Mengyan Li

Professor, Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science
Dr. Li develops water remediation techniques that deploy microorganisms to biodegrade organic pollutants of emerging global concern. He also researches interdisciplinary methods for improving urban water treatment technologies, including the use of nanotechnology to disinfect supplies contaminated with pathogens.
Ph.D.; Rice University; Environmental Engineering; 2013
M.S.; Rice University; Environmental Engineering; 2010
B.E.; Nankai University; Environmental Engineering; 2008
2025 NJIT JHCSLA Distinguished Research Award, NJIT
2024 AAEES 40 Under 40, American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES)
2022 RSC Emerging Investigator in Environmental Science , RSC
2022 NJIT CSLA Excellence in Graduate Education Award ,
2022 NAI Senior Member ,
2019 ISPTS Young Scientist Award ,
CHEM 701C - MASTERS THESIS
EVSC 627 - ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
EVSC 485 - ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
CHEM 491 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY I
CHEM 492 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY
CHEM 591 - GRADUATE CO-OP WORK EXPER II
CHEM 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
CHEM 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
EVSC 701C - MASTER'S THESIS
CHEM 701B - MASTERS THESIS
EVSC 591 - GRADUATE WORK EXPERIENCE I
EVSC 592 - GRADUATE WORK EXPERIENCE II
FRSC 491 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY I
CHEM 391 - RESEARCH AND INDEPENDENT STUDY
EVSC 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
EVSC 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
CHEM 792B - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
EVSC 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
EVSC 790A - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
EVSC 792B - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
CHEM 590 - GRADUATE CO-OP WORK EXPER I
CHEM 700B - MASTERS PROJECT
CHEM 790A - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
EVSC 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Biology, and Bioremediation
CHEM 475: BIOCHEMISTRY LAB I
EVSC 375: ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY
EVSC 385: ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
EVSC 622: BIOREMEDIATION
EVSC 627: ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
EVSC 702: SPECIAL TOPICS
EVSC 702: SPECIAL TOPICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE II
EVSC 702: ST: BIODEGRADATION AND BIOREMEDIATION
EVSC 791: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SEMINAR
Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Environmental Remediation, Water and Wastewater Treatment, Microbial Ecology and Toxicology
Jose Manual Diaz Antunes, Devi Kumari Dhakal Gaudel, Caitlin H Bell, Zachary Wahl, Matthew Schnobrich, Mengyan Li. 2026. "Evaluation of 1, 4-Dioxane Natural Attenuation After In Situ Propane Biosparging: Bench-Scale Microcosm Tests and Field Metadata Analysis." Remediation Journal, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. e70060.
Tanvir Ahamed, Kathy Hale, Andrea Castro, Oleg Kostin, Mengyan Li, Lisa B. Axe. 2026. "Multicriteria analysis of water quality models for simulating Cryptosporidium oocysts at the watershed scale." Science of The Total Environment, vol. 1031, pp. 181804.
Yifan Ding, Hanyue Yang, Chao Li, Valenni R Passaro, Wencong Xing, Amina F Mughal, Zeyuan Qiu, Mengyan Li, Yaqi You, Lijie Zhang. 2026. "Phosphorus cycling mechanisms in lake sediments affected by algal biomass." Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 401, pp. 128806.
Chao Li, Liang Zhu, Lisa B. Axe, Mengyan Li. 2025. "Acclimation of sludge-derived biofilms for effective removal of emerging contaminants: impacts of inoculum source and carbon supplementation." Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 492, pp. 138235.
Sumbel Yaqoob, Chen Wu, Chao Li, Jose Manuel Diaz Antunes, Mengyan Li. 2025. "Anaerobic Biotransformation and Biodefluorination of 6: 2 Fluorotelomer Carboxylic Acid by Biosolids under the Nitrate-Reducing Condition." ACS ES\&T Water, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 2412--2420.
Jose Manuel Diaz Antunes, Devi Kumari Dhakal Gaudel, Caitlin H Bell, Stephanie Fiorenza, Matthew Schnobrich, Mengyan Li. 2025. "Cluster-Specific Biomarkers for Effective Assessment of 1, 4-Dioxane Biodegradation Potentials for Natural Attenuation and Propane Biosparging." Environmental Science \& Technology Letters, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 1636--1643.
"An Environmental Science and Engineering Framework for Combating Antimicrobial Resistance"
October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2018.