Joshua Jack

In the midst of tremendous environmental challenges, society demands the tools and knowledge to shift from a linear (single-use) approach to resource management to a more sustainable and circular approach.

The Jack Research Group works at the Water-Energy-Climate nexus to change how society views and utilizes resources by developing novel energy and resource recovery tools suited for environmental and chemical processes.

My current research interests include:

• Electrification and automation of the water and wastewater sectors. In particular, we focus on achieving energy positive wastewater treatment, reliable sensing, and sustainable resource recovery via thermal, electrochemical, and bioelectrochemical processes.
• Waste-to-value through electricity-driven catalysis. This work centers on the atomistic design of precision catalysts and reaction pathways to convert cheap and abundant molecules (e.g., CO₂, N₂, and H₂O) into high-value chemicals and materials.
• Electrifying microbes by designing electrodes and interfacial processes that transfer electrons directly with living cells, allowing for the control of redox states, gene expression, and enzymatic activity. We leverage these techniques in emerging biotechnologies such as microbial electrosynthesis (MES), microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), and electro-fermentation (EF) to produce next generation bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts.  
• Sustainable system design and environmental data analytics with the goals of bridging molecular-level insights with process modeling, techno-economic analyses, and life-cycle assessment through machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to improve environmental resource management.

• American Society of Civil Engineering ExCEED Fellow, 2024
• Scialog Negative Emission Science Fellow, 2023
• American Chemical Society Division Certificate of Merit, 2023
• NSF INTERN Award, 2018
• NASA Outstanding Research Contribution Award, 2017
• NSF GK-12 Graduate Fellow, 2016
• Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honor Society, 2014
• University of Massachusetts Dean’s List Honors, 2014
• Chancellor Scholarship for Academic Excellence, 2014

I am involved in the following professional organizations:

• American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
• Electrochemical Society (ECS)
• Graham Sustainability Institute (GSI, Faculty Sustainability Expert)
• International Water Association (IWA)
• Materials Research Society (MRS)
• Michigan Catalysis Society (MCS)
• Michigan Institute for Plasma Science and Engineering (MIPSE, Faculty Member)
• Michigan Materials Research Institute (MMRI, Faculty Affiliate)
• Global CO₂ Initiative (Faculty Affiliate)
• International Society of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (ISMET)
• Water Environment Federation (WEF)

Please see my full publication list on Google Scholar.

Environmental Science & Ecotechnology, Early Career Board Member