Mengyan Li
Professor, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Tiernan 384
About Me
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.
Education
Ph.D.; Rice University; Environmental Engineering; 2013

M.S.; Rice University; Environmental Engineering; 2010

B.E.; Nankai University; Environmental Engineering; 2008

Awards & Honors

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 ,

2019 NJIT CSLA Rising Star Research Award,

2019 NSF CAREER Award,

2018 CAPEES Founding President Best Paper Award ,

2014 2nd Place for the 5th Annual Geosyntec™ Student Paper Competition,

2014 Honor Award for the Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science™ Competition in the category of University Research by AAEES,

2014 Student Paper Winner for the 9th International Conference on Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds,

2013 2nd Place for the 4th Annual Geosyntec™ Student Paper Competition,

2008 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Thesis of Nankai University ,

2008 Outstanding Undergraduate Student of Nankai University,

Teaching Interests
Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Biology, and Bioremediation
Past Courses
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

Research Interests
Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Environmental Remediation, Water and Wastewater Treatment, Microbial Ecology and Toxicology
Journal Article
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.

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Conference Proceeding
"An Environmental Science and Engineering Framework for Combating Antimicrobial Resistance"
October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2018.