Shiqiang (Nick) Zou

Contact Information

Engineering Bldg.
428 S Shaw Ln
Room: 3559
East Lansing , MI 48824

(517) 353-1743

zoushiqi@msu.edu

Faculty Website

Assistant Professor

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Biography

Dr. Shiqiang (Nick) Zou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He leads the Electrified WAstewater Treatment and Elemental Recovery (E-WATER) Lab at MSU. His research centers on applied electrochemistry to transform resource-intensive wastewater management into a resource-supplying hub. Dr. Zou extends this expertise by integrating applied electrochemistry with selective separation and process engineering to develop engineering solutions that improve environmental quality. The E-WATER Lab aims to (1) selectively recover critical resources such as nutrients and metals from industrial, agricultural, and domestic waste streams, (2) fundamentally understand rate-limiting steps at interfacial and unit operations level via thermodynamic and kinetic analysis, and (3) identify scaling-up challenges to better design the water and wastewater treatment train. Dr. Zou currently serves as an Associate Editor of Desalination and Water Treatment and has organized and chaired sessions at national and international conferences, including those hosted by the American Chemical Society, The Electrochemical Society, the Water Environment Federation, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, and the International Water Association. He has been selected as the 2025 cohort of the Early-Career Research Fellow by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program.

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2019
  • M.S., Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 2015
  • M.S., Environmental Engineering, Peking University, 2014
  • B.Eng., Environmental Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, 2011

Selected Publications

  1. Hao, S., Feng, Y., Wang, D., Cho, J., Qiu, C., Wi, T.U., Xu, Z., Yu, Z., Sellers, C., Zou, S., Jain, A., Wang, H. Electrochemical Removal of Se(IV) from Wastewater Using RuO2-Based Catalysts. Nano Letters, 2025, 25 (6), 2547-2553.
  2. Zulfeqar, N., Khosravi, A., Zou, S. Nano-Enhanced Electrokinetic Conditioning of Expansive Soils Using MgO Nanoparticles. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2025, 151 (11), 04025120.
  3. Xie, A., Martinez Vargas, D.R., Yang, Z., Zou, S. Efficient selenate removal from impaired waters with TiO2-assisted electrocatalysis. Water Research, 2024, 262, 122134.
  4. Zhao, J., Yang, Z., Wang, Q., Alderman B., Zou, S. Electrooxidation of aminomethyl phosphonic acid (AMPA) using a boron doped diamond anode. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2024, 12 (1), 111669.
  5. Yang, Z., Zhao, J., Sullivan, E.G., Zou, S. Cost-effective cathode materials to electrochemically tackle aquatic selenite pollution. ACS ES&T Engineering, 2023, 3 (4), 458-466.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar (Publications)

Awards

  • Early Career Research Fellow (Gulf Research Program), National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2025
  • William F. Walker Merit Teaching Award, Auburn University, 2025
  • Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2023
  • Early Career Travel Award, The Electrochemical Society, 2021 and 2022
  • ACS-ENVR Certificate of Merit Award, American Chemical Society, 2021
  • Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry, American Chemical Society, 2019
  • Via Teaching Fellowship, Virginia Tech, 2019
  • Future Professoriate Certificate, Virginia Tech, 2018
  • Engineering Futures Certificate, Tau Beta Pi, 2018

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