Assistant Professor

Location

2112 G.G. Brown

Social Media

Twitter: @jjack.engineer

Education

• Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2019
• M.Sc., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2015
• B.Sc., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2014

Research Interests

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 decarbonization and resource recovery tools suited for environmental and chemical processes. Our work spans areas such as water and CO2 electrolysis, wastewater treatment and reuse, desalination, nutrient recovery, remediation and pollution control, and carbon capture and utilization.

More specifically, my current areas of research interests include:

• Decarbonization of the water and wastewater sectors via GHG mitigation and reactive CO2 capture, utilization, and valorization technologies. In particular, we focus on carbon-negative, energy positive wastewater treatment and sustainable resource recovery via thermal, electrochemical, microbial, and bioelectrochemical processes.
• Examining fundamental kinetic and thermodynamic processes at the electrochemical-biological interface. This work involves novel catalyst/electrode design, enzymatic catalysis, and synthetic microbiology to produce next generation bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts.
• Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) with a focus on microbial electrosynthesis (MES), microbial electrolysis cells (MEC), microbial desalination cell (MDC), electro-methanogenesis (EM), electro-fermentation (EF), and microbial electrolytic carbon capture (MECC)
• Sustainable system design and environmental data analytics with the goals of identifying and quantifying GHG emissions in our urban water and nutrient cycles. This includes the development of advanced biosensors, machine learning, and automation tools to improve environmental resource management.  

Professional Service

I am involved in the following professional organizations:

• American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
• Electrochemical Society (ECS)
• International Water Association (IWA)
• International Society of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (ISMET)
• Water Environment Federation (WEF)

Publications

Please see my full publication list on Google Scholar.

Video and Media Links

AEESP Future Faculty Seminar Series. 2020

CEE Connections & Directions Podcast, 2022

Awards

• NASA Outstanding Research Contribution Award, 2017
• CU Boulder International Travel Grant, 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