Research areas

The program encourages students and postdoctoral fellows to submit proposals that are in novel or emerging areas of the program as listed below. Identify a professor from the list of co-applicants in your area(s) of research interest through this site.

Interested candidates are required to contact the professors that will advance and broaden the impact/scope of the proposed research, and present a plan for their own professional development in the areas of water, energy and sustainability. The proposed investigation should be interdisciplinary and allow him/her to obtain research experiences beyond his/her current core disciplinary expertise. The potential areas include (but not restricted to):

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

• Innovative technologies to capture, store, distribute, and optimize renewable energy resources
• Integration of renewable energy resources into existing energy systems
• Fossil fuels, biofuels and biorefineries
• Fuel cells
• Climate change and carbon budgeting
• New urban planning and building design practices

Water and energy

• Water quality and purification
• Wastewater treatment technologies and strategies, with focus on energy requirements, greenhouse gas emissions and waste production
• Surface and groundwater supply, quality, and monitoring
• Remediation and restoration of contaminated waters
• Eco-toxicity and risk assessment of aquatic environments
• Urban storm water, urban drainage, rainwater harvesting and aquaculture
• Watershed hydrology, simulation and modeling
• Effect of climate change on impacts of water resources

Sustainability

Students are given opportunities to address environmental and sustainability challenges with regional, national, and international significance.

• Integrating socio-economic policy and legislation system considerations into technological innovations; interaction between science, policy and decision making
• Environmental and natural resource governance
• Environmental planning and management