Affiliation: Northwestern University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

George Wells is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, where he directs the Environmental Biotechnology and Microbial Ecology Laboratory. The goal of his research is to deepen knowledge of the microbial world so as to inspire innovative microbial community management strategies to clean water, generate energy, and recover resources from societal waste streams. Primary research thrusts in his research program include biofilms and biofilm reactors, molecular microbial ecology of engineered and impacted aquatic systems, microbial nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, and resource and energy recovery from wastewater and other urban “waste” streams. His approach to these research thrusts involves an interdisciplinary integration of cutting-edge microscopy and molecular biology (‘omics’) tools; environmental bioprocess modeling, development, and testing; ecological theory; and classical microbiology techniques. George received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and B.A. in Environmental Engineering from Rice University in 2004, and MS (2006) and PhD (2011) in Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He subsequently was a postdoctoral scholar at EAWAG- the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology for 2.5 years before joining Northwestern in 2013. George has authored >50 peer reviewed journal articles and serves on the leadership committees of the International Water Association (IWA) Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering Specialist Group and the IWA Nutrient Removal and Recovery Specialist Group. He also serves on the editorial boards of Frontiers in Microbiology, Journal of Applied Microbiology, and Microbial Biotechnology, and is currently editing a special issue of Resource, Conservation, and Recycling on resource recovery and extraction from water.