Electrifying Engineered Systems for Environmental Resilience and Circular Economy

Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar

Shiqiang (Nick) Zou, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University

Seminar Abstract:

As the demand for clean water, sustainable resource management, and resilient infrastructure grows, environmental engineering must move beyond traditional, energy-intensive treatment methods. Electrified engineered systems, leveraging electrochemical redox processes, offer innovative pathways for pollutant removal, resource recovery, and infrastructure resilience while reducing waste and energy consumption. This seminar will explore three electrochemical technologies that support environmental sustainability and a circular economy. First, an electrochemical process for selenium removal and recovery will be discussed, showcasing its potential to mitigate aquatic selenium pollution in industrial wastewater from power plants, agriculture, and mining. Next, a heavy metal extraction system using electrografted carbon cathodes will demonstrate how electrochemical methods can selectively capture valuable metals from complex brine waste streams. Finally, a novel electrokinetic soil conditioning technique will be introduced, demonstrating how electrochemically activated nanoparticles can improve soil stability in geotechnical applications without the need for disruptive excavation. By integrating electrochemical strategies into environmental engineering, these advancements provide scalable, sustainable strategies to pressing challenges in water treatment, resource recovery, and infrastructure resilience.

Bio:

Dr. Shiqiang (Nick) Zou is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University, where he leads the Electrified WAstewater Treatment and Elemental Recovery (E-WATER) Lab. His research integrates applied electrochemistry, selective separation, and process engineering to transform water and wastewater treatment from resource-intensive processes into platforms for resource recovery. His group works on selective recovery of critical elements and nutrients, treatment of emerging contaminants, and electrochemical processes for challenging industrial and agricultural waste streams, with an emphasis on understanding fundamental mechanisms and addressing barriers to scale-up. Dr. Zou received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech and completed postdoc training at Stanford University before beginning his faculty career at Auburn University and joining MSU in 2025. He is an Associate Editor of Desalination and Water Treatment and was selected as a 2025 Early-Career Research Fellow by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.