Yanna Liang

Dr. Yanna Liang joined the University at Albany as Professor and Chair in the newly minted Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering in Summer 2017. Before Dr. Liang started her academic career in 2007 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in China and the United States for more than eight years. She has secured more than $8.7 million external research funding as a PI or co-PI from Federal (e.g., NSF, DOE, EPA, DOD, USDA, NIEHS) and state agencies, industry and foundation and participated in over $5.0 million projects funded by NSF as a senior personnel. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers and invited book chapters and presented her research through more than 100 conference presentations. Dr. Liang is a registered professional engineer, a board-certified environmental engineer, an ABET Program Evaluator, an ASCE ExCEED Teaching Fellow, and has won various awards from ASCE, AWRA, and AWMA.

A Message from Dr. Liang: 

Throughout my career, I have grown to be passionate about sustainability. This is such an important and serious term and concept, and I believe that every scientific field and every corner of our society should apply the principle of sustainable development. This passion has been a driving force for my research over the years. At this new position, I wish to contribute to the training, educating and equipping of the next generation of scientists and engineers to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, lifelong learners and life changers. The sustainable principles they will learn here will guide their decision-making and help them to be responsible citizens. After all, we have only one earth, one home, at least for now. Thus, now is the time for us to treasure our beautiful environment. 

Research Interests 

My research interests are tied strongly to sustainable environment and energy. Besides working on conventional environmental research topics, such as remediation of organic and inorganic contaminants, water and wastewater treatment, I am passionate about research and development on renewable energy. In addition, to be proactive on protecting our environment, I am interested in understanding the fate and transport of emerging contaminants in different environmental matrices. Specifically, my research interests are:   

1. Biodegradation and phytoremediation of organic contaminants in subsurface and groundwater 
2. Innovative material design for environmental clean-up 
3. Microbial ecology in engineered and natural systems 
4. Fate and transport of engineered nanoparticles and emerging contaminants in aquatic and soil environments 
5. Microbial electrochemical cells for CO2 reduction  
6. Biochemical and thermochemical conversion of renewable feedstocks to biofuels and bio-products  
7. Water reuse and wastewater treatment 

For more information about Dr. Liang's research, please visit her Sustainable Design Lab page. 

Publications 

Yanna Liang's Google Scholar Page

Selected Peer-reviewed Journal Publications 
(*: Graduate student; **: Undergraduate student) 

1. Ilango, Aswin Kumar; Jiang, Tao; Zhang, Weilan; Pervez, Md. Nahid; Feldblyum, Jeremy; Efstathiadis, Haralabos; Liang, Yanna. 2023. Enhanced adsorption of mixtures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in water by chemically modified activated carbon. ACS ES&T Water. In press. 

2. Zhang W.L., Liang. Y-N. 2023. The Wide Presence of Fluorinated Compounds in Common Chemical Products and the Environment: A Review. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. In press. 

3. Jiang, T., Pervez, N., Liang. Y-N. 2023. Effective Stabilization of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Precursors in Wastewater Treatment Sludge by Surfactant-Modified Clay. Chemosphere. In press. 

4. Pervez, M.-N., Jahid, MA., Mishu, MR., Talukder, E., Bounerba, A., Jiang, T., Liang. Y-N., Zhao, Y., Cai, Y., Naddo, V. 2023. Tuning the surface functionality of polyethylene glycol-modified graphene oxide/chitosan composite for efficient removal of dye. Scientific Reports. In press. 

5. Speer D., Patel T., Ho B., Phillips J., Zhu T., Shangraw J., Demirtas M., Liang. Y-N., Tutej A. 2023. Enhanced, Continuous, Liquid-liquid Extraction and In-situ Separation of Volatile Fatty Acids from Fermentation Broth. Separation and Purification Technology. 124810. 

6. Ilango, A., Jiang, T., Zhang, W-L., Feldblyum, J., Efstathiadis, H, Liang. Y-N. 2023. Surface-modified biopolymers for removing mixtures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from water: Screening and removal mechanisms. Environmental Pollution, In press. 

7. Jiang, T., Shi, Q., Wei, Z., Shah, K., Efstathiadis H., Meng, X., Liang. Y-N. 2023. Leaching of Valuable Metals from Cathode Active Materials in Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by Levulinic Acid and Biological Approaches. Heliyon, In press. 

8. Ehsana, M., Riza, M., Pervez, M., Khyume, M., Liang, Y.-N., Naddeo V. 2023. Environmental and health impacts of PFAS: Sources, distribution and sustainable management in North Carolina (USA). Science of the Total Environment. In press. 

9. Zhang, W., Wellington, T**., Liang, Y.-N. 2023. Effect of two sorbents on the distribution and transformation of N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamido acetic acid (N-EtFOSAA) in soil-soybean systems. Environmental Pollution. 318, 120941. 

10. Ravi, YK., Zhang, W., Liang, Y.-N. 2023. Effect of Surfactant Assisted Ultrasonic Pretreatment on Production of Volatile Fatty Acids from Mixed Food Waste. Bioresource Technology. 368, 128340.  

11. Jiang, T, Zhang, W, Ilango, A, Feldblyum, J, Wei Z, Efstathiadis, H, Yigit M, Liang. Y-N. 2023. Surfactant-Modified Clay for Adsorption of Mixtures of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Aqueous Solutions. ACS Advanced Engineering Materials. 1, 1, 394–407.  

12. Zhang W.L., Tran N**., and Liang. Y-N. 2022. Uptake of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by soybean across two generations. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances. 8, 100170. 

13. Jiang, T., Singh, S*., Dunn, KA., and Liang. Y-N. 2022. Optimizing Leaching of Rare Earth Elements from Red Mud and Spent Fluorescent Lamp Phosphors Using Levulinic Acid. Sustainability. In press. 

14. Zhang, W.L., Liang. Y-N. 2022. Changing bioavailability of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to plant in biosolids amended soil through stabilization or mobilization. Environmental Pollution. 308, 119724. 

15. Jiang, T., Zhang, WL., Liang, Y.-N. 2022. Uptake of Individual and Mixed Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) by Soybean and Their Effects on Functional Genes Related to Nitrification, Denitrification, and Nitrogen Fixation. Science of the Total Environment. 838, 156640. 

16. Zhang, W.L., Tao, J., Liang. Y-N. 2022. Stabilization of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in sewage sludge using different sorbents. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances. 6, 100089. 

17. Qi YW*., Cao HM*., Pan WJ*., Wang CP., Liang, Y.-N. 2022. The role of dissolved organic matters during the per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) adsorption, degradation and plant uptake: A review. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 436, 129139. 

18. Zhang, W.L., Liang. Y-N. 2022. Performance of different sorbents toward stabilizing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil. Environmental Advances. Volume 8, 100217. 

19. Cao, HM*., Zhang, WL., Wang CP., Liang, Y.-N. 2022. Photodegradation of F-53B in aqueous solutions through an UV/Iodide system. Chemosphere. 292, 133436. 

20. Zhang, W.L., Liang. Y-N. 2022. Hydrothermal liquefaction of sewage sludge – effect of four reagents on relevant parameters related to biocrude and PFAS. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 10 (1), 107092. 

More of Dr. Liang's publications, including conference proceedings, can be found  here. 

Awards and Honors 

2023 Excellence in Research Leadership, University at Albany 

2021 Best Paper of International Journal of Coal Science & Technology 

2019 Outstanding Presentation Award of the ACS Spring 2019 National Meeting ENVR Symposium of Innovative & Practical Approaches for the Treatment of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)  

2019 ABET PEV  

2018 ABET IDEAL Scholar  

2015 Faculty Mentor of Excellence, Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, SIUC  

2014 Faculty mentor for Kim Jarosz, First place (Physical Science/Engineering), SIUC Undergraduate Research Forum  

2013 McNair Outstanding Mentor, SIUC  

2009 ASCE ExCEED Teaching Fellow  

2009 SIUC Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Awards  

2006 AWRA-Utah section graduate student paper contest, first place  

2005 EWRI graduate student technical paper contest, second place  

2004-2006 Inland Northwest Research Alliance (INRA) fellow  

2004 Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA) Scholarship