenny Li joined us for an undergraduate research. |
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ACS Presidential Webinar "Frontier Fridays" Series engaged to the global chemistry community (A total of 4027 registrants from 97 countries). In addition, the Plastics Problem Webinar reached more than ~1300 registrants.
June 25, 2021: Prof. Jun will moderate a Presidential ACS webinar series "Frontier Fridays". Sir Fraser Stoddart, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Northwestern University will speak about "Artifical Molecular Machines". Link to the webinar information and free registration |
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June 11, 2021: Prof. Jun will moderate a Presidential ACS webinar series "Frontier Fridays". Prof. Amy Prieto, Colorado State University will speak about "Lithium-ion Batteries: The Road to Sustainable Energy Storage". Link to the webinar information and free registration |
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May 28, 2021: Prof. Jun will moderate a Presidential ACS webinar series "Frontier Fridays". Prof. Zhenan Bao at Stanford will speak about "Skin-Inspired Organic Electronics". Link to the webinar information and free registration |
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April 28, 2021: Prof. Jun and Dr. Fryberger organized an ACS webinar on "Solving the Plastics Problem through Chemistry: Federal Research and Technology Programs". Link to the webinar information and free registration |
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April 22, 2021: Congratulations! Mr. Ping I (Dennis) Chou successfully defended his thesis proposal! Keep up good work!
Virtual handshaking "Congratulations on your successful proposal defense!"
April 21, 2021: Congratulations! Dr. Xuanhao Wu (2020 ENCL Ph.D.) received the 2020 EECE Doctoral Dissertation Award. His award was presented during the Mckelvey Engineering Honors Ceremony event. YouTube link (look at the footage at 36 min) Congratulations, Dr. Wu, for your excellent doctoral work! |
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April 14, 2021: Congratulations to Zhenwei! Zhenwei has been selected as a winner of the 2021 C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Award. The award is the highest award given to students by the Division of Environmental Chemistryof the American Chemical Society. |
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April 9, 2021: Professor Jun and Dr. Teresa Fryberger co-organized an ACS Presidential Symposium on "Chemistry and the Future of Plastics," sponsored by the ACS Committee on Science, the 261th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, 9AM-12 PM Pacific Time on April 9, 2021, co-organized with Dr. Teresa Fryberger. Symposium Flyer here. |
 Image: Shutterstock |
April 8-15, 2021: Prof. Jun, Deoukchen, Yaguang, and Zhenwei attended the 2021 Spring ACS meeting and presented 10 research talks.
April 9, 2021: Through a highly competitive application process, Mr. Ping I (Dennis) Chou was chosen to be a participant for the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. |
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April 1-5, 2021: Yaguang and Deoukchen travelled to the Adavanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab for in person experiments at sector 12ID-B! Back to the exciting real time world! |
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March 20, 2021: Hello, Future Woman Scientists and Engineers! Prof. Jun offered zoom showcase meetings with female high school students as a part of the 2021 Washington University's Women in STEM event and introduced environmental nanochemistry and nanotechnology. 
March 4, 2021:Welcome aboard! Ying Wang (PhD student) joined us for her research rotation. |
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February 26, 2021: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Lijie Zhang (2018 ENCL PhD) accepted her faculty position in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), NJ. She will start her tenure-track assistant professorship in September 2021. Best wishes for her new, independent venture! |
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February-April 2021: Congratulations! We have received multiple synchrotron beamtimes in Sector 9 (Ultra SAXS), Sector 11 (PDF analysis), and Sector 12 (X-ray scattering) at Advanced Photon Source. We also received high resolution transmission electron microscopy-3D tomography user time in the Center for Nanoscale Materials in Argonne National Laboratory. |
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February 24, 2021: Congratulations to Osheen! Osheen will start her new position at International Safety System, Inc, NJ. She will work as an Environmental Health & Safety specialist. Best wishes! |
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February 23, 2021: Congratulations to Yaguang! Yaguang has been selected as a winner of the 2020 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. |
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February 2, 2021; Our iron oxide nucleation study is featured in the Advanced Photon Source's Science Highlights. The study has also been posted as a University Research News headline on the Department of Energy's Office of Science homepage (February 18, 2021). 
January 25, 2021:Welcome aboard. Yihan Wang (PhD student), Jing Liu (Master of Engineering student), and Xingyu (Shay) Li (Master of Engineering student) joined us for their research.
January 1, 2021: Happy New Year! Year 2020 was a challenging year that we have never experienced. Through this challenging time, we have survived and thrived. In year 2021, we will continue making important scientific impacts. Stay safe and happy!
December 14, 2020: Congratulations to Yaguang and Zhenwei! Based on their presentation at the 2020 Fall American Chemical Society Meeting, Zhenwei and Yaguang received "Certificate of Merit" from the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. Big Kudos and we are so proud of you both! Congratulations! 
December 1-17, 2020: The ENCL participates in the 2020 virtual AGU meeting. Prof. Jun, Deoukchen, Yaguang, and Zhenwei presented our research findings. You can check our talks and enjoy our recent research developments! Here is the list (link) of our talks. Prof. Jun also participated in a panel discussion on Harnessing Fundamental Geochemical Insights for Deployable Subsurface and Environmental Technologies.
November 25, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Arsenite Oxyanions Affect CeO2 Nanoparticle Dissolution and Colloidal Stability" has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science: Nano. We found that exposing ceria nanoparticles to high arsenite concentrations will trigger aggregation and settling, while lower concentrations of arsenite promote dissolution through redox interactions. Link to the paper
November 18, 2020: Congratulations! Prof. Jun received the 2020 James M. Lee Memorial Award presented by the US chapter of the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers (KIChE) during the Fall American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) meeting. The James M. Lee Memorial Award recognizes mid-career Korean and Korean-American scientists and engineers who have demonstrated exceptional leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge in the general field of chemical engineering.
October 24, 2020: Congratulations to Albern ! Albern received the Best Student Presentation Award at the 26th Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference, organized by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, IL, USA. Excellent presentation, Albern. We are so proud of you! |
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October-December 2020: Congratulations! We have received multiple synchrotron beamtimes in Sector 9 (Ultra SAXS), Sector 11 (PDF analysis), Sector 12 (X-ray scattering), Sector 13 (X-ray absorption spectroscopy), and Sector 14 (Biomaterials X-ray scattering) at Advanced Photon Source. We also received high resolution transmission electron microscopy-3D tomography user time in the Center for Nanoscale Materials in Argonne National Laboratory. Even in such uncertain times, science in ENCL never stops! |
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September 30, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Achieving Maximum Recovery of Latent Heat in Photothermally Driven Multi-Layer Stacked Membrane Distillation" has been accepted to be published in Nano Energy. Link to the paper This is our 100th paper. Congratulations, ENCL! Keep up your amazing work! |
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September 21, 2020: Congratulations! In Fall 2021, our proud alumna, Dr. Qinguin Li (2016 ENCL PhD) will start her faculty position in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University, NY. Best wishes for your new journey! |
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September 1, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "A Thermally Engineered Polydopamine and Bacterial Nanocellulose Bilayer Membrane for Photothermal Membrane Distillation with Bactericidal Capability" has been accepted to be published in Nano Energy. Link to the paper
September 1, 2020: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We will develop novel mineral-hydrogel composites for effective nutrient removal to manage harmful algal blooms. |
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August 20, 2020: Congratulations! In September, our proud alumnus, Dr. Haesung Jung (2017 ENCL PhD) started his faculty position in the School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Changwon National University, South Korea. Best wishes for your new journey! |
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August 17-20, 2020: The ENCL participates in the 2020 Fall ACS virtual meeting. Prof. Jun, Deoukchen, Yaguang, Zhenwei, and Albern present 10 talks. You can check our talks and enjoy our recent research developments! Here is the list (link) of our talks. One more talk by Albern which was not linked to the group link by technical issue. Check this out as well. Prof. Jun also organized a special ACS Committee on Science Symposium on Critical Materials. This is part of efforts to echo a recent ACS policy statement on Critical Materials.
image credit: ACS
August 15, 2020: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Prof. Jessica Ray at the University of Washington (2015 EMNL PhD) was chosen as one of the 2020 ACS C&EN's Talented 12. We are so proud of you! Click here to learn more about her
image credit: ACS C&EN
August 11, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Interfacial and Activation Energies of Environmentally-abundant Heterogeneously Nucleated Iron(III) (Hydr)oxide on Quartz" has been accepted to be published in Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper.
August 1, 2020: Congratulations! Our successful alumna, Prof. Yandi Hu at the University of Houston (2013 ENCL PhD) moved to Beijing, China, and started her faculty position in the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at Peking University. Best wishes for new venture in China! |
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July 28, 2020: Congratulations! Our youngest researcher, Mr. Charlie Skurie, received a 2020 America Chemical Society Environmental Chemistry Undergraduate Research Award!We are so proud of you, Charlie. Keep up good work! |
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June 23-24, 2020: Prof. Jun attended the annual meeting of the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Argonne National Laboratory. Prof. Jun serves as the Chair of the Science Advisory Committee.
June 21, 2020: Prof. Jun and Eunyoung attended the workshop entitled "Applications of isotope tracers to geochemical kinetics studies", organized by Prof. Chen Zhu and Prof. Jim Kubicki.
June 15-26, 2020: Ms. Eunyoung Jang attended the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering), supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She was chosen to be a participant through a highly competitive application process. |
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June 3, 2020: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Yanzhe Zhu successfully defended her doctoral disseration at Caltech with the guidance of Prof. Mike Hoffmann. She is officially Dr. Zhu! Dr. Zhu worked with us in 2014-2015 as an undergraduate researcher. Best wishes for your postdoctoral position at Caltech! |
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May 28, 2020: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Chelsea Neil (Ph.D. 2015) has been promoted to a Staff Scientist in Earth and Environmental Sciences Division of the Los Alamos National Lab.This is a big achievement and ENCL is happy to for you, Dr. Neil! We look forward to learning about continuing good news from you, Dr. Neil. Well-deserved promotion! |
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May 8, 2020: Congratulations! Dr. Xuanhao Wu. The Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering (EECE) had a virtual commencement ceremony and congratulated new graduates. Dr. Wu received his doctoral degree. He also received a 2020 EECE Graduate Research Award. He will join Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale for his postdoc position. Congratulations and best wishes! |
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April 25, 2020: Congratulations! Our proud alumna, Dr. Alexandra Rutz accepted her faculty position (tenure-track assistant professor) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University. She conducted her undergraduate research with us in 2009 and she will join WUStL in Spring 2021 after her postdoctoral work at the University of Cambridge, UK. Look forward to working with you Dr. Rutz! Dr. Rutz's website |
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April 17, 2020: Prof. Jun served as the lead editor for the special issue in honor of Prof. Donald Spark (A giant in Environmental Soil Chemistry) and the entire papers are now available free of charge. The co-editors were Drs. Mengqiang Zhu and Derek Peak. Please visit the special issue and enjoy the articles. Thank you all contributing authors! Thank you, Prof. Sparks, for your leadership in environmental soil chemistry and for inspiring many of us. Here is the introductory remark article |
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April 10, 2020: Congratulations! Ms. Eunyoung Jang was selected to attend the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering), June 15-26, 2020, supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. |
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April 8, 2020: Congratulations! Mr. Charlie Skurie was selected to receive an 2020 Office of Undergraduate Research Summer Undergraduate Research Award (SURA).
April 3, 2020: Congratulations, Dr. Xuanhao Wu! Dr. Wu has successfully defended his thesis and has earned his Ph.D.! Dr. Wu is ENCL's 10th Ph.D.. We are so proud of you and wish you all the best at Yale where he will conduct his postdoctoral work. 
Virtual handshaking "Congratulations, Dr. Wu."
March 20, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Cellulose Nanomaterials in Interfacial Evaporators for Desalination: A “Natural” Choice" has been accepted to be published in Advanced Materials. Link to the paper.
March 16, 2020: Congratulations! Albern was chosen to attend the 2020 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy, July 7-14, 2020, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, and he will receive a full financial support from the American Chemical Society. The summer school explores scientific solutions to global sustainability challenges in green chemistry and sustainable energy. Due to COVID-19, the summer school has been postponed to be held in July 13-20, 2021. |
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February 22-25, 2020: Prof. Jun attended Mesilla Chemistry Workshop on “Aqueous Solution/Oxide Interfaces” in Mesilla, New Mexico. It was an invited only workshop (limited to 25 participants).
February 21, 2020: Congratulations to Deoukchen! Deoukchen has been selected as a winner of the 2019 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. |
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February 13, 2020: Professor Jun serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS ES&T: Engineering. It is a new sister journal of ES&T. Stay tuned! ACS ES&T Engineering Introduction |
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February 12, 2020: Congratulations! Xuanhao has accepted a postdoc position in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale. Best wishes to Xuanhao for his successful career development! |
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February 6, 2020: Congratulations! Albern successfully defended his doctortal thesis proposal, and formally become a Ph.D. Candidate. |
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February 6, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Effects of Phosphate, Silicate, and Bicarbonate on Arsenopyrite Dissolution and Secondary Mineral Precipitation" has been accepted to publish in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry. Link to the paper
January 31, 2020: Welcome back! our proud aluma, Dr. Alexandra Rutz visited the ENCL. She conducted her undergraduate research with us in 2009 and now she is working at the University of Cambridge, UK. Dr. Rutz's website |
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January 31, 2020: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Polydopamine/Hydroxyapatite Nanowires-based Bilayer Membrane for Photothermal-driven Membrane Distillation" has been accepted to publish in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Link to the paper
January 17, 2020: Welcome aboard, our new master student group members! Jianshang Li, Wanqing Zheng, and Kevin Huang.
January 13, 2020: Welcome aboard, our new undergraduate group members! Amanda Grams and Soo Jin Choi.
January 8, 2020: Washington University's The Source featured our recently published ES&T article. Enjoy reading the highlight "Towad a smarter way of recharging the aquifer"
picture source:https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/
January 2, 2020: Happy New Year! We are open for the new year business! Let's do what it matters!
December 30, 2019: Professor Jun will continue serving on the American Chemical Society's Committee on Science (COMSCI) as the appointed member (2020-2022). She also became the Chair of the Science & Technology Subcommittee. |
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December 23, 2019: Our group had the 2019 holiday dinner followed by the last group meeting of the year 2019. As our tradition, we shared our new year's resolutions together. Wish you all have wonderful year 2020!
December 13, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Pulsed Electrical Stimulation Enhances Body Fluid Transport for Collagen Biomineralization" has been accepted to publish in ACS Applied Bio Materials. Link to the paper
December 10, 2019: Our photothermal ultrafiltration membrane study was chosen to be one of Top 10 McKelvey Engineering Stories of 2019!
December 9-22, 2019: Prof. Jun visited Korea. She offered two openhouse events of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy and met with faculty at Seoul National University. Prof. Jun also delivered a keynote speech at the International Environmental Engineering Conference & Annual Meeting of the Korean Society of Environmental Engineers. She also provided invited seminars at the Korean National Institute of Environmental Research and in the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology. Prof. Jun also visited Yonsei University for collaboration.
December 7-8, 2019: Prof. Jun present career development talk and panel discussion at the Korean-American Scientist and Engineers Association (KSEA) Scientiss’ and Engineers’ Early Career Development (SEED) Workshop. Dr. Doyoon Kim (2018 PhD) also attended the workshop. So nice to catch up with Dr. Kim! |
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December 6, 2019: Our young researchers (Lizzie, Charlie, Adrian, and Junlong (Dec. 23rd)) presented their final outcomes from the fall semester. Everyone can easily observe their transformational development as professional researchers. Great jobs! Thank you all mentors!
November 25, 2019: Welcome back! Our proud alumna, Prof. Jessica Ray at University of Washington (2015 ENCL PhD), visited the ENCL. |
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November 17-21, 2019: The National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)'s 46th Annual Meeting was held in St. Louis at St. Louis Union Station, November 18-21, 2019. The NOBCChE conference attendees (students) visited Washington University to connect. |
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November 14-20, 2019: Xuanhao, Yaguang, Zhenwei, Dennis, and Eunyoung travelled to the Advance Photon Source for synchrotron-based X-ray beamtime experiments at Sector 12ID-B and 14BM-C.
November 2, 2019: Welcome to Energy, Environmental & Chemical Enginering! Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Yaguang, Albern, Eunyoung, and Dennis, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran three learning modules related to water quality and treatments, acidity and pH, and dissolution and nucleation.
October 24-26, 2019: Zhenwei and Yaguang conducted PDF experiments at sector 11-ID in the Advanced Photon Source.
October 23, 2019: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Dissolved Organic Matter Affects Arsenic Mobility and Iron(III) (hydr)oxides Formation: Implications for Managed Aquifer Recharge" has been accepted to publish in Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper The paper is highlighted in many media, including NSF Research News, The Source, EurekaAlert!, ScienceDaily, Phys.org., Environmental News Network, AZO CleanTech, Newswise, Long Room, Seed Daily, Euraisa Review, Futurity, etc.
October 22, 2019: Job well done! Eunyoung and Dennis did wonderful presentations in the Global Leadership Visions Session at the McDonnell International Scholars Academy. Very professional and insightful! |
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October 19, 2019: Congratulations to Deoukchen! Deoukchen received the Best Student Presentation Award during the 25th Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference, the University of Missouri-Columbia, MO, USA. We are so proud of you, Deoukchen!
October 14, 2019: Welcome aboard! Mr. Yao Ma joined us for his research rotation.
October 13-14, 2019: Prof. Jun visited Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM.
October 6-12, 2019: Eunyoung and Dennis travelled to Argonne National Lab and attened one week course, "Beyond Rg Materials SAXS".
October 3-5, 2019: Albern and Yaguang travelled to the Advanced Photon Source to conduct USAXS experiments at sector 9-ID.
October 2-3, 2019: Prof. Jun welcomed the delegate from Seoul National University (Executive Vice President Jung Sung Yeo, Associate Dean Suk Won Cha, and Mr. Cho) who visited St. Louis participate in the inauguration ceremony of Chancellor Andrew Martin.
(left to right) SNU's Associate Dean Suk Won Cha, WUStL's Vice Chancellor Kurt Dirks, SNU's Executive Vice President Jung Sung Yeo, WUStL's Chancellor Emeritus Mark Wrighton, WUStL Prof. Young-Shin Jun, and WUStL's Engineering Dean Aaron Bobick.
October 1, 2019: Congratulations to Xuanhao! Among the 2019 ACS Geochemistry Division Student Travel Awardees, one best paper award was chosen based on their presentation. Congratulations! Xuanhao has won the Geochemistry Division's Best Student Paper Award Competition at the 2019 ACS meeting in San Diego. |
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October 1, 2019: Welcome aboard! Junlong Huang joined our group for his undergraduate thesis. Junlong is an exchange undergraduate student from Tsinghua University, China, through McKelvey Engineering's 3+1+X program. |
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September 25, 2019: Prof. Jun gave an invited talk at the Geological Society of America, Phoenix, Arizona.
September 13-21, 2019: Prof. Jun travelled to Seoul, Korea, and visited Seoul National University and Yonsei University with McKelvey Engineering team including Dean Aaron Bobick. 
September 12, 2019: Prof. Jun gave her invited talk as a joint seminar series between the Materials Technology Center and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
September 6, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Advances in Solar Evaportator Materials for Freshwater Generation" was accepted to be published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Link to the paper |
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September 3, 2019: Welcome aboard! Ms. Dandan Zhang and Ms. Haihui Zhu joined us for their research rotation.
August 28 2019: Our biomineralization work is featured in DOE's Advance Photon Source's Science Highlights.
August 23-29 2019: The ENCL attended the ACS meeting in San Diego. Many exciting things happened during the conference. Prof. Jun attended the Committee on Science meeting and Multidisciplinary Program Planning Group Meeting. Prof. Jun also attended the induction ceremony for the ACS Fellow. Prof. Jun also presented two invited talks. Deoukchen and Zhenwei succssfully delivered their first ACS presentations. Xuanhao presented three talks. Great jobs! Xuanhao and Prof. Jun visited the Carlsbad Desalination Plant. Lastly, we also enjoyed our group reunion with Dr. Ray (Univ. Washington), Dr. Neil (Los Alamos National Lab), and Yue Hui (Caltech).
August 23, 2019: Congratulations! Varsha, our youngest summer intern, high school student researcher, received a 2019 award for excellence in research from the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) Program.
May-August 2019: The ENCL welcome all summer research interns:
Adrian Martinez (WUSEF fellow, undergraduate in EECE, WUStL),
Mathew Suazo (WUSEF fellow, undergraduate at MIT),
Lolya McWest (WUSEF fellow, undergraduate at Rutgers University),
Lizzie Michalski (undergraduate in EECE, WUStL),
Charlie Skurie (undergraduate in EECE, WUStL),
Seung Hee Chao (MAGEEP fellow, undergraduate at Seoul National University, South Korea), and
Varsha Murali (STARS program, high school student at Parkway Central High School). We are so excited to work with you all! Welcome aboard!
July 15, 2019: Professor Jun was elected to be a 2019 American Chemical Society's Fellow. The ACS Fellow is awarded to a member who has made exceptional contributions to the science or profession and has provided excellent volunteer service to the ACS community. Link to Engineering News |
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July 15, 2019: Professor Jun joined the editorial board of RSC Advances.
July 15, 2019: Professor Jun joined the editorial board of the Journal of Hazardous Materials. |
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July 4-9, 2019: Xuanhao, Yaguang, Zhenwei, Albern, Eunyoung, and Dennis travelled to the Advanced Photon Source to conduct X-ray scattering experiments at sector 12ID-B.
July 1, 2019: Our paper entitled "Salinity-Induced Reduction of Interfacial Energies and Kinetic Factors during Calcium Carbonate Nucleation on Quartz" has been featured in the Source.When kinetics and thermodynamics should play together: How the salinity of water affects calcium carbonate nucleation.
June 28, 2019: The 2019 ENCL's BBQ party! We are a great team together! Eunyoung, Dennis, and Albern organized a fun party. It rained but it did not stop us enjoying together.
June 25-26, 2019: Prof. Jun serves as the Chair of the Science Advisory Committee of the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Argonne National Laboratory. She attended AMEWS annual meeting.
June 19-22, 2019: Yaguang, Zhenwei, and Albern travelled to Advanced Photon Source at sector 11ID-B to conduct PDF analysis experiments for materials structural characterization.
June 17-19, 2019: Prof. Jun attended the 2019 ACS Colloids and Surface Sciences Symposium, Atlanta, GA, and provided the keynote talk in "Environmental Systems & Sustainability". She also gave an invited talk in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. She also met with Dr. Haesung Jung (PhD in 2017) who is now working at Georgia Tech.
June 14, 2019: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant (Nucleation of Manganese Oxides in the Presence of Reactive Halogen Species) from the Division of Chemistry. |
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June 13, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Solar-Enabled Water Treatment in Resource Limited Settings" has been published in the Journal of the Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center. Link to the journal issue (page 21-26). See also Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC)'s Tech Talk |
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June 12, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entited "Effects of Sulfate on Biotite Interfacial Reactions under High Temperature and High CO2 Pressure" has been selected by journal Editors as a 2019 HOT Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics article. Congratulations, Dr. Lijie Zhang! As part of the 2019 HOT articles collection, our article will be free to access until the end of July 2019. Link to the paper
May 30, 2019: Our photothermal water treatment membrane work was introduced in the Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC)'s Tech Talk. Watch the YouTube Video!
May 26, 2019: Welcome back! Dr. Haesung Jung (PhD in 2017) visited the ENCL. He is now working at Georgia Tech.
May 21, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Redox Chemistry of CeO2 Nanoparticles in Aquatic Systems Containing Cr(VI)(aq) and Fe2+Ions" has been accepted for publication in Environmental Sciences: Nano. This mechanistic study can help improve our understanding of surface chemistry of emerging nanoparticle contaminants in aquatic environments where complex redox chemistries could occur. Link to the paper
May 14-16, 2019: Prof. Jun attended the 2019 AEESP (Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors) conference at Arizona State University, Tempe.
May 14, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Salinity-Induced Reduction of Interfacial Energies and Kinetic Factors during Calcium Carbonate Nucleation on Quartz" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C. This work reports the crucial importance of kinetic factors in controlling nucleation rates at high salinities, in clear contrast to the conventional understanding that the effect of variation in kinetic factors is negligible compared to the effect of thermodynamic factors. Link to the paper
May 13, 2019: Congratulations to Xuanhao and Zhenwei! They received 2019 ACS Geochemistry Division's Student Travel Awards for the Fall 2019 ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA to be held from August 25-29, 2019. Both will compete for the best student presentation award. Best wishes!
May 8-11, 2019: Albern travelled to Argonne National Laboratory (IL) to participate a workshop on "SAXS Software Packages Irena and Nika."
May 9, 2019: Prof. Jun commented about geologic CO2 sequestration in a feature article entitled "Developments on the Carbon Capture Frontier" by Dr. Hannah Sayre in Frontiers in Energy Research: Winter 2019. This is the Newsletter for the U.S. DOE's Energy Frontier Research Centers.
April 23, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Photothermal Membrane Water Treatment for Two Worlds" has been accepted for publication in Accounts of Chemical Research (IF 20.955). This paper discussed our new environmentally-abundant and benign photothermal membrane process development, which can benefit both urban and rural communities and developed and developing countries. Link to the paper Our image was chosen to be a cover art. |
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April 12, 2019: Congratulations! Dr. Doyoon Kim and Albern! Dr. Kim received the 2019 EECE Graduate Research Award and Albern received the 2019 EECE Graduate Teaching Award. Great achievements! Congratulations to you both! We all are proud of you both! Prof. Seinfeld at Caltech presented the awards in the ceremony. |
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April 9, 2019: Congratulation! Albern received a 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF)! We are happy for you, Albern! Keep up good work. |
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April 5, 2019: Congratulations! Xuanhao received the 1st Place Prize and Deoukchen received the 2nd Place Prize for the Fresh Ideas Student Poster Competition at the Missouri Joint Conference! Xuanhao will represent the Missouri American Water Works Association (AWWA) Section and Washington University in St. Louis at the national AWWA Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE) held in Denver, from June 10-12, 2019. Congratulations, Xuanhao and Deoukchen! Best wishes to Xuanhao for your national competition as well! |
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April 1, 2019: Xuanhao and Deoukchen presented at the Joint Conference of the Missouri Water Environment Association (MWEA) and the Missouri Section of the American Water Works Association (MO-AWWA), Osage Beach, MO.
March 29-April 4, 2019: Prof. Jun and Yaguang attended the American Chemical Society in Orlando. We had an ENCL reunion dinner with Prof. Jessica Ray, Dr. Qingyun Li, and Dr. Haesung Jung. It was so nice to see you all again!
March 25, 2019: Congratulations! Dr. Lijie Zhang (PhD in 2018) received the 2019 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Student Study Abroad. We are very proud of her and it is a well deserved recognition! Congratulations, Dr. Zhang!
March 22, 2019: Prof. Alan Stone at Johns Hopkins visited WUStL and the ENCL met Prof. Stone.
March 22, 2019: Congratulations! Deoukchen was chosen to attend the 2019 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy, July 16-23, 2019, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, and he will receive a full financial support from the American Chemical Society. The summer school explores scientific solutions to global sustainability challenges in green chemistry and sustainable energy. |
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March 8-11, 2019: Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Yaguang, Albern, Dennis, and Eunyoung travelled to Argonne National Laboratory to conduct GISAXS experiments at Sector 12ID-B.
February 23, 2019: Hello, Future Woman Scientists and Engineers! We offered hands-on workshops to female high school students as a part of the 2019 Women in STEM event. 
Enjoy reading an inspiring article in Scientific America entited "We Need More Women in the Energy Sector" by Katie Mehnert (Feb 26, 2019). She said "Diversity leads to innovation, and that’s what it will take to fight climate change"
February 22, 2019: Congratulations to Yaguang! Yaguang received the American Chemical Society’s geochemistry division student travel award for attending the Spring 2019 ACS National Meeting in Orlando, FL, March 31-April 4, 2019.
February 14, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Effects of Sulfate on Biotite Interfacial Reactions under High Temperature and High CO2 Pressure" was accepted inPhysical Chemistry Chemical Physics. Our findings suggest that anions affect water-biotite interfacial interactions to different extents and subsequently altered surface wettability under subsurface environments. Link to the paper
February 4, 2019: Congratulations to Xuanhao! Xuanhao has been selected as a winner of the 2018 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
February 4, 2019: Our recent photothermal membrane work was introduced in National Academy of Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering website. "Using Bacteria to CLEAN Water" |
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January 31, 2019: Our school has a new name now "McKelvey School of Engineering". |
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January 30, 2019: Our recent photothermal membrane work was introduced through St. Louis Public Radio "WashU Engineers Use Bacteria And Nanotechnology To Purify Dirty Water" |
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January 23, 2019: Welcome aboard, Eunyoung and Dennis (Ping-I)! Dennis and Eunyoung formally joined our group for their doctoral study.
January 11, 2019: Congratulations! Our collaborative paper entitled "A Robust and Scalable Polydopamine/Bacterial Nanocellulose Hybrid Membrane for Efficient Wastewater Treatment " was accepted for publication in ACS Applied Nano Materials. This study reports a novel membrane comprised of polydopamine (PDA) particles and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), which can efficiently remove a variety of metal ions (e.g., Pb and Cd) and organic dyes from contaminated water. Link to the paper
January 2, 2019: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Photothermally-active Reduced Graphene Oxide/Bacterial Nanocellulose Composites as Biofouling-resistant Ultrafiltration Membranes" was chosen to be highlighted as the Cover Art of Environmental Science & Technology January 2, 2019. Link to the paper. Using reduced graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose, in this study, we developed an innovative ultrafiltration membrane that harvests sunlight to kill microorganisms. Read the full news article here @ engineering news. Other media coverage: EurekAlert!, ScienceDaily, Market Business News, New Atlas, Newswise, Innovation Toronto, Novus Light Technologies Today, Water Canada, First Bell of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), The Engineer (UK), St. Louis Public Radio, National Academy of Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering,Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP), Chemical Engineering, WaterWorld, and etc. |
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December 15, 2018: Congratulations! Jason Zhou, our high school student researcher will attend Harvard for his undergraduate program.
December 4, 2018: Congratulations! Yaguang successfully defended his doctortal thesis proposal, and formally become a Ph.D. Candidate.
November 22-27, 2018: Dr. Kim, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Yaguang, Albern, and Eunyoung travelled to Argonne National Laboratory to conduct GISAXS experiments at Sector 12ID-B.
November 20, 2018: Congratulations! Zhenwei successfully defended his doctortal thesis proposal, and formally become a Ph.D. Candidate.
November 16, 2018: Best wishes to Dr. Doyoon Kim! We had a group farewell party for celebrating Dr. Kim's achievements during his doctoral program and wishing his best in Cambridge, MA. Doyoon, we will miss you.
November 13, 2018: Congratulations! Deoukchen successfully defended his doctortal thesis proposal, and formally become a Ph.D. Candidate.
November 9, 2018: Congratulations! Dr. Doyoon Kim! Dr. Kim has successfully defended his thesis and has earned his Ph.D.! We are so proud of you and wish you all the best in Cambridge! Dr. Kim will conduct his postdoctoral work at MIT. |
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October 23, 2018: Congratulations! Doyoon will receive the 2018 Doh Wonsuk Memorial Award. Since 2004, Doh Wonsuk Memorial Award has been awarded once a year to 1-2 Korean student(s) studying Chemical Engineering in doctoral programs in the United States by the US Chapter of Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers (KIChE). The award ceremony will be held during the AIChE meeting on October 31, 2018, in Pittsburgh, PA. Congratulations, Doyoon! We are so proud of you! Click here for engineering news
October 22, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Effects of Na+ and K+ Exchange in Interlayers on Biotite Dissolution under High Temperature and High CO2 Pressure Conditions" was accepted in Environmental Science &Technology. Our findings contribute to better understanding of clay dissolution in the presence of potassium-containing clay swelling inhibitors and different salinities under subsurface environments. Link to the paper
October 22, 2018: Welcome aboard! Moshan joined us for his research rotation.
October 20, 2018: Xuanhao successfully presented his membrane distillation project at the 24th Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference, Missouri Science & Technology, Rolla. He also caught up with his UG mentee, Bradon Bowers at MS&T. |
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October 11-16, 2018: Professor Jun attended the 7th Mcdonnell International Scholars Academy's Symposium in Beijing, China.
(From left, Prof. Suk-won Cha, Associate Dean of International Affairs, Seoul National University (SNU), Prof. Young-Shin Jun, McDonnell International Scholars Academy Ambassador to SNU, SNU's Acting President Chan Wook Park, and Prof. James Wertsch, Director of the McDonnell International Scholar's Academy.)
October 12, 2018: Professor Jun became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. |
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October 6, 2018: Welcome to Energy, Environmental & Chemical Enginering! Doyoon, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Yaguang, Albern, Eunyoung, and Dennis, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran three learning modules related to water quality and treatments, acidity and pH, and dissolution and nucleation. 
September 19, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "The apparent activation energy and pre-exponential kinetic factor for heterogeneous calcium carbonate nucleation on quartz" was published in Communications Chemistry (Nature Journal). We provided this first set of values for nucleation kinetic parameters, measured through in situ nanoscale observation, benefiting research in all fields of science and engineering where nucleation of new materials is important. Link to the paper (open access)
September 17, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Mechanically Interlocked 1T/2H Phases of MoS2 Nanosheets for Solar Thermal Water Purification" was accepted in Nano Energy. The paper reports a use of scalable and cost-effective chemically exfoliated molybdenum disulfide (ce-MoS2) as a photothermal material for solar thermal water purification. Link to the paper
September 14, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Photothermally-active Reduced Graphene Oxide/Bacterial Nanocellulose Composites as Biofouling-resistant Ultrafiltration Membranes" was published in Environmental Science & Technology. Using reduced graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose, in this study, we developed an innovative ultrafiltration membrane that harvests sunlight to kill microorganisms. Link to the paper
September 10, 2018: Welcome aboard! Eunyoung Jang and Ping I (Dennis) Chou joined us for their research rotations.
September 7, 2018: Prof. Jun hosted Dr. Jennifer Lee, Assistant Editorial Development Manager of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and she offered a seminar on " How to Publish in High-Quality Journals" for doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. Thank you, Dr. Lee, for sharing great advice with us!
September 6, 2018: Welcome aboard! Guangcheng Wang and Jiumei Yang joined us for their independent study.
August 27, 2018: Welcome aboard! Prof. Yongfang Rao, Associate Professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China, joined the group as a visiting scholar and will work us for a year.
August 17-21, 2018: Prof. Jun will attend ACS Fall Meeting in Boston. She will attend ACS Committee on Science meeting and give two talks.
August 13-14, 2018: Prof. Jun will attend Goldschmidt meeting and give a talk about our new findings on nucleation in confined spaces in the special session honoring Prof. Alex Navrotsky, "Energy landscapes in biomineralization, geochemistry, and materials science".
August 10, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Co-effects of UV/H2O2 and Natural Organic Matter on the Surface Chemistry of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles" was published in Environmental Science: Nano. This study delineates how coexistence of UV/H2O2 and NOM can affect the colloidal stability and surface chemical properties of CeO2 nanoparticles. Link to the paper
August 8, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Localized Heating by a Photothermal Polydopamine Coating Facilitates a Novel Membrane Distillation Process" was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. This study demonstrates a simple, stable, and scalable polydopamine (PDA) coated PVDF membrane for highly efficient solar-driven membrane distillation. Link to the paper
August 6-12, 2018: Doyoon, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Yaguang, and Albern travel to the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory, IL, to conduct synchrotron-based X-ray scattering (grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering in Sector 12 ID-B and Pair Distribution Function in Sector 11. 
July 27, 2018: Congratulations! Doyoon accepted his postdoctoral position in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. Best wishes!
July 26, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "The Role of Fe-bearing Phyllosilicates in DTPMP Degradation under High Temperature and High Pressure Conditions" was published in Environmental Science & Technology. This study highlights a phosphonate degradation mechanism. We found that Fe(II)-bearing phyllosilicates facilitate phosphonate degradation through the structural Fe(II)-catalyzed generation of reactive oxygen species. Link to the paper
July 26, 2018: Good Job, Brandon and James! Excellent oral presentations at the Washington University Summer Engineering Fellowship (WUSEF) Research Symposium.
July 25, 2018: Good job, our young ENCLers! We are proud of you all. Our ENCL summer undergraduate researchers presented their research projects at the Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering's Summer Undergraduate Intern Symposium. Brandon, James, and Wonwoo successfully presented their research projects. All did excellent jobs! Further congratulations to Wonwoo and James! Wonwoo and James won the first and second prizes, respectively.
July 20, 2018: Good Job! Jason, our high school student researcher, successfully presented his summer research at the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists Program. Albern was Jason's graduate mentor. 
July 18, 2018: We have received a new funding from the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization to investigate novel liquid phase extraction and separation processes for recovering rare earth elements from coal fly ash. |
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July 12, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Effects of Phosphonate Structures on Brine-Biotite Interactions under Subsurface Relevant Conditions" was published in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry. This study highlights impacts of different structures of phosphonate scale inhibitors on energy-related subsurface operation. Link to the paper
July 11-13, 2018: Prof. Jun participated in Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Workshop on Nanoscale Chemistry of Indoor Environments, at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), NY. |
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July 10-17, 2018: Xuanhao travels to attend the 2018 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, and he will learn about scientific solutions to global sustainability challenges in green chemistry and sustainable energy. |
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July 7-12, 2018: Zhenwei and Albern travelled to attend the 2018 APS/IIT XAFS Summer School workshop to learn X-ray absorption spectroscopy at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. 
July 2, 2018: 2018 ENCL's BBQ party! We are a great team together! Albern organized a fun party. thanks, Albern.
June 24-29, 2018: Prof. Jun attended Gordon conference on Environmental Science: Water, Holderness, NH.
June 19-22, 2018: Doyoon, Zhenwei, Yaguang, and Albern travelled to the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory, IL, to conduct synchrotron-based Pair Distribution Functions in Sector 11.
June 12, 2018: Congratulations and best wishes! Dr. Jessica Ray (PhD 2015 from ENCL) will start her position as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington in January 2019. We look forward to seeing her continuing success! |
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June 12, 2018: Welcome! Mr. Jason Zhou (a rising junior high school student) joined us to conduct summer research in ENCL as part of Students and Teachers as Research Scientists Program.
June 11-13, 2018, Professor Jun presents two invited talks at the 2018 Clay Mineral Society Annual Meeting, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
May 29, 2018: Welcome! Mr. Brandon Bowers and Mr. James Obute joined us to conduct summer research in ENCL. Both students received a 2018 Washington University Summer Engineering Fellowship (WUSEF).
May 16, 2018: Congratulations to Albern! He has passed his doctoral qualification exam! Great job! Best wishes!
May 10-11, 2018: Yaguang, Zhenwei, and Deoukchen attended a 2018 SAXS Short Course “SAXS Software Packages Irena and Nika,” Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, IL.
April 30, 2018: Best wishes to Dr. Lijie Zhang! We celebrated Dr. Zhang's successful doctoral program. Dr. Zhang will start her postdoctoral position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in May 2018. We wish all the best for her. We look forward to hearing from you about many great news in the future! |
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April 20, 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Lijie Zhang! Lijie received a 2018 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering after the 2018 Ryckman lecture by Prof. Mike Hoffmann. Prof. Hoffmann at Caltech presented the award to Lijie. We all are proud of you! Keep up good work. |
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April 20, 2018: Professor Hoffmann visited WUStL and met the ENCL members. We were happy to have you here, Prof. Hoffmann!
April 18, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "The Effects of Phosphonate-Based Scale Inhibitor on Brine−Biotite Interactions under Subsurface Conditions" was published in Environmental Science & Technology. This study highlights unexpected impacts of phosphonate scale inhibitor (DTPMP) on energy-related subsurface operation. Link to the paper
April 6, 2018: Congratulations! Xuanhao was chosen to attend the 2018 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy, July 10-17, 2018, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, and he will receive a full financial support from the American Chemical Society. The summer school explores scientific solutions to global sustainability challenges in green chemistry and sustainable energy. |
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April 5, 2018: Prof. Jun was chosen to be part of New Voices in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NVSEM), a new initiative of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. |
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March 18-22, 2018: The Environmental NanoChemistry Lab will present our exciting findings at the American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans. We have 9 oral presentations during the meeting. Click the link if you like to see our presentation schedules. Prof. Jun attended the "Committee on Science" meeting and the "Committee on Multidisciplinary Planning Plan Group" meeting and she also organized a special symposium on “Water Use Optimization: Water Quality, Reuse & Treatment” in Environmental Chemistry Division.
March 12, 2018: Congratulations! Dr. Lijie Zhang! Dr. Zhang has successfully defended her thesis and has earned her Ph.D.! We are so proud of you! Dr. Zhang will conduct her postdoctoral work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We wish you all the best, Dr. Zhang! |
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March 6, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "The Role of Confined Collagen Geometry in Decreasing Nucleation Energy Barriers to Intrafibrillar Mineralization" was published in Nature Communications. This study highlights how nanoscale confined space can promote mineral nucleation by decreasing its energy barrier. Link to the paper (It is open access!); Read the news article here @ wustl engineering. Media coverage: EurekaAlert!, ScienceDaily, Scienmag, Phys.org, etc It was also featured in websites of the Advance Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory and National Science Foundation.
February 26-27, 2018: Our Environmental NanoChemistry Lab moved to a brand-new, bigger laboratory! Now you can find us in Brauer 2029!
February 24, 2018: Hello, Future Women Engineers! We offered hands-on workshops for more than 100 female high school student and teacher visitors as a part of the 2018 Women in STEM event. 
February 17-18, 2018: Prof. Young-Shin Jun was invited to participate in the Strategic Planning of Committee on Science, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. 
February 3, 2018: Congratulations to Haesung! Haesung has been selected as a winner of the 2017 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
February 2, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Nanoscale in situ Detection of Nucleation and Growth of Li Electrodeposition at Various Current Densities" was accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Using transmission GISAXS, we show the real-time nucleation, evolution of sizes, and structures of Li dendrite, from primary Li nanoparticles to fractal dimensions. Link to the paper
January 23, 2018: Congratulations! Our collaborative paper entitled "Catalytically-active Bacterial Nanocellulose-based Ultrafiltration Membrane," was accepted for publication in Small. This study is conducted in collaboration with Prof. Singamaneni group. This paper reports a novel membrane, consisting of bacterial nanocellulose loaded with graphene oxide (GO) and palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs), for highly efficient organic-containing wastewater treatment. Link to the paper
January 9, 2018: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Wollastonite Carbonation in Water-bearing Supercritical CO2: Effects of Water Saturation Conditions, Temperature, and Pressure"was accepted for publication in Chemical Geology. This study provides useful insights into designing more effective and safer CO2-enhanced energy-related subsurface engineering process. Link to the paper
January 1, 2018: Our group is celebrating our 10th anniversary. The Environmental NanoChemistry Lab was created on January 1, 2008. It is our first remarkable 10th year and we are celebrating our achievements. Thank you the team for the great team work!
December 18, 2017: Happy Holidays! Our group had the 2017 holiday dinner followed by the last group meeting of year 2017. As our tradition, we shared our new year's resolutions together. Wish you all have wonderful year 2018!
| December 18, 2017: Best wishes to Dr. Haesung Jung! We celebrated Dr. Jung's successful doctoral program. Dr. Jung will start his postdoctoral position at Georgia Tech in January 2018. We wish all the best for him and his family. We look forward to hearing from you about many great news in the future! |  |
December 15, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Designing the Crystal Structure of Calcium Phosphate Seed Minerals in Organic Templates for Sustainable Phosphorus Management” was accepted for publication in Green Chemistry. This study reports how engineering nucleation kinetics of calcium phosphate in an organic template facilitates a sustainable phosphorus management in aqueous systems. Link to the paper
December 13, 2017: Congratulations to Lijie! Lijie received the American Chemical Society’s geochemistry division student travel award for attending the Spring 2018 ACS National Meeting in New Orleans March 18-22, 2018. She will compete for the best presentation award in March.
December 11-14, 2017: Haesung worked at the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at the Argonne National Laboratory for MnO2 nanofilm structure characterization.
December 7, 2017: Welcome, Albern! Albern formally joined our group for his doctoral study.
November 23-29, 2017: Doyoon, Haesung, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, and Yaguang will travel to the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory, IL, to conduct synchrotron-based X-ray scattering (grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering in Sector 12 ID-B.
November 16, 2017: Congratulations! Xuanhao successfully defended his doctortal thesis proposal, and make him to formally be Ph.D. Candiate.
November 2-3, 2017: Prof. Jun attended in the 2017 All Hands Meeting of the DOE's Energy Frontier Research Center Nanoscale Control for Geologic CO2 and presented our recent progress. |
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October 27, 2017: Congratulations! Haesung successfully defended his doctoral dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Jung! He is our 007!
October 24, 2017: As a part of the 30th ACS National Chemistry Week Events, Professor Jun will offer the ACS Program-In-a-Box talk entitled on "Minerals at Water-Energy-Food Nexus". If you like to watch YouTube Video, please visit the link.
- Click here for - What role do minerals play at the Water-Energy-Food Nexus?
- Click here for - Q&A with Prof. Young-Shin Jun and the ACS host Matt Davenport
Image credit: ACS
October 24-25, 2017: Doyoon travelled to Argonne National Lab for conducting PDF study at sector 11ID-B.
October 23, 2017: Welcome aboard! Weiyi Pan joined us for his research rotation.
October 13, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Effects of Phosphate on Biotite Dissolution and Secondary Precipitation under Conditions Relevant to Engineered Subsurface Processes” was accepted for publication in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. This study explains how phosphate-containing brine interacts with caprocks and on the consequent wettability changes. This benefits current and future energy-related subsurface engineering processes. Link to the paper.
October 7, 2017: Welcome to Energy, Environmental & Chemical Enginering! Doyoon, Lijie, Haesung, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, Yaguang, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran three learning modules related to water quality and treatments, acidity and pH, ocean acidification, and dissolution and nucleation. 
October 6, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Photochemically-assisted Synthesis of Birnessite Nanosheets and Their Structural Alteration in the Presence of Pyrophosphate” was accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. This report presented a new possibility to control the properties of disordered δ-MnO2 birnessite nanosheets using photochemically-assisted sustainable chemistry. Link to the paper.
October 2, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Wollastonite Carbonation in Water-bearing Supercritical CO2: Effects of Particle Size” was accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology. New findings allow us to compare recent results in the literature obtained using different particle sizes. More importantly, these results can be applicable to scale up the data to larger scale interpretations for field site applications. Link to the paper.
September 11, 2017: Welcome aboard! Albern Tan joined us for his research rotation.
September 6, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Kinetics of α-MnOOH Nanoparticle Formation through Enzymatically-catalyzed Biomineralization inside Apoferritin” was accepted for publication in Crystal Growth & Design. A better understanding of manganese oxidation and nucleation mechanisms in a protein cage will allow us to have more systematic prediction and control of particle sizes and morphology during macromolecular templated syntheses of metal (hydr)oxide nanomaterials. Link to the paper. 
August 30, 2017: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:15-7:00 PM, Every Monday, except August 30, September 6th and 20th), Brauer Hall 3015. Please see our group meeting schedule. If you are the first year Ph.D. students and would like to learn the research group, feel free to join the group meeting.
August 18-21, 2017: Professor Jun attended the ACS meeting in Washington DC to participate in the ACS Committee on Science Meeting and she also attended Geochemistry and Environmental Chemistry Divisions sessions.
August 7, 2017: Congratulations! Dr. Yujia Min! Yujia has successfully defended her thesis! He has earned his Ph.D.! We are so proud of you! Dr. Min will conduct his postdoctoral work at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. We wish you all the best, Dr. Min! |
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August 7, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Incorporating Nanoscale Effects into a Continuum-Scale Reactive Transport Model for CO2-Deteriorated Cement” is accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology! Nanoscale reaction mechanisms are important for a more accurate prediction in continuum-scale reactive transport modeling of cement reactions. Link to the paper
August 7, 2017: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Polydopamine-filled Bacterial Nanocellulose as Biodegradable Interfacial Photothermal Evaporator for Highly Efficient Solar Steam Generation” is accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. This study is conducted in collaboration with Prof. Singamaneni group. The highly scalable, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly materials makes this interfacial evaporator a great candidate for solar steam generation, water distillation in resource-limited regions around the world. Link to the paper.
August 3-10, 2017: Prof. Jun, Doyoon, Haesung, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, and Yaguang travelled to the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory, IL, to conduct synchrotron-based X-ray scattering (grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering in Sector 12 and Pair Distribution Functions in Sector 11). 
July 25, 2017: Good job, Sammie and Daniel! Our ENCL summer undergraduate researchers presented their research projects at the Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering's Summer Undergraduate Intern Symposium.
July 23-25, 2017, Prof. Jun and Lijie participated in the 2017 Department of Energy's EFRC-Hub-CMS PI Meeting, Washington, D.C..
July 10, 2017: 2017 ENCL's BBQ party! We are a great team together!
July 4, 2017: Congratulations, Yaguang! Through a highly competitive application process, Yaguang was chosen to participate in the 2017 Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration (RECS) for July 22-29, based out of Birmingham, Alabama. This is an intensive 10-day, interactive program combines classroom instruction with group exercises, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) site visits and hands-on field activities that cover the range of science, technology, policy, and business topics associated with CCUS deployment. |
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July 2-21, 2017: Yaguang visits the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to work with Dr. Carl Steefel on reactive transport modeling.
July 1, 2017: Professor Jun became Full Professor.
June 28, 2017: Prof. Jun, Doyoon, Xuanhao, and Sammie provided a Hot Topics workshop on "Water" for grade 5-12 teachers in Greater St. Louis. |
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June 20-22, 2017: Doyoon, Lijie, Haesung, and Xuanhao attended the 2017 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
June 18-23, 2017: Prof. Jun attended Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Nanotechnology in Vermont and will present our photothermal membrane work.
June 14, 2017: Congratulations! Our account entitled "Nanoscale Chemical Processes Affecting Storage Capacities and Seals during Geologic CO2 Sequestration," was accepted to Accounts of Chemical Research (IF 22.003). This review article introduces our group's contribution to a better understanding of chemistry in geologic CO2 sequestration. Link to the paper |
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June 13-15, 2017: Yujia attended the 42nd International Technical Conference on Clean Energy (Clearwater Clean Energy Conference), Florida, and he presented his extremely challenging experimental work entitled "Experimental study of SOx and NOx removal from oxy-combustion flue gas under high pressure." This work provides a new experimental insight into an effective SOx and NOx removal engineering process with latent heat recovery. This project is supported by the DOE-National Energy Technology Laboratory. We are collaborating with Prof. Axelbaum, Prof. Yablonsky, and Prof. Kumfer.
June 6-7, 2017: Haesung travelled to Advanced Photon Source to conduct synchrotron-based GIWAXS experiments at Sector 12ID-B in collaboration with Dr. Byeongdu Lee.
June 6, 2017: Congratulations to Doyoon and Xuanhao! Based on their presentation at the 2017 American Chemical Society Meeting in San Francisco, Doyoon and Xuanhao received "Certificate of Merit" from the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. |
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June 5, 2017: Welcome aboard! Samantha Burnell and Daniel Delgado joined our group for their summer research. Samantha worked with us last summer through Washington University's Summer Engineering Fellowship and she returned to conduct summer research with us. Daniel is participating the research as a part of the Leadership Alliance Fellowship Program.
May 20-June 5, 2017: Prof. Jun visited Korea and Hong Kong. During her travels, she visited Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Hanyang University, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
May 18-19, 2017: Congratulations and best wishes! Our group member attended the Commencement Day celemonies. Doyoon, Haesung, Lijie, and Yue celebrated their important career achievements and the ENCL celebrated together.
May 17, 2017: Congratulations to Deoukchen, Yaguang, and Zhenwei! All passed their doctoral qualification exam! Now relax and enjoy your research!
May 9, 2017: Congratulations to Yujia Min! From August 2017, Yujia will conduct his postdoctoral work at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. We wish you all the best, Yujia!
April 21, 2017: Congratulations to Haesung Jung! Haesung received a 2017 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering during the Earth Day Celebration. Prof. Meny Elimelech at Yale University presented the award to Haesung. We all are proud of you!
Keep up good work. 
April 17-21, 2017: Xuanhao attended a 2017 Materials SAXS Short Course "a Beyond Rg," Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. 
April 10, 2017: Congratulations to Yue and Best wishes for her doctoral study at Caltech! Yue has been the youngest group member. Yue received multiple admissions from prestigious insitutions, and finally she decided to join Caltech for her doctoral program.
April 2-6, 2017: The Environmental NanoChemistry Lab will present our exciting findings at the American Chemical Society Meeting in San Francisco. We have 17 oral presentations during the meeting. Click the link if you like to see our presentation schedules.
March 9, 2017: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Photochemically-assisted Fast Abiotic Oxidation of Manganese and Formation of δ–MnO2 Nanosheets in Nitrate Solution" was accepted to Chemical Communications. A novel two-step abiotic Mn2+ oxidation pathway by nitrate photolysis unlocks fast δ-Mn(IV)O2 nanosheet formation from aqueous Mn2+. Link to the paper
February 25, 2017: Hello, Girls! We offered hands-on workshops for more than 100 female high school student and teacher visitors as a part of the 2017 Women in Engineering event. 
February 14-22, 2017: Doyoon, Haesung, Xuanhao, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, and Yaguang travelled to Argonne National Laboratory for two PDF beamtimes at Sector 11ID-B for structural studies and one GISAXS beamtime at Sector 12 ID-B for nucleation work. 
February 8-10, 2017: For local atomic structural analyses of nanomaterials, Haesung and Xuanhao travelled to conduct X-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments (Sector 13ID-E) in collaboration with Dr. Matt Newville at Argonne National Laboratory, IL.
January 18, 2017: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Antiscaling Efficacy of CaCO3 and CaSO4 on Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-Modified Reverse Osmosis Membranes in the Presence of Humic Acid: Interplay of Membrane Surface Properties and Water Chemistry" was accepted to Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. In the presence of humic acid, hydrophilic modification of RO membranes cannot prevent CaSO4 scale formation. Link to the paper
December 22, 2016: Happy Holidays! Our group had the 2016 holiday dinner after the final group meeting of year 2016. Doyoon and Lijie were the honorable speakers of the special group meeting. As we shared our new year's resolutions together, wish all your precious resolutions come true in year 2017! Well done in 2016, the ENCLers, Well done.
December 10, 2016: In collaboration with Washington University's Insitute of School Partnership, our group offered a Hot Topics Workshop for middle teachers in Greater St. Louis. We introduced the urgent needs to secure clean water and water reuse. Each teachers made their own educational kits during the workshop. 
December 9, 2016: Welcome aboard, Deoukchen, Zhenwei, and Yaguang! You are formally joining the ENCL for your doctoral program. Let's do great work together!
December 1-2, 2016: We hosted Dr. Bosoon Park from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He presented the department seminar on "Nanobiosensing for Foodborne Pathogens and Toxins Detection." This is a perfect example, how nanotechnology can address globall challenges. It was a great honor to have him in St. Louis. 
November 24-29, 2016: For nucleation studies, Doyoon, Haesung, and Xuanhao travelled to conduct X-ray scattering experiments (Sector 12ID-B) at Argonne National Laboratory, IL. 
November 17, 2016: Congratulations to Haesung and Yue! They were chosen to be 2017 ACS Geochemistry Division Student Travel Awardees who will attend the ACS meeting in San Francisco. Haesung and Yue will go for the next round for the Best Student Paper Award competition.
November 8, 2016: Congratulations! Professor Jun was elected to serve on the American Chemical Society’s Committee on Science (2017-2019). The committee’s mission is to facilitate the advance of the science of chemistry and the formulation of science policy. |
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November 5, 2016: Welcome to Energy, Environmental & Chemical Enginering! Yujia, Doyoon, Lijie, Haesung, Xuanhao, and Yue, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran three learning modules related to water quality and treatments, acidity and pH, ocean acidification, and CO2 sequestration. 
November 1-3, 2016: For structural analysis of nanostructured samples, Doyoon and Haesung travelled to conduct Pair Distribution Function Analysis (Sector 11ID-B) at Argonne National Laboratory, IL.
October 27-28, 2016: Prof. Jun and Lijie Zhang attended in the 2016 All Hands Meeting of the DOE's Energy Frontier Research Center Nanoscale Control for Geologic CO2 and presented our recent progress on (1) biotite reactivity and its wettability changes and (2) calcium carbonate nucleation work. |
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October 24, 2016: Welcome aboard! Anushree Ghosh and Anshuman Satpathy joined us for their research rotations.
October 22, 2016: Good Job! Gabby presented their summer research results at the 2016 Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium. Lijie was the graduate mentors for Gabby. They have been a great team!
October 20-22, 2016: To investigate nano-bio interfaces, Doyoon Kim travelled to Argonne National Laboratory (IL) for conducting USAXS experiments (Sector 9ID).
October 17-19, 2016: Prof. Jun participated in the 2016 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Finland. The U.S. National Academy of Engineering partners with the European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering for organizing the symposium. |
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September 2016: Professor Jun travelled to participate in the 6th McDonnell Academy International Symposium in Brisbane, Australia, and visited the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne and gave an invited talk at the Peter Cook Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Melbourne.
September 23, 2016: Good news about our group which was shared via Engineering Website. "Using nanotechnology to benefit energy, the environment, health" |
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September 14, 2016: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Structural Match of Heterogeneously Nucleated Mn(OH)2 (s) Nanoparticles on Quartz under Various pH Conditions" was accepted to Langmuir. This work provides a new platform to quantitatively study heterogeneous nucleation behaviors in environmental systems and materials syntheses. Link to the paper.
September 9, 2016: Welcome aboard! Deoukchen Ghim, Yaguang Zhu, and Zhenwei Gao joined us for their research rotations.
September 2, 2016: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Anorthite Dissolution under Conditions Relevant to Subsurface CO2 Injection: Effects of Na+, Ca2+, and Al3+" was accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. With high cation concentrations in energy-related subsurface brine, the influences of cations on plagioclase dissolution can be as strong as those of pH and temperature. Link to the paper. 
September 1, 2016: Professor Jun serves as the Engineering School-Wide Strategic Planning Initiative Committee.
September 1, 2016: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant (SusChEM: Photochemically-Induced Nucleation and Growth of Manganese Oxides at Environmental Interfaces) from the Division of Chemistry. |
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September 1, 2016: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant (Collaborative Research: Nucleation of Calcium Phosphate Biomaterials) from the Division of Materials Research. |
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August 1, 2016: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant (SusChEM: Photothermally-Enabled Multifunctional Membranes for Improved Foulant Resistance during Reverse Osmosis) from the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems. |
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August 31, 2016: We had the first fall group meeting and the farewell party for Dr. Qingyun Li. Best wishes for Dr. Li! We will miss you. Dr. Li will join Stanford University for her postdoctoral work starting mid-September 2016. |
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August 31, 2016: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:15-7:00 PM, Every Monday, except August 31st and September 7th), Brauer Hall 3015. Please see our group meeting schedule. If you are the first year Ph.D. students and would like to learn the research group, feel free to join the group meeting.
August 25, 2016: Great excitement from the class of 2020! Prof. Jun attended the 2016 Washington University Convocation with the Dean Aaron Bobick, Associate Dean of Student Services Chris Kroeger, and Prof. Mark Meacham. Best wishes to the youngest Bears! 
August 25, 2016: Congratulations to Hyuna, Inheyong, Seungwoo, and Gabby. We are proud of them that they successfully conducted summer research. The ENCLers had the celebration dinner for their achievements. |
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August 20-24, 2016: Prof. Jun attended the American Chemical Society Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. She presented our group research over two talks.
August 10, 2016: Congratulations! Dr. Qingyun Li! Qingyun has successfully defended her thesis! She has earned her PhD! We are so proud of you! |
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July 29, 2016: Congratulations! Haesung presented his research in the Environmental Chemistry Division this March at the American Chemical Society Meeting, San Diego. Based on his presentation, he received “Certificate of Merit”. |
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July 28, 2016: Good job, young ENCLers! We are proud of you all. Our ENCL summer undergraduate researchers presented their research projects at the Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering's Summer Undergraduate Intern Symposium. Gabby, Sammie, Hyuna, Inhyeong, and Seung Woo successfully presented their research. Congratulations, Gabby! Gabby won a 3rd prize for her presentation.
July 26, 2016: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Heterogeneous nucleation and growth of nanoparticles at the environmental interfaces, was accepted to Accounts of Chemical Research. This is a review article introducing our group's contribution to nucleation at the environmental interfaces. 
July 25, 2016: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "In situ evaluation of calcium phosphate nucleation kinetics and pathways during intra and extrafibrillar mineralization of collagen matrices" was accepted to Crystal Growth & Design. In situ SAXS observations uncovers distinctive nucleation pathways and kinetics for calcium phosphate minerals at extra- and intrafibrillar spaces of collagen matrices. Link to the paper. 
July 6, 2016: Prof. Jun provided an invited lecture on Nanoscience and the Environment for high school students in St. Louis as a part of Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis.
June 28-July 1, 2016: Doyoon and Haesung travelled together to conduct total X-ray scattering (PDF) experiments (11ID-B) at the Advanced Photon Source in the Argonne National Laboratory.
June 27, 2016: 2016 ENCL's BBQ party! Let's rock the summer! 
June 24-26, 2016: Doyoon travelled to Santa Barbara to attend the 2016 Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC) Chemical LCA Workshop, University of California at Santa Barbara. Doyoon was chosen to receive a travel award for this workshop.
June 24-June 25, 2016 : Qingyun and Xuanhao travelled together to conduct grazing incidence X-ray scattering experiments (12ID-B) at the Advanced Photon Source in the Argonne National Laboratory.
June 20, 2016: Welcome! The 2016 McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership (MAGEEP) undergraduate researchers from Seoul National University, Hyuna Kwon, Inhyeong Jeon, and Seung Woo Ham joined our group to conduct summer research in ENCL.
June 13, 2016: Welcome! Mr. Michael Yin joined our research group for summer research. Michael attends at at Marquette High School, and he conducts research as a 2016 Students and Teachers As Research Scientists (STARS) fellow.
June 7-13, 2016: Qingyun, Yujia, Doyoon, Haesung, and Xuanhao conducted experiments at the Advanced Photon Source in the Argonne National Laboratory. We will use synchrotron-based grazing incidence small angle-X-ray scattering (GISAXS) (12ID-B) and Ultra SAXS (9-ID-B,C).
June 8-9, 2016: Xuanhao attended a Reactive Transport Modeling Short Course at the University of Illinois (Taught by Dr. Carl I. Steefel).
June 2, 2016: Prof. Jun was invited to participate in the 2016 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. The U.S. National Academy of Engineering partners with the European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering for organizing the symposium. Prof. Jun will attend the symposium as a 2016 US Frontier of Engineering Fellow. |
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May 31, 2016: Qingyun and Lijie participated in the 2016 Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Women in Clean Energy Symposium, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 31, 2016.
May 31, 2016: Welcome! Ms. Samantha Burnell joined us to conduct summer research in ENCL. She is a rising junior student in Chemical Engineering Department at MIT. Sammie received a 2016 Washington University Summer Engineering Fellowship (WUSEF).
May 20, 2016: Congratulations! Qingyun and Yujia were hooded for their doctoral degrees at the commencement ceremony. Congratulations and best wishes! 
May 19, 2016: Congratulations! Mr. Xuanhao Wu passed his doctoral qualification exam!
May 19, 2016: Prof. Jun's interview on "Bringing cutting-edge research to K-12 classrooms" was posted in Washington University's Institute of School Partnership website.
May 16, 2016: Congratulations! Yue Hui (our youngest group member) received a 2016 ACS Environmental Chemistry Division's Undergraduate Student Award! |
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May 10, 2016: Doyoon was chosen to receive a travel award to attend the 2016 Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC) Chemical LCA Workshop, June 25-26, 2016, University of California at Santa Barbara.
April 20, 2016: Prof. Jun shared the ENCL's outreach experiences with other faculty fellows at the Institute for School Partnership's Faculty Fellows meeting. The talk title was "Bringing Water-Energy Research to the Classroom."
April 17-19, 2016: Yujia, Qingyun, and Lijie presented their research projects at the North-Central Section 50th Annual Meeting, The Geological Society of America, Champaign, IL, April 18-19, 2016.
April 15, 2016: Congratulations to Qingyun Li! Qingyun received a 2016 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. Qingyun, we all are proud of you! Keep it up good work. |
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April 13-15, 2016: Dr. Randy Cygan visited our lab and we discussed clay mineral structures and their reactivities under conditions relevant to subsurface energy operation conditions. |
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April 7, 2016: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Fractal Aggregation and Disaggregation of Newly Formed Iron(III) (Hydr)oxide Nanoparticles in the Presence of Natural Organic Matter and Arsenic" was accepted to Environmental Science: Nano. This study provides for the first time in situ observations of organic matter and arsenic effects on iron(III) (hydr)oxide precipitation. Link to the paper [Open Access]
April 5, 2016: Congratulations to Gabby! Gabby was selected to receive a 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Award (supported by Washingtonn University's Ofiice of Undergraduate Research).
March 31-April 3, 2016: Reach more K-12 educators in US! Dr. Rachel Ruggirello (Assistant Director, Washington University's Institute for School Partnership) and Ms. Megan Edwards (Director of Curriculum and Assessment at KIPP St. Louis) participated in the 2016 National Science Teachers Association's National Conference in Nashville, TN, and presented our educational modules for middle school students and teachers in the symposium "Science: Empowering Performance". This will help further disseminating our modules to educators nationwide. |
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March 29-31, 2016: Prof. Jun attended GSCO2 EFRC annual review meeting as the Scientific Advisory Council. GSCO2 is a DOE's Energy Frontier Research Center for Geologic Storage of CO2 led by ISGS and UIUC, IL.
| March 28, 2016: Congratulations to Yujia! Among the 2016 ACS Geochemistry Division Student Travel Awardees, one best paper award was chosen based on their presentation. Congratulations! Yujia has won the Geochemistry Division's Best Student Paper Award Competition at the 2016 ACS meeting in San Diego. |  |
March 21- 26, 2016: DOE's NCGC EFRC team member, Mr. Zhenyu Xu from the Pyrak-Nolte group at Purdue University visited us to work together with Qingyun, Lijie, and Prof. Jun.
March 18, 2016: Congratulations to Yujia, Qingyun, and Lijie to receive 2016 Student Travel Awards to attend the North-Central Section 50th Annual Meeting, The Geological Society of America, Champaign, IL, April 18-19, 2016.
March 13-17, 2016: Prof. Jun, Dr. Ray, Dr. Neil, Qingyun, Yujia, Doyoon, Haesung, and Lijie will give 14 talks at 251st American Chemical Society Meeting in San Diego, CA. To learn what we have been working on, check out our talk schedules and visit us. Prof. Jun was invited to give a special talk about our recent award-winning article in Environmental Science & Technology to celebrate its 50th birthday(ES&T@50). 
March 5, 2016: Doyoon , Xuanhao, and Prof. Jun conducted our third Hot Topics Workshop with middle school teachers in St. Louis area.
At this time, we discussed about the importance of Water-Energy-Food-Climate Nexus and introduced water reuse technologies and educational modules. The Institute for School Partnership (ISP) at Washington University organized the workshop. 
February 27, 2016: Hello, Girls! Do you want to be an engineer? We welcomed ~ 120 female high school student and teacher visitors and offered hands-on workshops as a part of the 2016 Women in Engineering event. Prof. Jun, Gabby, Haesung, Lijie, Yue offered five workshops. 
February 10, 2016: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Effects of Salinity-Induced Chemical Reactions on Biotite Wettability Changes under Geologic CO2 Sequestration Conditions" was accepted to Environmental Science & Technology Letter. This work presents how chemical reactions can change the wettability of caprock during geologic CO2 sequestration. Link to the paper
February 9-19, 2016: Qingyun, Doyoon, Haesung, and Xuanhao travel together to conduct experiments at the Advanced Photon Source in the Argonne National Laboratory. We used synchrotron-based total X-ray scattering (11ID-B), grazing incidence small angle-X-ray scattering (GISAXS) (12ID-B), and Ultra SAXS (9-ID-B,C).
February 8, 2016: Congratulations and Best Wishes to Dr. Chelsea Neil! We had a special group meeting and a farewell party for Dr. Neil. She will start her position at the National Risk Management Research Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Cincinnati, Ohio. |
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February 2, 2016: Congratulations to Qingyun! Qingyun has been selected as a winner of the 2015 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
January 29-30:, 2016: Doyoon participated in the NSF-sponsored workshop on Atom Probe Tomography for Earth Sciences, the University of Alabama, Alabama.
January 3-14, 2016: Prof. Jun travelled to Korea to visit the Seoul National University as the McDonnell International Scholars Academy Ambassador. During her stay, she met SNU's faculty and leadership for international educational collaboration and offered a McDonnell Academy Open House and Discussion. |
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December 21, 2015: Happy Holidays! Our group had 2015 holiday dinner. Good job, ENCLers! Wish all our new year resolutions come true in year 2016!
December 14-18, 2015: Qingyun attended the American Geophysical Union Meeting, San Francisco, CA, and presented her reactive transport modeling work entitled "Can the Carbonated Layer Protect Wellbore Cement During Geologic CO2 Sequestration?".
December 7, 2015: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Fe3+ Addition Promotes Arsenopyrite Dissolution and Iron(III) (Hydr)oxide Formation and Phase Transformation" was accepted to Environmental Science & Technology Letter. This work presents how Fe3+ is important for sulfide minerals' oxidative dissolution and its consequential arsenic mobilization. Link to the paper
December 4-8, 2015: Qingyun, Doyoon, and Haesung travelled together to conduct experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, in the Argonne National Laboratory (sector 12ID-B). We used synchrotron-based small angle-X-ray scattering (SAXS).
December 3, 2015: Welcome, Xuanhao! Xuanhao formally joined our group for his doctoral study.
December 2, 2015: Engineering Momentum Magazine stressed about "Water". "What do you think is the biggest issue facing water today?" Prof. Jun says "Fresh water supply is biggest issue. It’s an old problem, but we’ll never be able to solve the problem unless we suppress our desire to use a lot of water, but our life is heavily reliant on water. Science and engineering can do desalination to turn saline water into fresh water, and we can secure ground water by recycling wastewater to return it to ground, but that has limitations unless people change their lifestyle. But this isn’t just for scientists and engineers, this is everyone’s responsibility to think about what can we do better." Link to the PDF of the Cover Story. |
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November 20, 2015: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Ionic Strength-Controlled Mn (Hydr)oxide Nanoparticle Nucleation on Quartz: Effect of Aqueous Mn(OH)2" was accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. This is Haesung's first first-authored paper from his PhD work! Link to the paper
| November 19-20, 2015: Prof. Jun attended in the 2016 All Hands Meeting of the DOE's Energy Frontier Research Center Nanoscale Control for Geologic CO2 and presented our recent progress on (1) biotite reactivity and its wettability changes and (2) calcium carbonate nucleation work. | |
November 13, 2015: Congratulations to Yujia and Doyoon! After rigorous review process, they were chosen to be 2016 ACS Geochemistry Division Student Travel Awardees who will attend the ACS meeting in San Diego. Doyoon and Yujia will go for the next round for the Best Paper Award competition.
November 7, 2015:
Welcome to Energy, Environmental & Chemical Enginering! Dr. Neil, Qingyun, Doyoon, Lijie, Haesung, Zongsen, and Yue, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran three learning modules related to water quality and treatments, acidity and pH, ocean acidification, and CO2 sequestration, . 
| November 4-7, 2015: Mr. Zhenyu Xu from Prof. Laura Pyrak-Nolte group at Purdue University visited us and work together with Qingyun and Prof. Jun to study CaCO3 formation in fracture models. This is the part of DOE's NCGC EFRC team efforts. |  |
October 24, 2015: Doyoon presented his study on bio-inspired phosphorous removal and reuse at the Mid-America Environmental Engineering Conference at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
October 19, 2015: Welcome, Xuanhao Wu and Yuanzi Sun! Two first year doctoral students joined our group for their research rotations.
| October 13, 2015: Prof. Steven Bryant, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Materials Engineering for Unconventional Oil Reservoirs at the University of Calgary gave a special seminar in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, entitled "No Pore Space Left Behind: Using Nanoparticles to Increase CO2 Storage Efficiency." Prof. Jun organized Prof. Bryant's visit. |  |
October 10, 2015: Good Job! Yue and Vanessa presented their summer research results at the 2015 Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium. Haesung and Doyoon were the graduate mentors for Yue and Vanessa, respectively. They have been a great team! 
October 9, 2015: #ILookLikeAnEngineer Campaign
October 8-12, 2015: Yujia, Qingyun, and Doyoon travelled together to conduct experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, in the Argonne National Laboratory (sector 12ID-C). We used synchrotron-based grazing incidence small angle-X-ray scattering (GISAXS) at high pressures and temperatures.
September 28, 2015: Welcome! Gabby Riek jouned our group for her undergraduate research experience.
| September 17, 2015: Congratulations! Prof. Jun wrote a book chapter entitled "Total X-ray Scattering and Small Angle X-ray Scattering for Determining Structures, Sizes, Shapes, and Aggregation Extents of Iron (Hydr)oxide Nanoparticles (Damien Faivre, Editor)." This book chapter will be published as a part of "The Iron Oxides: From Nature to Applications," following the famous Iron Oxides book by Cornell and Schwertmann, Wiley-VCH. |  |
September 15, 2015: Qingyun, Doyoon, Haesung, Lijie, and Zongsen attended Dr. Mark Wiesner's seminar. Dr. Wiesner gave a Chancellor’s Distinguished Visitor Seminar in Chemical and Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
September 11, 2015: Welcome! Melanie Cohen jouned our group for her undergraduate research project.
September 4, 2015: Welcome, Sungyoon Jung! She joined our group for her research rotation.
September 1, 2015: Congratulations! Our collaboration paper entitled "NanoEHS – defining fundamental science needs: no easy feat when the simple itself is complex" has been published to Environmental Science: Nano. Link to the paper.
September 1, 2015: Congratulations! We started a new project, supported by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Office of Fossil Energy. This project aims at enabling advanced technology for in situ SOx and NOx capture from flue gases. We will collaborate with Drs. Axelbaum, Kumfer, and Yablonsky. |
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August 24, 2015: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:15-7:00 PM, Every Monday), Brauer Hall 3015. Please see our group meeting schedule. If you are the first year Ph.D. students and would like to learn the research group, feel free to join the group meeting.
August 16-20, 2015: Prof. Jun attended 250th ACS meeting in Boston. She oversees all Geochemistry symposia during the meeting as the Program Chair of the ACS Geochemistry Division, and organized two symposia ("Subsurface Geochemistry for Energy and the Environment" and "General Geochemistry"). She also presented two talks in Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry Divisions during the meeting. 
August 13-22, 2015: Qingyun attended “Pore Scale Geochemical Processes” MSA short course and the 2015 Goldschmidt conference, Prague, Czech Republic. Qingyun presented her project, "Incorporating pore-scale insights into continuum models for cement degradation under geologic CO2 sequestration conditions." Qingyun received 2015 Geological Society of America Student Travel Award to attend the meetings.
August 3, 2015: Congratulations! Haesung became a father! Best wishes for the bigger family!
July 30-August 2, 2015: Doyoon conducted small angle X-ray scattering experiments at the Advance Photon Source (sector 12 ID-B), Argonnel National Laboratory.
July 31st, 2015: Prof. Jun and Dr. Neil conducted the second Hot Topic outreach workshop with middle school teachers in St. Louis area.
This is a part of our research group's collaborative efforts with Washington University's Institute for School Partnership on broader impacts of our reseaarch to the society and St. Louis community.
We appreciated the enthusiams of the participants for excellence in education.
July 24, 2015: Dr. Ray (aka Jess Ry, P.D.), Congratulations and Best Wishes! We had a farewell party for Jessica. Dr. Jessica Ray will be the 2015 Miller fellow and conduct her postdoctoral research with Prof. David L. Sedlak in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California-Berkeley. Dr. Ray is our proud Ph.D. alumna of the ENCL group. |
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July 23, 2015: Congratulations! Dr. Ray is in the newspaper! Jessica interviewed with The St. Louis American and offered engineering education experience and advices to young students. "Engineer advises students: Take care of business" Link to the newspaper.
Link to the School of Engineering News.
July 14, 2015: Congratulations! Our manuscript entitled "Distinctive Reactivities of Edge Planes of Biotite in the Presence of Organic Ligands: Implications for Organic-Rich Geologic CO2 Sequestration Sites" was accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. This is Lijie's first first-authored paper! The high edge reactivity of clay minerals matters in transport of organic-reactive fluids and CO2 flow. Link to the paper
July 9-13, 2015: Haesung conducted synchrotron-based X-ray absorpion spectroscopy and crystal trunction rod experiments at sectors 13 ID and BM at the Advance Photon Source in the Argonne National Laboratory.
July 8-10, 2015: Prof. Jun was invited to participate in U.S. Department of Energy 2015 Basic Research Needs for Environmental Management Workshop, Maryland.
July 1, 2015: Dr. Neil and Prof.
Jun participated in Hot Topics "Human Impacts on the Environment" Workshop for middle school teachers in St. Louis and Illinois areas. We demonstrated educational kits for teaching managed aquifer recharge and water filtration. These processes are designed to respond water shortage problems due to climate change and recent socioeconomic development. The discussion related to recent California's drought problems was made as well.
| July 1, 2015: Congratulations, Dr. Jessica R. Ray! Jessica has successfully defended her thesis! |  |
June 29, 2015: Prof. Jun provided an invited lecture on Nanoscience and the Environment for high school students in St. Louis as a part of Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis.
June 26-July 1, 2015: Qingyun, Doyoon, and Haesung have travelled to Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory for conducting grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering experiments at sector 12ID-B.
June 23-26, 2015: Prof. Jun visited School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea. During this visit, she has provided short course lectures on Environmental NanoChemistry.
June 15-19, 2015: Prof. Jun has been named a 2015 Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She participated in the 2nd Korean-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium which was supported by the Korean Academy of Science and Technology and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. |
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June 5, 2015: We celebrated Chelsea's Doctor of Philosophy degree. Congratulations, Dr. Neil! Best wishes! |
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June 1, 2015: Welcome New Member! Jyoti Campbell joins our group for her summer undergraduate research. She is currently attending Wellesley College.
May 2015: Prof. Jun will visit Stanford University as a visiting professor at the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage (SCCS) and Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP)
May 29, 2015: Prof. Jun visited the Calera Corporationand gave a talk "An Interesting pair, Calcium Carbonate and Cement". |
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May 27-28, 2015: Prof. Jun, Qingyun and Lijie attended Stanford Center for Carbon Storage annual meeting and workshop.
May 20, 2015: Prof. Jun gave an invited seminar at Stanford Center for Carbon Storage. The talk title was "Physicochemical Processes Affecting Seals during Geologic CO2 Sequestration: Where Chemistry Meets Hydrogeology and Geomechanics"
May 15, 2015: Congratulations! Jessica and Chelsea were hooded for their doctoral degrees at the commencement ceremony. Jessica was selected to serve as the 2015 Commencement Marshal for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Washington University. Congratulations and best wishes!
May 11, 2015: Congratulations, Dr. Neil! Chelsea has successfully defended her thesis!
May-June 2015: Qingyun and Lijie visit to work with Drs. Carl Steefel, Tetsu Tokunaga, Jiamin Wan, and Yongman Kim at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley.
May 05, 2015: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Hydrophilic, Bactericidal Nanoheater‒Enabled Reverse Osmosis Membranes to Improve Fouling Resistance,” has been accepted to ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Our innovative membrane design reported in this study can significantly extend the lifetime and water treatment efficacy of reverse osmosis membranes to alleviate escalating global water shortage from rising energy demands. Link to the paper
| May 1, 2015: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant from the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES). We will work with Dr. Singamaneni to develop new water treatment systems enabled by renewable energy source. |  |
May 1, 2015: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Effects of Sulfate during CO2 Attack on Portland Cement and Their Impacts on Mechanical Properties under Geologic CO2 Sequestration Conditions,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. This interdisciplinary study quantitatively shows that the presence of sulfate significantly mitigates CO2 attack on cement under GCS conditions. Link to the paper This article was featured on the ES&T website in its week of publication..
April 2015: Professor Jun visited Prof. Kris McNeil's lab (Environmental Chemistry) at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich).
April 29, 2015: Prof. Jun gave an invited seminar at Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology). The title of the talk is “A New Story about Arsenic and Iron (Hydr)oxides: What more can nanochemistry tell us?”
April 20, 2015: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Chemical Reactions of Portland Cement with Aqueous CO2 and Their Impacts on Cement’s Mechanical Properties under Geologic CO2 Sequestration Conditions,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper
| April 17, 2015: Congratulations to Chelsea Neil! Chelsea received a 2015 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. Chelsea, we all are proud of you! |  |
April 14, 2015: Congratulations to Althea and Best wishes for her doctoral study at Caltech! Althea received multiple admissions for her Ph.D. program and she decided to join Caltech.
April 7, 2015: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Enhanced Colloidal Stability of CeO2 Nanoparticles by Ferrous Ions: Adsorption, Redox Reaction, and Surface Precipitation,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Dr. Liu, Jessica, and Chelsea contributed equally to the work. Qingyun co-authored the manuscript. Great teamwork! Congratulations to all. Link to the paper [Open Access]
| April 7, 2015: Congratulations! Our big Kudos! Environmental Science & Technology has selected our group manuscript, “Water Chemistry Impacts on Arsenic Mobilization from Arsenopyrite Dissolution and Secondary Mineral Precipitation: Implications for Managed Aquifer Recharge” (Neil et al., ES&T, 2014, 48, 4395-4405) as ES&T Top Science Paper of 2014. Annually, ES&Treceives more than 5000 articles, and last year ES&T published more than 1700 papers. Among them, our manuscript was selected as the #1 science article. [Open Access] Congratulations, Chelsea! she is the first author of this mansucript. Podcast (Episode 9); Click here for the announcement |
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April 6, 2015: Congratulations to Yue and Vanessa! Yue and Vanessa were selected to receive 2015 Summer Undergraduate Research Awards (supported by Washingtonn University's Ofiice of Undergraduate Research)! They will continue conducing research during this summer with us. Emily has also received the 2015 summer undergraduate research award, but she declined the fellowship for an industrial internship in WA.
March 21-26, 2015: Prof. Jun, Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Yujia, Doyoon, Haesung, and Lijie attended the 249th American Chemical Society meeting in Denver, CO. For our complete presentation schedules, please click here.
March 12-20, 2015: Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Yujia, Doyoon, Haesung, and Lijie travel together to conduct experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, in the Argonne National Laboratory. We had beamtimes for four techniques: Grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering at sector 12 ID-B, Pair Distribution Function at 11 ID-B, X-ray Absorption spectroscopy at 13 BM-D, and high pressure and high temperature microtomography at 13 BM-D.
March 5, 2015: Professor Jun visited Dr. Alexandra Navrotsky's Lab at the University of California-Davis and gave a seminar on calcium carbonate formation on geomedia and cement.
February 28, 2015: As a part of the 2015 Women in Engineering event, the ENCL gave hands-on workshops for around 100 female high school students and teachers to introduce environmental nanochemistry and environmental engineering (managed aquifer recharge and geologic CO2 sequestration), and talked about engineering career experience. Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Doyoon, Lijie, and Zongsen offered the workshop sessions.
February 27, 2015: Professor Jun gave a Department Seminar in Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of California-Berkeley. She presented about important reaction of seals in energy-related subsurface environments.
February 4-8, 2015: Qingyun, Yujia, Lijie, and Zongsen travel together to conduct experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, in the Argonne National Laboratory. We use synchrotron-based grazing incidence small angle-X-ray scattering (GISAXS). We newly built a high pressure and temperature reactor for high pressure and temperature GISAXS experiment, which enables us to study geologic CO2 sequestration conditions in situ.
February-March, 2015: Professor Jun visits Berkeley to collaborate with colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California-Berkeley.
January 22, 2015: Congratulations to Jessica! She received 2015 Miller Research Fellowship Award. The Miller Institute at Brekeley chose individuals of outstanding talent, and provide them with the opportunity to pursue their research on the Berkeley campus. After she defends her thesis, Jessica will work with Prof. David L. Sedlak for her postdoctoral research in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California-Berkeley.
January 2, 2015: Congratulations to Chelsea! Chelsea has been selected as a winner of the 2014 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. This is an excellent way to start Year 2015!
December 30, 2014: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Plagioclase Dissolution during CO2-SO2 Co-sequestration: Effects of Sulfate,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. This is Yujia's first first-authored paper. Dr. James Kubicki at Penn State collaborated with us. This is a nice way to wrap up Year 2014! Good job, Yujia! Link to the paper
December 22, 2014: ENCL enjoyed the 2014 holiday dinner. Job well-done, the ENCL! Best wishes for our group in 2015.
December 2014: Professor Jun visited Korea as the McDonnell International Academy Ambassador to Seoul National University. During the visit, international collaboration efforts between Washington University and Seoul National University have been discussed.
Picture: President Sung at Seoul National University (middle), International Affairs Dean Jeong (left), and Prof. Jun (right). 
(photo credit: Seoul National University)
December 8, 2014: Congratulations! Doyoon passed his thesis proposal defense. He officially earned his doctoral candidacy! His proposal title is "Mechanisms of Calcium Phosphate Mineralization on Biological Interfaces and their Engineering Applications."
December 5th, 2014: Welcome aboard! Zongsen formally joined the ENCL as a Ph.D. student.
November 25-December 4, 2014: Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Yujia, Doyoon, Haesung, and Lijie travel together to conduct experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, in the Argonne National Laboratory. We use synchrotron-based small angle-X-ray scattering (SAXS and GISAXS), X-ray pair-distribution function analyses PDF), and X-ray high pressure and temperature tomography.
November 21, 2014: Congratulations! Haesung passed his thesis proposal defense. He officially earned his doctoral candidacy! His proposal title is "Abiotic- and Biotic-Formation of Manganese Oxides and Their Fate in Environmental Systems"
November 20, 2014: Congratulations! Lijie passed her thesis proposal defense. She officially earned her doctoral candidacy! Her proposal title is "Coupling of Geochemical Reactions and Geophysical Properties of Clay Minerals In Energy-related Subsurface Engineered Systems"
| November 20, 2014: Dr. Randall T. Cygan, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories, gave a special seminar in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, entitled "Molecular Mechanisms of Environmental Processes." The ENCL members are honored to host Dr. Cygan at Washington University. |  |
November 15, 2014: Yujia gave a talk on effects of SO2 co-injection on feldspar dissolution during geologic CO2 sequestration at the 2014 Mid-America Environmental Engineering Conference, Rolla, MO.
November 15, 2014:
Welcome to Energy, Environmental & Chemical Enginering! Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Doyoon, Lijie, Haesung, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran four learning modules related to water quality and treatments, acidity and pH, global warming and CO2, and ocean acidification. 
November 3-7, 2014: Prof. Jun, Qingyun, and Lijie participated in a symposium of the Energy Frontier Research Center on Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 at Berkeley (NCGC). Prof. Jun and Qingyun presented our results at the meeting. Qingyun and Lijie also worked with NCGC collaborators at the center about reactive transport modeling, high temperature and pressure wettability test, molecular simulation, and in situ advanced techniques at the Molecular Foundry at Berkeley.
November 1, 2014: Prof. Jun participated in a NSF-sponsored workshop on NanoEHS: Fundamental Science Needs, Boston, MA.
October 20, 2014: Welcome! Wei Yang and Yeunook Bae joined our research group for their research rotation.
October 16-19, 2014: Washington University organized the 5th McDonnell Academy International Symposium: The Role of Research Universities in Addressing Global Challenges. Representatives and leadership from 28 McDonnell International Scholoars Academy institutions came together to discuss the role of universities in addressing the glocal challenges. Prof. Jun participated in the symposium as the ambassador to the Seoul National University and presented our group research related to geologic CO2 sequestration. McDonnell Symposium 
October 11, 2014: Good job! Althea (YanZhe) Zhu (undergraduate researcher) presented at the 2014 Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium. She introduced her project related to the reactivity and stability of engineered CeO2 nanoparticles in aqueous systems. Althea received 2014 summer undergraduate research fellowship. Jessica Ray and Chelsea Neil have been working with Althea. |
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October 8, 2014: Welcome! Vanessa Wu (Freshman, EECE) joined our research group. She will work with Doyoon for toxic metal removal by calcium phosphate formation.
September 18, 2014: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Different Arsenate and Phosphate Incorporation Effects on the Nucleation, Growth, and Formation Location of Iron(III) (Hydr)oxides on Quartz,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Chelsea is the first author of the paper. Link to the paper
September 11-12, 2014: Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Doyoon, and Haesung attended the conference on Synchrotron Environmental Science VI and presented their research findings. The conference was held at Argonne National Laboratory, IL.
September 9, 2014: Welcome! Master of Engineering student, Yinxuan Qiu joined our group for his independent study.
Septemember 8, 2014: Welcome! First year Ph.D. students, Zhichao Li and Zongsen Zou joined our group for research rotation.
August 25, 2014: Welcome! EECE Undergraduate student, Andrew Poehlman, joined our group.
August 25, 2014: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:15-6:00 PM, Every Monday), Brauer Hall 3015. Please see our group meeting schedule. If you are the first year Ph.D. students and would like to learn the research group, feel free to join the group meeting.
August 17-22, 2014: Prof. Jun attended the Gordon Research Conference on Biomineralization, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, August 17-22, 2014.
August 13, 2014: Congratulations! Chelsea was chosen as an Early Career Travel Award recipient and Haesung was chosen to receive a Travel Award for the conference on Synchrotron Environmental Science VI, which is being held at Argonne National Laboratory, September 11-12, 2014. Chelsea will also give an oral presentation of her project! |
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August 14, 2014: Prof. Jun provided an invited talk about the stability of CeO2 engineered nanoparticles in engineered aquatic systems (e.g., wastewater treatment plants) in a special symposium of "Engineered Nanomaterials Interacting with Natural and Engineered Interfaces,” The 246th ACS National Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, CA, August 10-14, 2014.
August 1, 2014: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant (Nano- and Macroscale Physico-chemical Processes Impacting Arsenic Mobilization) from the National Science Foundation. This project is co-sponsored by EAR Gebiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry program and CBET Environmental Engineering program. |
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July 23-28, 2014: To study geologic CO2 sequestration, Qingyun, Yujia, and Lijie conducted high pressure and high temperature small angle X-ray (SAXS) and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) experiments at Sector (12ID-C) at Advance Photon Source. The systems included supercritical CO2-brine-minerals.
July 18, 2014: Congratulations! Andrew,a high school student researcher at ENCL, successfully conducted summer research and did an excellent presentation regarding his research findings at the STARS program. He received the STARS certificate. Andrew has been working with Chelsea, Jessica, Althea, and Prof. Jun to investigate CeO2 fate and transport in the aquatic environments. Congratulations to all mentors and Andrew! Good team work! |
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July 18, 2014: Congratulations! Prof. Jun received a research mentor award for 5 year service at the STARS program. |
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June 30, 2014: Prof. Jun provided an invited lecture on Nanoscience and the Environment for high school students in St. Louis as a part of Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis. Other speakers in today's session included Dr. Tom George, Chancellor and Professor, UMSL and Dr. George Gokel, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Nanoscience, UMSL.
June 27, 2014: Congratulations! A collaboration paper with Prof. Biswas' lab has been accepted to be published in Analytical Chemistry. The title is "Measurement of Sub 2 nm Clusters of Pristine and Composite Metal Oxides During Nanomaterials Synthesis in Flame Aerosol Reactors". Link to the paper.
June 21-27, 2014: Jessica, Chelsea, and Prof. Jun attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Environmental Science: Water, NH. Before the GRC, Chelsea successfully presented during the Gordon Research Seminar. All of us presented our research at GRC. Our proud lab alumna, Prof. Yandi Hu, also joined us there too.
June 18, 2014: Congratulations! U.S. DOE announced the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) winners. Our team, Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2, NCGC at Berkeley, won the competition. Our group will continue working with the outstanding scientist team members at the center. Click here for more information |
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June 12-17, 2014: Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Doyoon, Haesung, and Prof. Jun conducted grazing incidence small angle x-ray experiments at Sector (12ID-B) at Advance Photon Source.
June 11-12, 2014: Doyoon conducted Pair Distribution Function Analysis experiments at Sector 11ID-B at Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab.
June 8-June 11, 2014: Prof. Jun organized and chaired with Prof. Adam Wallace at the University of Delaware on a special session "New Perspectives on Mineral Nucleation and Phase Transformations: Prenucleation Clusters, Dense Liquid Phases, and Amorphous Intermediates (Theme 10i)," Goldschmidt 2014, Sacramento, CA. She also presented our recent research findings in the session.
June 9, 2014: Welcome new members, Mr. Wesley Beck and Mr. Andrew Dong! Wesley is an EECE undergraduate students, who received a U.S. Army research fellowship and Andrew is a rising senior high school student at Parkway South High School.
May 19, 2014: PBS Nine Network's introduction of our outreach program. Ms. Eberle and Ms. Ruggirello spoke about our educational collaborative efforts during their interview with PBS ("Schoolwork: An American Graduate Special--- Exploring how innovative methods and community partnerships are being used in the St. Louis area to improve student performance.") If you would like to watch, look the video frame at 9-11 min in the link.
May 9, 2014: Washington University’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) featured our group's outreach program in ISP's May newsletter. Click for the wepage write-up.
April 16-18, 2014: Chelsea conducted X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy experiments on CeO2 at Advanced Photon Source (13BMD) at the Argonne National Lab.
April 15, 2014: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Interfacial Energies for Heterogeneous Nucleation of Calcium Carbonate on Mica and Quartz Substrates,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. This is Qingyun's first first-authored paper! Link to the paper
April 11, 2014: Congratulations to Dr. Yandi Hu! Yandi received a 2014 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. Yandi, we all are proud of you!
April 5, 2014: Qingyun, Doyoon, Lijie, and Prof. Jun gave hands-on workshop for female high school students to introduce environmental nanochemistry and environmental engineering (nanoparticle synthesis and its application and geologic CO2 sequestration), and talked about engineering career experience. This time, we introduced a newly built demonstration kit for geologic CO2 sequestration! This is as a part of the 2014 Women in Engineering event. 
April 3, 2014: Congratulations to Chelsea! Chelsea has been invited to give a talk at Gordon Research Seminar just before Gordon Conference (Environmental Science: Water) in NH, June 2014.
March 28-29, 2014: Jessica will participate in the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Meeting at Yale University and she will be inducted to the honor society!
March 27, 2014: Congratulations to Althea! She is selected to receive a 2014 Summer Undergraduate Research Award! She will work on CeO2 dissolution in natural and engineered aquatic systems.
March 16-17, 2014: Prof. Jun gave two talks related to geologic CO2 sequestration and arsenic-iron (hydr)oxide nanoparticle interactions at the Spring 2014 ACS meeting in Dallas. She also organized and chaired the special symposium on "Geochemistry and Reactive Transport in Shale Nanopores" at this meeting and led a panel discussion on knowledge gaps and opportunities. Panel discussion minutes will be available soon.
March 12, 2014: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Water Chemistry Impacts on Arsenic Mobilization and Secondary Mineral Precipitation from Arsenopyrite Dissolution: Implications for Managed Aquifer Recharge,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper
March 11-13, 2014: Our group (Chelsea and Haesung) visited Bruker (Santa Barbara, CA) and got training for multiple applications of electrochemical atomic force microsocope (EC-AFM) systems. Using built-in potentiostat/galvanostat, our group's EC-AFM can tune experimental electrochemical (redox) conditions.
February 28-March 4, 2014: Our group (Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Doyoon, and Haesung) travelled to the Argonne National Laboratory for synchrotron based x-ray beamtime: grazing incidence x-ray scattering (Sector 12ID-B).
February 27-28, 2014: Prof. Jun attend the Editorial Board meeting of the RSC's Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Fall 2013- Spring 2014 Cool experiments and new learning! The Jun group works with Ms. Eberle, teacher at Brittany Woods Middle School, St. Louis, and Ms. Ruggirello, faculty at Washington University's Institute for School Partnership for developing science curriculum and implementing it in class.
(In class, Brittany Woods Middle School, February 12, 2014)
February 7, 2014: Congratulations! Jessica is nominated to be the member of the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society! The Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (Bouchet Society) recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.
February 7, 2014: Congratulations to Yujia! He passed her Ph.D. proposal defense. Officially, Yujia earned his full Ph.D. candidacy.
January 27-February 1, 2014: Chelsea and Qingyun will visit the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to work with Dr. Carl Steefel. During their stay, they will learn about CRUNCHFLOW reactive transport model.
January 22, 2014: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:15-6:00 PM, Every Monday), Brauer Hall 3015. Please see our group meeting schedule.
January 20, 2014: Congratulations to Jessica! Jessica has been selected as a winner of the 2013 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
January 14, 2014: Dr. Yang, Congratulations and Best Wishes! We had a farewell party for Yi. Best wishes! Dr. Yi Yang accpeted his postdoctoral position to work with Prof. Susan. L. S. Stipp in the NanoGeoScience Group at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) for his postdoctoral work. Dr. Yang is our proud Ph.D. alumnus of the ENCL group. |
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January 10, 2014: Congratulations! Prof. Jun was elected to be the Program Chair-Elect of the American Chemical Society's Geochemistry Division.
January 4, 2014: Congratulations! Haesung got married! Best wishes for the newly married couple!
December 6-14, 2013: Prof. Jun travelled to Seoul, Korea to visit the Seoul National University (SNU) to promote the Washington University's McDonnell International Academy. Prof. Jun is the McDonnell Academy Ambassador to SNU. Prof. Jun also visited Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea). During her visit, she also gave an invited seminar.
December 2, 2013: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Aluminum Affects Heterogeneous Fe(III) (Hydr)oxide Nucleation, Growth, and Ostwald Ripening,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper
November 22, 2013: Congratulations to Qingyun! She passed her Ph.D. proposal defense! Officially, Qingyun earned her full Ph.D. candidacy! Keep it up good work!
November 22, 2013: Prof. Jun and our group were introduced in Engineering Momentum Magazine! Link to the magazine
November 9, 2013: Welcome to Environmental Enginering! Jessica, Chelsea, Qingyun, Yujia, Doyoon, Lijie, Haesung, and Prof. Jun offered a multi-module learning lab “Moving and Shaking” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran four learning modules related to water treatments, climate change, and ocean acidification.
October 29, 2013: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Effects of Al/Si Ordering on Feldspar Dissolution: Part II. The pH Dependence of Plagioclases’ Dissolution Rates,” has been accepted to Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Link to the paper
October 29, 2013: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Effects of Al/Si Ordering on Feldspar Dissolution: Part I. Crystallographic Control on the Stoichiometry of Dissolution Reaction,” has been accepted to Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Link to the paper
October 21, Welcome Mr. Adewale Adeosun and Ms. Chao Pan for their research rotations with the ENCL!
October 9, 2013: Prof. Jun gave an invited talk in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
October 6-10, 2013: Our group members presented at the 50th Clay Minerals Society Annual Meeting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Good job! 
Neil-Iron oxidation and phase transformation during arsenopyrite dissolution induced by managed aquifer recharge
Jun-Supercritical CO2-brine-clay mineral interactions during geologic CO2 sequestration
Li-(qingyun's first conference presentation!)Calcium carbonate polymorphs on mica substrates and their interfacial free energies: implications for mineral trapping mechanisms in geologic CO2 sequestration
Jun-Illite formation during geologic CO2 sequestration
Ray-Drying-induced aggregation and phase transformation of iron oxide nanoparticles: in situ and ex situ properties governed by formation conditions
Jun-An improved understanding of iron (hydr)oxide formation on environmentally abundant minerals.
September 10-12, 2013: Prof. Jun gave two invited talks in Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division and Environmental Chemistry Division symposia at the 246th ACS National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
- Dynamic interactions between iron (hydr)oxide nanoparticles and arsenic contaminants at environmental interfaces, Special Symposium entitled, “Behavior of Contaminants at Environmental Interfaces,”
- Iron (hydr)oxide nanoparticle formation on polyaspartate- and alginate-surface coatings, Special Symposium entitled, “Advances in Understanding the Aquatic Fate of Metals: Nanomaterials and Natural Organic Materials,”
September 9, 2013: Welcome Mr. Changwoo Kim and Yutong Liu for their research rotations with the ENCL!
August 26, 2013: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:15-6:00 PM, Every Monday), Brauer Hall 3015.
Please see our group meeting schedule
For new doctoral students, if you are interested in learning about our group research, please feel free to sit in our group meeting after you email to Prof. Jun.
August 19, 2013: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Mechanistic Understanding of Plagioclase Dissolution Based on Al-occupancy and T−O Bond Length: From Ambient to Geologic Carbon Sequestration Conditions" has been accepted to Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. This work presented predictions of dissolution of plagioclase under geologic carbon sequestration and ambient conditions and compared with experimental data!
August 1, 2013: Welcome! Professor Youn Sang Kim joined our group for his sabbatical research. Professor Kim is Associate Professor in the Department of Nano Science and Technology, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University (South Korea). His group has extensive experiences in nanostructure fabrication using lithography techniques.
July 22, 2013: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Control of Heterogeneous Fe (III) (Hydr)oxide Nucleation and Growth by Interfacial Energies and Local Saturations," has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper
July 18-19: Prof. Jun was invited to present at the DOE's Energy Frontier Research Center PI's meeting, Washington, DC. The image credit: DOE-EFRC
July 1, 2013: Prof. Jun provided an invited lecture on Nanochemistry, Nanotechnology, and the Environment for high school students and teachers in St. Louis as a part of Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis.
July 1, 2013: Prof. Jun was promoted to be assoicate professor with tenure.
June 19th, 2013: Congratulations! Yi Yang successfully defended his dissertation. Now, he earned the Ph.D.! Dr. Yang is the second Ph.D. from ENCL. His thesis title is "Chemical weathering of feldspars under ambient to geologic carbon sequestration conditions: effects of crystallographic properties and solution chemistry"
June 18th, 2013: We purchased a new ion chromatography (Dionex ICS-1600) for anions and organic acid concentration measurements. We appreciate the support from the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization.
June 14, 2013: Best Wishes to Dr. Hu! Dr. Hu will start her tenure track faculty position in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Houston on July 15. We had a farewell BBQ party for Yandi. Well done and Best wishes! |
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June 3, 2013: Two of our group articles were selected as Top 10 Most Read Articles in Q1 2013 Environmental Science & Technology. (1) Environmental and Geochemical Aspects of Geologic Carbon Sequestration: A Special Issue and (2) Impacts of Geochemical Reactions on Geologic Carbon Sequestration
May 30-June3, 2013: Our group travelled to the Argonne National Laboratory for synchrotron based x-ray beamtime: grazing incidence x-ray scattering (Sector 12ID-B). (left to right) Haesung, Doyoon, Qingyun, Jessica, and Chelsea. This is the first beamtime trip for Haesung and Doyoon. 
May 17, 2013: Congratulations! Yi and Yandi walked on the commencement day. Yandi defened her Ph.D. thesis this month and Yi will defende his thesis in June. Congratulations and best wishes!
May 16, 2013: Congratulations and Welcome! Doyoon Kim, Haesung Jung, and Lijie Zhang finished their qualifying exams and "formally" joined the ENCL group!
May 1, 2013: Congratulations! Yandi Hu successfully defended her dissertation. Now, she earned the Ph.D.! Dr. Hu is the first ENCL Ph.D.. Her thesis title is "Roles of Nano- and Micro-Scale Subsurface Geochemical Reactions on Environmentally Sustainable Geologic CO2 Sequestration"
| May 1, 2013: Dr. Carl I. Steefel, Staff Scientist and Deputy-Director, Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, gave a special seminar in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, entitled "What are the Time Scales for Carbonate Mineral Sequestration of CO2 in the Subsurface?" The ENCL members are honored to host Dr. Steefel at Washington University. Dr. Steefel is a proud Washington University Alumnus. |
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May 1, 2013: Welcome! Dr. Xuyang Liu joined our research group as postdoc scholar. Prior to join our group, he worked at the USEPA as National Research Council Research Fellow (2009-2013). Dr. Liu's expertise is related to the fate and transport of nanoparticles, such as TiO2, CeO2, silicon, boron, aluminum nanoparticles as well as carbon nanotubes.
April 27, 2013: Prof. Jun became the McDonnell Academy's Ambassador to Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. "The McDonnell Academy Ambassadors are appointed by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton to advise the Scholars and charged to strengthen collaboration with the partner universities. Collaborative efforts engage faculty and students of the University and those of the partner universities in various activities that enhance Scholarly interests and international understanding."
April 12-22, 2013: Our group travelled to the Argonne National Laboratory for synchrotron based x-ray beamtime: grazing incidence x-ray scattering (April 12-15 and 17-22) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (April 14-18).
April 19, 2013: Congratulations to Jessica! As a part of the Ryckman Lecture and Earth Day Event, Jessica received a 2013 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. Ryckman Lecture speaker, Dr. Alvarez-Cohen, and Dr. Biswas presented the award to Jessica. Jessica, we all are proud of you! |
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April 8-9, 2013: Our group members presented at the ACS meeting in New Orleans. Good job!
Yang- Interpreting the non-linear pH dependence of alumosilicates dissolution: Effects of Al content and structural ordering, GEOC: Division of Geochemistry
Jun- In situ probe of interfacial energies for CaCO3 heterogeneously nucleated on environmentally relevant substrates, COLL: Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry
Hu- Effects of anions on heterogeneous hydrous Fe(III) oxides precipitation on quartz, COLL: Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry
Jun- Nanoparticle formation during geologic CO2 sequestration, ENVR: Division of Environmental Chemistry
Ray- Effects of surface hydrophilicity and functional group of organic coated substrates on iron(III) (hydr)oxide nucleation, GEOC: Division of Geochemistry
Hu- Heterogeneous nucleation, and growth of iron(III) (hydr)oxides on quartz, mica, and aluminum oxide: Effects of surface energy, charge, adsorption, and lattice mismatch, GEOC: Division of Geochemistry
Neil- Redox processes influencing arsenic mobilization and attenuation at mineral-water interfaces during managed aquifer recharge, GEOC: Division of Geochemistry
Yang- Reactivity of surface species on mixed-oxides: Structural dependence of Si reactivity in alumosilicates, COLL: Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry
March 22, 2013: Congratulations! Yandi successfully gave our department seminar.
March 1, 2013: Congratulations! The Chancellor Wrighton and Washington University's Board of Trustees approved Prof. Jun's promotion to associate professor with tenure.
(Present from the ENCL members)
March 2013: Prof. Jun attended the Royal Society of Chemistry's Editors' Symposium 2013, Brussels, Belgium.
February 23, 2013: Prof. Jun, Chelsea, and Doyoon gave hands-on demonstration for female high school students and teachers (>110 participants) to introduce environmental nanochemistry and environmental engineering (nanoparticles and managed aquifer recharge), and talked about engineering career experience. This is as a part of the 2013 Women in Engineering Day event.
February 21-22, 2013: Prof. Jun participated in an NSF Materials Genome Initiative sponsored workshop, Arlington, VA. The detailed information is available at the following websites. NSF MGI Workshop and The Whitehouse Website. A report about this workshop was published in Ceramic Tech Today. Photo credit: ACerS and De Guire. |
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January 31 and February 1: The ENCL members attended the SAXS workshop at the Argonne National Lab.
January 18, 2013: Prof. Jun became the Graduate Program Director of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering.
January 2, 2013: Welcome! Mr. Haesung Jung joined our research group!
January 1, 2013: The special focus issue on Geologic Carbon Sequestration in Environmental Science & Technology was published on January 1st 2013. Prof. Jun served as the lead guest editor. The entire special issue is accessible free of charge. |
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January 1, 2013: Prof. Jun became an editorial board member for the Royal Society of Chemistry's Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (Formerly the Journal of Environmental Monitoring).
December 20, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Effects of Formation Conditions on the Physico-Chemical Properties, Aggregation, and Phase Transformation of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles," has been accepted to Langmuir. Link to the paper
December 18-19, 2012: Prof. Jun visited the School of Environmental Engineering, Pohang University of Science Technology, Pohang, Korea and she gave an invited talk on geologic carbon sequestration.
December 14, 2012: Prof. Jun presented in the Division of Environmental Energy Chemistry, Korean Chemical Society, Seoul, Korea.
December 10-12, 2012: Prof. Jun attended the 4th International Symposium on Energy & Environment, Mumbai, India.
December 3-7, 2012: Yandi Hu, Yi Yang, Jessica Ray, and Prof. Jun attended the AGU meeting in San Francisco and presented our research.
November 16, 2012: Prof. Jun provided an invited talk in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, IL.
November 16, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Formation of Iron(III) Hydroxides on Polyaspartate- and Alginate-Coated SiO2: Effects of Substrate Hydrophilicity and Functional Groups at the Surface,” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper
November 10, 2012: Welcome to Environmental NanoChemistry Lab! Jessica, Chelsea, Yi, Yujia, Qingyun, Doyoon, Lijie, James, and Prof. Jun offered a learning lab as a part of “Moving and Shaking: An Introduction to Engineering” for students in grades 6-8. During this program, we ran four learning modules related to water treatments and climate change.
November 9, 2012: Congratulations to Chelsea! She passed her Ph.D. proposal defense! Officially, Chelsea is a Ph.D. candidate!
November 6, 2012: Congratulations! Our feature article entitled "Impacts of Geochemical Reactions on Geologic Carbon Sequestration," has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. The authors are Drs. Young-Shin Jun, Daniel E. Giammar, and Charles J. Werth. Link to the paper
November 1, 2012: Our New Genergation Engineers! Sophomore undergraduate students had a tour to the Advanced Coal and Energy Research Facility as a part of ChE 351 course (Engineering Analaysis of Chemical Systems) and learned how to link what they learned in class to the real process units.
October 27, 2012: Yunke Liu and James Cooper (our undergraduate researchers) presented in the 2012 Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium. They got a lot of attentions from the visitors. Good job!
October 25-28 and November 1-5, 2012: We have two GISAXS beamtimes at Argonne National Laboratory for iron oxide work and metal carbonate work. Jessica, Qingyun, and Yandi were working together for these beamtimes.
October 22, 2012: Congratulations to Jessica! She passed her Ph.D. proposal defense! Officially, Jessica is a Ph.D. candidate!
October 18-19, 2012: Prof. Jun and Qingyun participated in the Annual Symposium at the Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (EFRC) and presented our recent progress on CaCO3 and our future plans.
October 16-17, 2012: Prof. Jun participated in a National Science Foundation funded EarthCube Early Career Strategic Visioning Workshop at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. The EarthCube is a bold initiative by the NSF to advance research and understanding of Earth systems through a robust cyberinfrastructure that enables cross-disciplinary science. |
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October 4, 2012: Congratulations! Jessica (Graduate student) was selected as an awardee of the 2012 Fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting Student Travel Grant, December 3-7, San Francisco, CA.
September 18, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Biotite Dissolution in Brine at Varied Temperatures and CO2 Pressures: Its Activation Energy and Potential CO2 Intercalation," has been accepted to Langmuir. Link to the paper
September 14, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Structure-Dependent Interactions between Alkali Feldspars and Organic Compounds: Implications for Reactions in Geologic Carbon Sequestration," has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper.
September 7, 2012: Welcome! Ms. Lijie Zhang joined our research group!
| September 1, 2012: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant from the National Science Foundation's Environmental Chemical Sciences Program. | |
August 20, 2012: Congratulations! Chloe An (High school researcher, STARS program) has been selected to receive the LMI Aerospace Inc. Award for Excellence in Research for an outstanding research paper in the area of engineering (based on summer research in our research group). |
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August 6, 2012: Welcome! Mr. Doyoon Kim joined our research group!
July 27-30 and August 2-6, 2012: We had our synchrotron-based GISAXS beamtimes at APS sector 12 ID-B for iron oxide project and carbonate projects, respectively.
July 11-14, 2012: We had our synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy beamtime at APS Sector 13 BM-D for reclaimed water-arsenopyrite experiments.
July 1, 2012: Congratulations! Our group received a new grant from the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization. Through this project, we will collaborate with Prof. Don Zhang (Peking University, China), Prof. Yun Moon Lim (Yonsei University, South Korea), and Prof. Ruben Juanes (MIT). |
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June 28, 2012: Congratulations! Yandi became a mom! Best wishes for her new bigger family.
June 28, 2012: Prof. Jun gave an invited talk at a Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Science: Water. "Environmental Factors Controlling Nucleation, Growth, and Aggregation of Metal Oxides and Carbonates in Natural and Engineered Aquatic Systems"
June, 2012: Welcome summer researchers! The ENCL group members welcome summer researchers, Jena Lococo (REU-UG), Whitney Wong (REU-UG) and Chloe An (STARS-high school). Yunke (WUStL's UG) continues to conduct his research during this summer. Hope all of your summer experiences are exciting and enjoyable!
May 29, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "In situ Determination of Interfacial Energies between Heterogeneously Nucleated CaCO3 and Quartz Substrates: Thermodynamics of CO2 Mineral Trapping," has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology.
May 22, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled "Arsenic Mobilization and Attenuation by Mineral-Water Interactions: Implications for Managed Aquifer Recharge" has been accepted to the special issue for “Emerging Investigators” of Journal of Environmental Monitoring.
May 16, 2012: Welcome on board! Qingyun and Yujia started to work on their Ph.D. work.
May 4, 2012: Congratulations! Our paper entitled “Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ in Brines Affect Supercritical CO2–Brine–Biotite Interactions: Ion Exchange, Biotite Dissolution, and Illite Precipitation” has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper
May 2, 2012: Congratulations! Jessica has been selected as an awardee for the 2012 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship!
April 30, 2012: Congratulations! Dabin and Matthew (high school researchers through the STARS program) decided to attend at MIT and Stanford, respectively this fall!
April 27, 2012: Congratulations! Our DOE-EFRC collaboration project paper has been accetped to Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. The title of the paper is "Energetic and structural studies of the amorphous Ca1-xMgxCO3 • nH2O (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) systems." Link to the paper
April 25, 2012: Congratulations! Our GISAXS paper on "Environmentally Abundant Anions Influence the Nucleation, Growth, Ostwald Ripening, and Aggregation of Hydrous Fe(III) Oxides" has been accepted to Langmuir. Link to the paper
| April 20, 2012: Congratulations to Yi! As a part of the Earth Day Event, Yi received a 2012 graduate research award of the Department of Eneregy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. |  |
April 9, 2012: Prof. Jun provided an invited talk in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT.
March 30, 2012: Congratulations to Yunke! He was selected to receive a 2012 Summer Undergraduate Research Award! He will work on GCS project during this summer.
March 25-27, 2012: Prof. Jun presented our recent progress on GISAXS work and aquifer recharge project through four talks at the 243th American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Diego, CA.
March 26, 2012: Prof. Jun's comments on a new publication about lanthanum oxide nanoparticles in water treatment systems were featured on the Royal Society of Chemistry website. Link to the website.
March 21, 2012: Prof. Jun provided an invited talk about key chemical reactions under geologic CO2 sequestration in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University, CT.
February 28, 2012: Prof. Jun gave an invited talk about our recent progress on geologic CO2 sequestration in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University, MD.
February 25, 2012: Prof. Jun and Jessica gave hands-on demonstration for female high school students (61 participants) to introduce environmental nanochemistry and nanotechnology, environmental engineering, and talked about engineering career experience. This is as a part of the 2012 Women in Engineering Day event. We hope that two Nano moles' efforts can encourage many young nano moles' career in engineering in the future! (FYI, a mole is the mascot of the American Chemical Society)
February 7, 2012: Congratulations to Yandi! Yandi has been selected as a winner of the 2011 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry in the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
February 6, 2012: Prof. Jun presented GCS research in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and iron oxide nanoparticle study in the Department of Geoscience/Chemistry at Princeton University, NJ.
January 25, 2012: The Jun Group Meeting resumes (4:30-6:00 PM, Every Wednesday), Brauer Hall 3015.
Please see our group meeting schedule
For new students, if you are interested in learning about our group research, please feel free to sit in our group meeting after you email to Prof. Jun.
January 3-11, 2012: Presenting our research in Asia: Professor Jun presented our research group's findings at Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University in Korea and Peking University in China. During the trips, She also visited Tsinghua University in China for collaborations.
December 21, 2011: Congratulations to Dabin! Dabin (high school student researcher) received admissions from Caltech and MIT for her undergraduate program.
December 2, 2011: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as“Supercritical CO2–Brine Induced Dissolution, Swelling, and Secondary Mineral Formation on Phlogopite Surfaces at 75–95oC and 75 atm” has been accepted to Energy & Environmental Science.
November 2-5, 2011: We conducted sychrotron-based x-ray scattering experiments (SAXS/WAXS/GISAXS) at the Argonne National Laboratory (Sector 12ID-B), IL.
October 22, 2011: Welcome to Environmental NanoChemistry Lab! Jessica, Yandi, Chelsea, Yi, Yunke, and Prof. Jun offered a learning lab as a part of “Moving and Shaking: An Introduction to Engineering” for students in grades 6-8. For more photos, please visit photos.
One more, Dabin (high school student researcher) presented her summer research at 2011 undergraduate research symposium. Dabin was the representative student from STARS program. Chelsea is her mentor. Good job, Dabin and Chelsea!
October 7-8, 2011: Prof. Jun was invited to participate the NSF sponsored SEES (Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability) Workshop on Natural and Engineered Carbon Sequestration, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
October 3-4, 2011: Prof. Jun and Yandi attended the Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC-EFRC) 3rd All-Hands Meeting at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
September 12, 2011: Prof. Jun is chosed to be the first Faculty Fellows of the Institute for School Partnership, Washington University. The interdisciplinary institute connects the broad resources of Washington University with K-12 schools in strategic partnerships. The faculty fellows provide a cadre of experienced participants to serve as an informal advisory group for the consideration of established projects and new ideas, for integrating the many strands of the University and community, and for optimizing our K-12 efforts.
September 12, 2011: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as "Effects of Organic Ligands on Supercritical CO2-Induced Phlogopite Dissolution and Secondary Mineral Formation," has been accepted to Chemical Geology. Link to the paper.
• Phlogopite dissolution is affected by organic ligands under GCS conditions.
• Organic ligands alter brine’s pH and form surface complexation with phlogopite.
• Supercritical CO2 extracted monocarboxylic acid from saline water.
| September, 1, 2011: Congratulations to Prof. Jun! She received the NSF CAREER Award. More detailed information | |
"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research." from www.nsf.gov
August 30-31, 2011: Prof. Jun organized a special symposium on "Multiscale Spatiotemporal Complexity in Geologic Carbon Sequestration: Linking Experimentation and Modeling" at the 242nd American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, Denver, CO. During this conference, Yandi Hu reported her recent progress on CO2-brine-biotite interactions and Prof. Jun gave three talks in Fuel Chemistry (invited talk), Environmental Chemistry, and Geochemistry Divisions.
August 14-19, 2011: Prof. Jun gave the keynote talk in the special symposium on“MINERAL NUCLEATION: from the atomic to the planetary scale,” Goldschmidt 2011, Prague, Czech Republic. She also gave another talk on our resent research in a symposium on "Organic and inorganic fluid-fluid-rock interactions in CO2 storage systems."
August 8, 2011: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as "The Effects of Initial Acetate Concentration on CO2–Brine–Anorthite Interactions under Geologic CO2 Sequestration Conditions," has been accepted to Energy & Environmental Science.
Acetate decreases the cumulative aqueous metal concentrations upon CO2 injection by inhibiting anorthite dissolution and facilitating secondary mineral precipitation.
July 11, 2011: Prof. Jun served as a technical committee of the 2011 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Research and Education Conference (Tampa, FL) and presented our group CO2 work.
July 7, 2011: Congratulations to Yi! He passed his Ph.D. proposal defense. Officially, he is a Ph.D. candidate!
June15-20, June 22-27, and June 29-July 1, 2011: We will conduct sychrotron-based x-ray scattering experiments (SAXS/GISAXS/GIWAXS) at the Argonne National Laboratory, IL.
June 28-29, 2011: Prof. Jun was invited to attend the NSF-sponsored workshop on Nanomaterials and the Environment, Arlington, VA.
June 2, 2011: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as "Biotite–Brine Interactions under Acidic Hydrothermal Conditions: Fibrous Illite, Goethite, and Kaolinite Formation and Biotite Surface Cracking," has been accepted to Environmental Science & Technology.
June 1, 2011: Welcome to ENCL! Chris Bell, Rachel Mudd, and Amy joined as undergraduate researchers and Dabin and Matthew joined as high school student researchers.
May 29-June 2, 2011: Jessica and Prof. Jun attended a Gordon Research Conference on Environmental Nanotechnology, NH. Jessica presented her nanoparticle work during the conference.
May 29, 2011: Prof. Jun gave an invited talk at the American Crystallographical Association, LA.
May 25-27, 2011: Prof. Jun attended the Department of Energy's Energy Frontier Research Center Summit & Forum and presented our research findings on "In Situ Kinetic Analysis of Calcium Carbonate Nanoparticle Formation Using Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering"
The Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC)'s berkeley team created a video to explain the geologic CO2 sequestration and won the award during this summit. This is a cool video. Fun to watch!
May 19, 2011: Congratulations to Jessica and Chelsea! They passed their qualifying exam!
May 12, 2011: Congratulations to Chelsea! She received the merit of certificate from the Amertican Chemical Society's Environmental Chemistry division for her recent presentation at ACS meeting in March in Anaheim, CA.
May 2, 2011: Congratulations, Daniel Garcia! Daniel received the Amertican Chemical Society Division of Environmental Chemistry Undergraduate Student Award!
April 28, 2011: Congratulations, Jessica again! She received the Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship to support her attendance to the 2011 Environmental Nanotechnology Gordon Conference (May 29-June 3, 2011).
April 22, 2011: Congratulations, Jessica! She got a teaching assistant award during the Earth Day Celebration!
April 9-16, 2011: We have conducted sychrotron-based x-ray scattering experiments (SAXS/GISAXS/GIWAXS) at the Argonne National Laboratory, IL.
April, 13, 2011: Welcome Ms. Joohee Kim, a visiting student from the Department of Nano Science and Technology at Seoul National University! Her expertise is soft lithgraphy for nanopatterning.
April 5, 2011: Congratulations, Jessica! She was elected to be the president of the student chapter of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).
She also has been accorded an Honorable Mention by the 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
| March 29, 2011: Copngratulations, Jessica! She has been selected to attend the Thirteenth National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering to be held June 11-25, 2011 at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Higly competitive and fully supported by U.S. Department of Energy) | |
March 28, 2011: Prof. Jun organized a special symposium on "Environmental and Geochemical Aspect of Sustainable Waster Reuse" with Dr. Jeffrey Yang (U.S. EPA) at the 241th American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting in Anaheim, California. This symposium has been chosen as one of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) Picks. The video is produced by the American Chemical Society. During this symposium, Chelsea successfully presented her first oral presentation at ACS meeting! Congratulations, Chelsea!
C&EN Picks: Anaheim Edition (March 28th, 2011) from ACS Pressroom on Vimeo.
* In the April 25 issue of C&EN, our symposium was introduced. Please click the following link if you want to review the report. (pages 38-39).
February 26, 2011: Prof. Jun and Jessica gave hands-on demonstration for high school students and teachers to introduce environmental nanochemistry, environmental engineering, and talked about engineering career experience. This is as a part of the Women in Engineering Day event.
February 24, 2011: Congratulations to Yandi! She passed her Ph.D. proposal defense. Officially, she is a Ph.D. candidate!
February 19, 2011: Congratulations to Anca (undergraduate researcher)! She got the admission from ETH Zurich for her graduate program. Congratulations to Eric (high school researcher) for his admission to Washington University for his undergraduate program!
January 20, 2011: The Jun Group Meeting resumed (5:30-7:00 PM, Every Thursday), Brauer Hall 3015.
Please see our group meeting schedule
For new students, if you are interested in learning about our group research, please feel free to sit in our group meeting.
January 13, 2011: Congratulations! Our collaboration paper with researchers in biomedica engineering and the school of medicine has been published to Journal of the Royal Society Interface. This paper is entitled as “Nanogel Surface Coatings for Improved Single-Molecule Imaging Substrates” Link to the paper
December 28, 2010: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as “Effects of Salinity and the Extent of Water on Supercritical CO2-Induced Phlogopite Dissolution and Secondary Mineral Formation,” has been published to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper.
Both salinity and the extent of water affect the interactions of CO2, saline water, and clay minerals, and potentially influence the fate and transport of CO2.
December 19, 2010: Prof. Jun gave an invited talk at a special session on "Redox Processes on Nanoparticles, Nanomaterials, and Nanostructured Systems in the Environment" at the Pacifichem 2010.
December 13, 2010: Ms. Yandi Hu successfully presented her CO2 sequestration project at the 2010 Fall American Geophysical Union Meeting.
November-December, 2010: We have conducted sychrotron-based x-ray experiments at the Argonne National Laboratory, IL. November 8-12: synchrotron based x-ray microdiffraction at sector 34; November 22-24: In situ small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) at sector 12 ID-B; and December 3-6: In situ grazing incidence SAXS at sector 12 ID-B.
November 15, 24, and 25, 2010: Prof. Jun gave invited seminar talks at the Sanida National Laboratory (NM, USA), the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea), and the Ewha Womans University (Seoul, South Korea).
November 16, 2010: From textbook learning to real life. Sophomore undergraduate students had a tour to the Advanced Coal and Energy Research Facility as a part of ChE 351 course (Engineering Analaysis of Chemical Systems) and learned how to link what they learned in class to the real operation units.
November 6, 2010: Welcome to Environmental NanoChemistry Lab! Jessica, Yandi, Chelsea, Daniel, and Prof. Jun offered a learning lab as a part of “Moving and Shaking: An Introduction to Engineering” for students in grades 6-8, supported by St. Louis Area Gifted Resource Council. Click for the leaning lab website.
October 31-November 3, 2010: Congratulations, Mr. Yi Yang! He successfully presented his first presentation on his Ph.D. work at the Geological Society of America's 2010 Annual Meeting. During this meeting, Yi and Prof. Jun presented our research progresses.
October 23, 2010: Congratulations! Daniel Garcia, the youngest scientist in our lab, successfully presented his CO2 sequestration research projects at the Undergrduate Research Symposium at Washington University.
October 21, 2010: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as “Viability and Metal Reduction of Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 under CO2 stress: Implications for Ecological Effects of CO2 Leakage from Geologic CO2 Sequestration,” has been published to Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper.
CO2 leakage to shallow groundwater and soil/sediments from geologic CO2 sequestration sites influences the viability and metal reduction of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1.
October 20-21, 2010: Prof. Jun and Ms. Yandi Hu attended the Nanoscale Controls of Geologic CO2 (DOE-BES Energy Frontier Research Center) All hands Meeting, Berkeley, CA.
October 11-13, 2010: Prof. Jun will serve on a focus panel discussing "Controlling Chemical Reactions and Mimicking Nature" at the Workshop on Evolution and Control of Complexity: Key Experiments Using Sources of Hard X-rays and present an invited talk on current problems in chemical understanding of complex environmental systems. This workshop is sponsored by the Advanced Photon Source/Argonne National Laboratory, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Argonne, IL.
October 1-5, 2010: Together with 25 international McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership (MAGEEP) universities and industrial partners, the Washington University held the Symposium on Global Energu Future. Click here for the symposium link. Our research group presented a talk and posters and offered lab tours during this symposium.
September 15, 2010: Congratulations! Our paper entitled as "In Situ Observations of Nanoparticle Early Development Kinetics at Mineral-Water Interfaces" has been published to Environmental Science & Technology.
Using x-ray scattering, this study quantitatively and qualitatively monitors highly amorphous iron oxide nanoparticles’ formation and morphology evolution in real time. Link to the paper [Open Access]
September 14-15, 2010: Dr. Jun attended the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC)'s Project Advisory Group Meeting and visited the Illinois Basin-Decatur Site.
September 2, 2010: The Jun Group Meeting will resume (5:30-7:00 PM, Every Thursday), Brauer Hall 3015.
Please see our group meeting schedule
For new students, if you are interested in learning about our group research, please feel free to sit in our group meeting.
August 12-15, 2010: At the Lujan Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM, we have studied the amorphous calcium carbonate formation using neutron PDF.
August 4 and 6, 2010: Dr. Jun presented our geologic CO2 sequestration project at the University of Tokyo CCS network meeting, Tokyo, and in CO2 Geological Storage Research Group, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan.
July 28-30 and August 7-9, 2010: Tomography (2 BM) and high energy x-ray scatter (PDF, 11 ID-B) beamtimes, respectively, Advance Photon Source. We studied related to CO2 sequestration.
July 8, 2010: A delegation from Green Gen, China visited at Washington University and discussed about US and China R&D efforts on Carbon Capture and Storage.
June 23, 2010: Dr. Jun presented our geologic CO2 sequestration project at the 2010 Gordon Conference (Environmental Science: Water), Holderness, NH.
June 18, 2010: Dr. Shao and Dr. Jun presented our research progresses at Goldschmidt 2010 conference, Knoxville, Tennessee.
June 8, 2010: Welcome, Eric Hsu! He is a senior at Marquette High School and a STARS (Students and Teachers As Research Scientists) associate researcher. He is working on the ground water quality related to climate changes.
June 4, 2010: Congratulations, Dr. Shao and Jessica! Our paper entitled as "Dissolution and Precipitation of Clay Minerals under Geologic CO2 Sequestration Conditions: CO2-Brine-Phlogopite Interactions" has been accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the paper [Open Access]
June 2-4, 2010: We have moved to a new building, Brauer Hall! Now we are working at Brauer Hall 1035!
June 2, 2010: Welcome, Christian Ronzio! He will conduct his summer research with us. Christian is currently a senior at Yale.
May 21, 2010: Many Congratulations, Kathleen! She got her master degree. She also got the Certificate of Merit Award from the American Chemical Society's Division of Environmental Chemistry at the same day!
May 20-21, 2010: Dr. Steven Chu (the 12th United States Secretary of Energy) made this year commencement speech. Do something that matters! Secretary Chu Washington University Commencement Address
| April 15, 2010: Congratulations, Ms. Yandi Hu! Yandi was selected with a full support for attending the Twelfth National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, June 12-26, 2010. | |
April 11-13, 2010: Dr. Hongbo Shao successfully presented her research in a special session "Water-Rock-CO2 Interactions during Carbon Sequestering Activities," at the 2010 GSA North-Central/South-Central Joint Section Meeting, Branson, MO.
March 31-April 4, 2010: Advanced Photon Source synchrotron x-ray beamtime (SAXS at sector 12 IDC). We have studied the reaction kinetics of CO2-brine and CO2-brine-clay mineral using a real-time in situ high pressure and temperauture SAXS setup.
March 26, 2010: Congratulations, Mr. Daniel Garcia! Daniel received a 2010 Summer Undergraduate Research Award at Washington University.
March 21-25, 2010: Seven of our group members successfully presented our research progresses at the 239th ACS National Meeting! Great jobs, Everyone! Dr. Alejandro Fernandez-Martinez, Ms. Yandi Hu, Dr. Young-Shin Jun, Dr. Hongbo Shao, Ms. Kathleen O'Malley, Ms. Anca Timofte, and Ms. Jessica Ray.
February 25, 2010: Congratulations to Dr. Hongbo Shao! With honor, she was chosen to give a podium talk among 57 postdoctoral researchers' researches at the 6th Postdoctoral Scientific Symposium. She gave a very interesting talk.
February 18-21, 2010: Advanced Photon Source synchrotron x-ray beamtime (GISAXS at sector 12 IDC). We have studied the kinetics of calcium carbonate nucleation and growth at surfaces as well as in solutions using a real-time in situ SAXS/GISAXS setup. We have also investigated the effect of arsenate on iron oxide nanoparticle formation.
A picture from the beamline: Front (left to right): Alex
Fernandez-Martinez, Young-Shin Jun, Yandi Hu, Jessica Ray. Back (left to right): Byeongdu Lee, David Singer, Kathleen O'Malley, and Glenn Waychunas.
February 1, 2010: Welcome, Dr. Alejandro (Alex) Fernandez-Martinez joined our group as a postdoctoral scientist for the Energy Frontier Research Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2.
February 1, 2010: Field trip to the Gateway Coal Mine (Peabody Energy), IL. We got coal samples for investigating CO2-coal interactions.
January 26, 2010: Welcome, Mr. Daniel Garcia joined our research group as an undergraduate researcher.
January 24, 2010: The Jun Group Meeting will resume (5:40-7:00 PM, Every Thursday), Cupples II 212.
Please see our group meeting schedule
For new students, if you are interested in learning about our group research, please feel free to sit in our group meeting. .
January 18, 2010: Welcome, Mr. Wenlu Li joined our research group for his research rotation.
January 12-15, 2010: Prof. Jun presented our CO2 sequestration research at the Seals and Caprocks in Geologic Carbon Sequestration Workshop (organized by The Global Climate and Energy Project and the U.S. Geological Survey), Monterey, CA.
(photo credit: Global Climate and Energy Project, Stanford University)
December 15, 2009: Congratulations! Liz Godar, our outstanding high school researcher (2009 STARS program) got the college admission from Yale. Best wishes for her!
December 5-8, 2009: Advanced Photon Source synchrotron x-ray beamtime (SAXS and GISAXS at sector 12 IDC)
November 16, 2009: Congratulations to Kathleen on awarding the American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee Travel Award (Eli Lilly Travel Grant)! She will travel the ACS 239th National Meeting in San Francisco in March 2010 to present her research!
November 4-6, 2009: Advanced Photon Source synchrotron x-ray beamtime (X-ray computed microtomography (X-CMT) at sector 13BM).
October 24, 2009: Kathleen successfully presented her research at the 14th Annual Mid-America Environmental Engineering Conference.
Anca, Peter, and Ryan presented their research projects at the Undergrduate Research Symposium.
September 11, 2009: SEAS News, "Nanoscale interfacial reactions for environmentally pressing issues" Click here for more information.
September 10, 2009: Welcome Yiqun Zheng (Ph.D. Student)! He joined our research group for the research rotation.
September 3, 2009: Congratulations! Our group received a grant from the Center for Materials Innovation. Click here for more information.
September 3, 2009: The Jun Group Meeting has resumed (5:00-6:30 PM, Every Thursday), Cupples II 212. Jessica Ray will give her research talk.
August 10, 2009: Congratulations! Alex. She successfully presented her summer research in the NNIN conference, University of Michigan. Her talk title was "Characterization and Toxicity of Biomimetically Synthesized Manganese Oxide Nanoparticles." She did a great job!
August 5-9, 2009: Advanced Photon Source synchrotron x-ray beamtime (SAXS and GISAXS).
July 7, 2009: Welcome! Yi Yang, Ph.D. student, joined our research group.
July 17, 2009: Congratulations! Liz. She successfully presented her summer research and she had the STARS fellowship ceremony. She is now a real scientist! We are so proud of her.
June 8, 2009: Welcome! Elizabeth Godar, STARS program high school student, joined us and she is working on the quality of the underground source of drinking water (USDW) related to climate change.
June 1, 2009: Welcome! Alexandra Rutz, NNIN REU program undergraduate student, joined us and she is working on manganese oxide nanoparticles.
May 25, 2009: Welcome! Yandi Hu, Ph.D. student, joined our research group.
May 15, 2009: Congratulations to Kathleen and Jessica! They are now master program students!
May 1, 2009: Congratulations! Our group received a grant from the Consortium for the Clean Coal Utilization. (1) Click here for more information about CCCU. (2) Click here for our project website. |
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April 27, 2009: Congratulations! Our group will participate a collaborative effort at the Energy Frontier Research Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (Berkeley). Click here for more information |
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April 25, 2009: Anca successfully presented her research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Congratulations!
March 16, 2009: Congratulations! Our group received a grant from the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES). Click here for more information |
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March 12, 2009: Congratulations Peter and Ryan on receiving the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship!
January 15, 2009: The Jun Group Meeting has resumed (5:00-6:30 PM, Every Thursday), Cupples II 212.
August 29, 2008: First Jun Group Meeting (4:30 PM-6 PM), Cupples II 212.
If you are interested in working with us, please feel free to attend our group meeting.
August 20, 2008: Mr. Wei Wan, Ms. Jessica Ray, Ms. Kathleen O'Malley, and Mr. Ryan Matos became members of the Jun Group.
May 22, 2008: Mr. Peter Colletti became a member of the Jun Group.
May 21, 2008: Dr. Young-Shin Jun presented our research at the National Synchrotron Light Source's Workshop. NSLS news
May 19, 2008: Congratulations! Dr. Young-Shin Jun won the 2008 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in Engineering or Applied Science
Read Excellence in Engineering
Picture credit: Joe Angeles
January 1, 2008: Prof. Young-Shin Jun started her position in the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
Conferences Organized
10th International Water Association (IWA) Membrane Technology Conference & Exhibition for Water and Wastewater Treatment and Reuse,"Washington University in St. Louis, July 23-26, 2023, Co-chaired by Prof. Jason He and Prof. Baoxi Mi. Prof. Young-Shin Jun serves as the conference organizing committee. Conference webiste
June 28-30, 2022: The 2022 Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP) conference was held at Washington University in St. Louis. Prof. Jun served as the Workshop Chair of the Conference and the Conference Organizing Committee. More than 840 environmental engineers and scientists joined us. Check out 20 Workshops and Program at the 2022 AEESP Conference!
ACS President H.N. Cheng and Drs. Young-Shin Jun, Martin Kociolek, and Michael Morello from the ACS Committee on Science (COMSCI) are organizing a Presidential Symposium "New Frontiers and Opportunities for Chemistry", the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2021 National Meeting, August 22-26, 2021. Click here for more information about the participating invited speakers For a parallel initiative, we also organized ACS Presidential Webinar "Frontier Fridays" Series ( A total of 4027 registrants from 93 countries) |
Image sorce: ACS
Frontier Fridays Webinar Series (The recordings are available in ACS webinar Archives) - May 28 webinar: Dr, Zhenan Bao, Stanford University - June 11 webinar: Dr. Amy Prieto, Colorado State University - June 25 webinar: Sir Fraser Stoddart, Northwestern University |
- Prof. Jun serves as the Workshop Chair of the 2021 Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP) Virtual Appetizer Event on July 13-14, 2021, and of the 2022 AEESP pre-conference workshops, June 28, 2022 where the Chair of the AEESP conference is Dr. Daniel Giammar. Prof. Jun also serves as the conference organizing committee.
- ACS webinar on "Solving the Plastics Problem through Chemistry: Federal Research and Technology Programs"co-organized by Prof. Jun and Dr. Fryberger and sponsored by the ACS Committee on Science, 2-3:30 PM Eastern Time on April 28, 2021. Please join us! Link to the webinar information and free registration
- Professor Jun and Dr. Teresa Fryberger co-organized an ACS Presidential Symposium on "Chemistry and the Future of Plastics," sponsored by the ACS Committee on Science, the 261th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, 9AM-12 PM Pacific Time on April 9, 2021, co-organized with Dr. Teresa Fryberger. Symposium Flyer here. |
 Image source: Shutterstock |
- Special symposium on "Critical Materials:Perspectives from the industry, government, and research communities," the 260th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Francisco, CA, August 16-20, 2020, co-organized with Dr. James Kubicki (University of Texas-El Paso). Committee on Science symposium which is copsponsorted by Geochemistry, Colloid & Surface Chemistry (COLL), Energy & Fuels (ENFL), Industrial & Engineering Chemistry (I&EC), and Committee on Environmental Improvement (CEI). Symposium Flyer here.
- Special symposium on "Interfacial Chemistry under Nano-scale Confinement," The 256th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, August 19-23, 2018, Boston, Massachusetts, co-organized with Drs. Anastasia Ilgen (SNL) and Louise Criscenti (SNL) Geochemistry Division symposium which is copsponsorted by Environmental Chemistry and Colloid and Surface Chemistry Divisions.
- Special symposium on "Water Use Optimization: Water Quality, Treatment, and Reuse," The 255th American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 18-22, 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana, co-organized with Dr. Nalini S. Rao (EPRI), Dr. Sean Bushart (EPRI) Dr. Yu Yang (University of Nevada, Reno), and Dr. Krishna R Pagilla (University of Nevada, Reno). Environmental Division symposium
- Special symposium on "Environmental Interfaces, The 251st American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Diego, CA, March 13-17, 2016, co-organized with Dr. Franz Geiger (Northwestern University), Anastasia Ilgen (Sandia National Laboratory), and Anne Chaka (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory). Geochemistry Division symposium which is copsponsorted by Environmental Chemistry and Colloid and Surface Chemistry Divisions.
- Session on "General Geochemistry," The 250th American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Diego, CA, March 13-17, 2016. Prof. Jun oversaw the entire ACS Geochemistry Division Symposia as the Program Chair.
- Special symposium on "Subsurface Geochemistry for Energy and the Environment, The 250th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston, MA, August 16-20, 2015, co-organized with Catherine Peters (Princeton University)
Session on "General Geochemistry," The 250th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston, MA, August 16-20, 2015. Prof. Jun oversaw the entire ACS Geochemistry Division Symposia as the Program Chair.
- Special symposium on "Theme 10C: “New Perspectives on Mineral Nucleation and Phase Transformations: Prenucleation Clusters, Dense Liquid Phases, and Amorphous Intermediates (Theme 10i)” at the 2014 Goldschmidt conference, June 08 – 13, Sacramento, California. Call for Abstracts
- Special symposium on "Geochemistry and Reactive Transport in Shale Nanopores" in 2014 Spring American Chemical Society, March 16-20, 2014,
Dallas, Texas. Call for Abstracts
We had a Panel Discussion on March 17th from 4 PM to 6 PM in Dallas Convention Hall.
- Special Symposium on "Multiscale Spatiotemporal Complexity in Geologic Carbon Sequestration: Linking Experimentation and Modeling"
The 242nd American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting in Denver, CO, August 28-September 1, 2011. Co-organized with Dave Cole (Ohio State Univ.)
Mitigation of climate change requires immediate actions to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions and lessen future adverse effects. Sequestration of carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs may be a promising approach to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, it requires a better understanding of the geochemical, geophysical, and biological processes, all the way from the nanoscale to the field site scale and from seconds to hundreds of years. This symposium features oral and poster presentations describing multiscale and multidisciplinary advances in our understanding of more sustainable geologic CO2 sequestration. The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion on "Knowledge Gaps and Future Outlook."
Invited speakers and Panelists are Sally Benson (Stanford Univ.), Susan Carroll (LLNL), Michael Celia (Princeton Univ.), James W. Johnson (Schlumberger), Yousif Kharaka (USGS), John Kaszuba (Univ. Wyoming), and Carl Steefel (LBNL).
Symposium Call for Abstracts (PDF)
- Special Symposium on "Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change"
The 2011 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Research and Education Conference, Tampa, FL, July 10-12, 2011.
Co-organized with Jeff Cunningham (University of South Florida) and Catherine Peters (Princeton University).
- Special Symposium on "Environmental and Geochemical Aspect of Sustainable Waster Reuse". Please note that this symposium will inlcude an interesting panel discussion "Sustainable Water Reuse and Storage: Issues and Trends" with the US. EPA officers.
The 241th American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting in
Anaheim, California, March 28, 2011. Co-organized with Jeff Yang (USEPA). This symposium has been chosen as one of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) Picks.
The video is produced by the American Chemical Society.
C&EN Picks: Anaheim Edition (March 28th, 2011) from ACS Pressroom on Vimeo.
Symposium Call for Abstracts (PDF)
Panel Discussion Information (PDF)
- Special Symposium on "Environmental Applications and Implications of Nanotechnology"
The 240th American Chemical Society Fall National Meeting in
Boston,
August 22-26, 2010
Symposium Call for Abstracts (PDF)
- Special Symposium on "Environmental and Geochemical Aspects of Carbon Sequestration"
The 239th American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting in San Francisco, March 21-25, 2010, Co-organized with Daniel Giammar and Charlie Werth.
Symposium Call for Abstracts (PDF)
- Special Symposium on "Nanotechnology"
The 2009 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Conference on Grand Challenges in Environmental Engineering and Science, Iowa City, July 26-29, 2009, Co-Chaired with Pedro J. J. Alvarez.
- Special Symposium on "Multiscale Reactions including Fe-Oxides, Oxyhydroxides, and Hydroxides"
at the 237th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT,
March 22-26, 2009
Organizers: Young-Shin Jun, Washington University in St. Louis
James D. Kubicki, Pennsylvania State University