Peter Vikesland, Editor-in-chief
Virginia Tech, USA
Peter is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. His research interests include nanomaterials in the environment and improved sensors for drinking water. His research on the environmental implications of nanotechnology examines the effects of solution chemistry on the aggregation and dissolution of environmentally relevant nanoparticles. Peter is the co-director of the Virginia Tech Sustainable Nanotechnology Center (VTSuN) and the director of the Virginia Tech Sustainable Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program.
Leanne Gilbertson, Associate Editor
Duke University, USA
ORCID:
Dr Gilbertson is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University. Before joining the faculty at Duke in 2023, Dr Gilbertson was an Associate Professor and Fulton C. Noss Faculty Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh where she began her faculty career in 2015. Prior to that, Dr Gilbertson was a postdoctoral associate in the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University. Her research focused on bridging length scales – from the molecular to systems-level – to build sustainable design guidelines for engineered nanomaterials. Dr Gilbertson received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, supported through an NSF Graduate Research and EPA STAR Fellowships. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in education from Hamilton College, after which she spent several years as a secondary school teacher before pursuing her graduate degree.
Dr Gilbertson’s research aims to inform sustainable design of emerging materials and technologies proposed for use in areas at the nexus of the environment and public health. Her group is currently engaged in projects tackling drinking water disinfection, resource intensive crop production, and chemical conversion of greenhouse gases. The materials that underlie the solutions to these challenges are designed and developed with the goal of using inherently non-hazardous feedstocks and low resource intensive synthesis processes, maximizing performance during the intended use, and minimizing adverse impacts across the life cycle. Her research integrates life cycle assessment to (i) assess environmental impacts of the material and technology systems developed in her lab, and (ii) inform decisions to improve their overall sustainability. Dr Gilbertson’s research has been recognized and is supported by the National Science Foundation, including the CAREER award, the 3M non-tenured faculty award, and the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award.
Susana Loureiro, Associate editor
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Susana Loureiro is an Assistant Professor with Habilitation at the Biology Department, University of Aveiro, and the coordinator of the Research Group Environmental Changes, Hazards & Conservation of CESAM-Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies. She started her undergraduate studies at the University of Coimbra in Biology, followed by an MSc in Ecology at the same university.
In 2004 she was awarded a PhD in Biology at the University of Aveiro. Her main topics of research are related to mixture toxicity assessment, combined effects of chemicals and natural stressors, and nano-ecotoxicology, including both fate and effects of nanomaterials.
Within national and international projects in these areas, Susana has published more than 200 papers (h index=34) and graduated 19 PhD students and 29 MSc students. She is one of the members of the Science for Environment Policy Advisory Group, where she reviews studies proposed to be in the News Alert.
She is the University of Aveiro representative of the Portuguese Technical Commission for Nanotechnologies CT 194 and co-Chair for Ecotoxicology of the U.S.-EU Nanotechnology Communities of Research (CORs). Susana Loureiro lectures Toxicology and Ecotoxicology, Bioindicators of Pollution, Environmental Physiology, and Entomology and advances courses for PhD programmes.
Antonia Praetorius, Associate Editor
Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ORCiD:
Antonia Praetorius is an Assistant Professor in environmental chemistry at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). Previously she worked as a Researcher at Stockholm University (Sweden) and as a Postdoc at the University of Vienna (Austria). She obtained her PhD in Chemistry from ETH Zurich (Switzerland).
Her research interests centre around assessing the environmental fate of emerging chemical contaminants using a combination of models, experiments and citizen science.
Antonia is particularly interested in understanding how the fundamental physical and chemical properties of a contaminant drive its transformation and transport behaviour in aquatic and terrestrial environments, and how this understanding can be utilised to build models for predicting contaminant exposure or to design effective mitigation strategies. She has strong expertise in particulate contaminants, such as engineered nanomaterials, nano- and microplastics and microfibers. Antonia very much enjoys working in interdisciplinary teams to tackle the complex challenges posed by anthropogenic contaminants.
Bintian Zhang
Southern University of Science and Technology, China
ORCID:
Dr Bintian Zhang is an associate professor of environmental bioanalytical chemistry at the Southern University of Science and Technology (China). He obtained his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Science from Nankai University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, respectively. Prior to his current position, he served as an Associate Research Scientist at the Biodesign Institute, at Arizona State University (USA). His research focuses on the detection of low-concentration environmental pollutants, screening chemical toxicity, and studying molecular toxicology of EDCs, utilizing cutting-edge biosensors and bioanalytical methods.
Tong Zhang, Associate Editor
Nankai University, China
Tong Zhang is a Professor in the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Nankai University, China. She is also Deputy Director of the Strategic Development Department of Nankai University and Deputy Director of Tianjin Key Laboratory of Urban Ecological Environment Restoration and Pollution Prevention. Her research focuses on aquatic chemistry and geochemistry, mercury biogeochemistry, nanogeoscience, and soil and groundwater remediation.
Kevin James Wilkinson, Associate Editor
University of Montreal, Canada
Kevin Wilkinson (he/his) received a Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Eau) and followed the doctoral studies by a postdoctoral fellowship and a faculty position at the University of Geneva. In 2005, he moved to the University of Montreal, where he is now Professor in environmental chemistry.
His research is aimed at gaining molecular level understanding of contaminant bioavailability and mobility. Wilkinson has established an advanced laboratory for the analysis of colloids and nanoparticles: CACEN-Center for the Analysis and Characterization of Engineered Nanomaterials, which includes SP-ICPMS (magnetic sector and QQQ), SP-TOF-ICPMS, DLS, NTA, analytical ultracentrifugation and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.
He currently leads a Canadian network on Pollution in Urban Environments (PURE). In 2018, he won the Canadian Institute of Chemistry-Environmental Research Award. He brings over 30 years of experience in contaminant bioavailability and mobility, with more than 250 conference presentations, and 180 plus publications.
John Fortner
Yale University, USA
John Fortner is Associate Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at Yale University, USA. Prior to this he was the InCEES Career Development Associate Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. His research is primarily focused on advancing water-related technologies and engineering novel material interfaces as they relate to critical environmental-based health, security and energy challenges. He has extensively studied the environmental fate, (photo) reactivity and applications (e.g. novel water treatment membranes) of engineered carbon nanomaterials, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene-based materials.
Rui Liu
Research Center for eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Dr Rui Liu is a Professor in the Research Center for eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (RCEES, CAS). He is also a Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He obtained his BSc. from University of Science and Technology of China in 2006, and his PhD from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011. He joined RCEES in 2011, and promoted to Professor in 2019.
His research group focuses on microstructure and process studying. More specifically, he is interested in developing enhanced Raman spectroscopic methods for pollutants screening, and the fundamental processes involved in the catalytic reduction of organic pollutants. He is also interested in developing cost effective nanocatalysts for the conversion of pollutants into value-added chemicals.
Iseult Lynch
University of Birmingham, UK
Iseult Lynch is a physical chemist specialising in understanding the interface between engineered nanomaterials and the environment (biotic and abiotic components) and how this determines their ultimate fate and behaviour. She has been actively involved in research to elucidate the mechanisms involved in potential toxicity of nanomaterials, including being centrally involved in the pioneering studies regarding the nanoparticle-protein corona, for which she received the US National Academy of Sciences Cozzarelli Prize for 2007 (with her co-authors).
She is now applying these concepts to assessing nanomaterial behaviour in more complex environments and whole organisms, looking for example at the role of secreted proteins and polysaccharides as well as dissolved organic matter in determining nanomaterials environmental fate, transformation and biouptake. Her expertise spans nanomaterials synthesis, characterization and environmental interactions (biomolecules, cells, organisms).
Wendel Wohlleben
BASF, Germany
Dr. Wendel Wohlleben is Senior Principal Scientist at BASF, Dept. of Material Physics with a second affiliation to the Dept. of Experimental Toxicology and Ecology. He studied physics (minor chemistry) at the University Heidelberg and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris.
He obtained his PhD from the University of Munich with a biophysical thesis on energy harvesting in photosynthesis, performed at the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics. The post-doc at Physical Chemistry, University Marburg was devoted to chemically resolved microscopy. Dr. Wohlleben is a researcher at BASF since 2005, interrupted by a sabbatical leave to the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, and was visiting scientist at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston (2012 to 2019).
At BASF, Dr. Wohlleben leads the research cluster on the impact assessment of nanomaterials, and another cluster on microplastics. His labs develop and apply methods to characterize the interaction between such colloids and their environment, e.g. for grouping purposes. New aspects consider lifecycle releases from advanced materials that combine several components to achieve an intended functionality.
Ines Zucker
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Dr. Ines Zucker is an assistant professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering and Porter School of Environmental and Earth Sciences at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Dr. Zucker holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering, an M.Sc. degree in Materials and Nanotechnologies Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering with expertise in Environmental Engineering, all from Tel-Aviv University. Alongside these diverse educational experiences, Ines completed her postdoctoral training at Yale University in the field of environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology.
Using a wide skill set combining material synthesis and structure-property characterization with a world-class exposure to analytical chemistry and water treatment tools, the Zucker Lab is involved in the design, preparation, characterization, and testing of nano- and bio-materials for environmental applications, especially in the water-agro nexus. Dr. Zucker also focuses on quantifying the risk of engineered and incidental nanomaterials (including nanoplastics) on the environment and identifying future areas of research necessary to realize the safe deployment of promising nanomaterial applications.
