Energy-Water-Resources Nexus

Our interdisciplinary research seeks to further our understanding and holistically solve problems at the nexus of water, energy and resources to facilitate sustainable development. This research encompasses the cradle-to-grave materials life cycle.

Meet the Experts

Kwame Awuah-Offei

Union Pacific / Rocky Mountain Energy Professor
Department Chair
Mining and Explosives Engineering

Research Interests

Surface mining; excavation modeling; sustainability in mining

Baojun Bai

Professor
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Research Interests

Water management; conformance control; enhanced oil recovery (EOR); CO2 EOR and storage; geological carbon storage; fluid flow in porous media;  unconventional oil and gas development

David Bayless

Professor and Department Chair
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Research Interests

Air Pollution Control, Algae, Algal Bio-fuels, Alternative Fuel, Bio-reactor, Biodiesel, Blue-Green Algae, Coal, Energy, Gassification of Coal and Biomass, Leadership Development, Mechanical Engineering, Power Generation, Shale and Shale Energy

David Borrok

Vice Provost and Dean
College of Engineering and Computing

Research Interests

Water sustainability, food-energy-water nexus, water resources, water quality and geochemistry, geomicrobiology,  water-rock interactions in petroleum systems, geochemistry of hydrocarbon-generating source rocks, water quality and geochemistry, water stress and scarcity, water-rock interactions

Joel Burken

Curators' Professor and Department Chair
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests

Phytoforensics subsurface contaminant transport; smart living; green infrastructure; phytoremediation and natural treatment systems; biological wastewater treatment; constructed wetlands; green remediation; remote sensing or environmental pollutants; site restoration

Mark Fitch

Associate Professor
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests

Passive biological treatment of pollutants, metals removal from mine-impacted waters

Marek Locmelis

Associate Professor
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Research Interests

Development of geochemical exploration tools for critical element deposits; Fluid mobility of critical elements to constrain transport and deposition mechanisms; Investigation of Missouri’s Rare Earth Element and Cobalt Ore Potential

Michael Moats

Professor and Department Chair
Materials Science and Engineering

Research Interests

Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy, Trace Element Recovery from Leachate, Base Metal Electrowinning

Guney Olgun

Assistant Professor
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests

Energy geotechnology and sustainability; geotechnical earthquake engineering; energy geotechnology; disaster resilience; resilience of Earthen water infrastructure

Jianmin Wang

Professor
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests

Anaerobic waste to energy conversion; transforming wastewater to fresh water; water reuse; metal fate in solid-water interface; energy efficient water treatment; decentralized treatment; eutrophication; sustainable technologies for advanced wastewater treatment; synergistic toxic effect of nanoparticles and heavy metals; fate and transport of heavy metals in natural and engineered system

Xiong Zhang

James A. Heidman Professor
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests

Climate-soil-structure interaction, soil mechanics, transportation geotechnics,advanced testing techniques for Geo-material characterization, constitutive and numerical modeling of multiphase materials, transportation geotechnics, remote sensing techniques in geotechnical engineering