Faculty Directory
George Wells

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Contact

2145 Sheridan Road
Tech
Evanston, IL 60208-3109

Email George Wells

Website

Wells Research Website

Departments

Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Education

Ph.D. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

M.S. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

B.S. Chemical Engineering and B.A. Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX


Research Interests

  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Microbial ecology of engineered and impacted natural systems
  • Microbial nitrogen and phosphorus cycling and shortcut biological nutrient removal systems
  • Sustainable biological wastewater treatment
  • Resource and energy recovery from waste
  • Bioelectrochemical systems: soil microbial fuel cell and electrolysis cells, soil sensing
  • Microbial greenhouse gas production and management
  • Biofilms, biofilm reactors, and biofouling
  • Mathematical modeling of biofilms and bioprocesses


Significant Recognition

  • US NSF International Research Fellowship (2011) EAWAG 75th Anniversary Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010) US EPA STAR Fellowship for Graduate Environmental Studies (2007) US NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2004)

Selected Publications

  • Cao, Shenbin; Fang, Jinxin; Koch, Konrad; Fan, Xiaoyan; Al-Hazmi, Hussein E.; Du, Rui; Wells, George F., Fluoride-induced stress shapes partial denitrification granules to sustain microbial metabolism, Water Research (2025).
  • Park, Hee Deung; Wells, George F.; Lee, Hyung Sool; Love, Nancy G., Environmental Biotechnologies Enabling a Carbon-Neutral Circular Economy, ACS ES and T Engineering (2025).
  • Sabba, Fabrizio; Farmer, McKenna; Dunlap, Patrick; Qin, Cindy; Kozak, Joseph; Barnard, James; Wells, George; Downing, Leon, Unlocking the potential of sidestream EBPR, Water Science and Technology (2025).
  • Apraku, Edward; Farmer, McKenna; Lavallais, Chayse; Soriano, Danna A.; Notestein, Justin; Tyo, Keith; Dunn, Jennifer; Tarpeh, William A.; Wells, George F., Toward a circular nitrogen bioeconomy, Current Opinion in Biotechnology (2025).
  • Li, Dan; Wells, George; Liu, Wei; Yeung, Marvin; Niu, Lishan; Xi, Jinying, Effect of NO Concentration on the Biological Conversion From NO to N2O under Thermophilic Conditions, ACS ES and T Engineering (2025).
  • Lee, Chengpeng; Truong, Hau; Ngo, Khoa Nam; AlSayed, Ahmed; Kin, Emily Karen; Fuentes, Stephanie; Chen, Xiaojue; De Clippeleir, Haydée; Wells, George, Integrating Biological Phosphorus Removal with High-Rate Activated Sludge for Enhanced Settleability and Nutrient Management at Short Solids Retention Times, ACS ES and T Engineering (2025).
  • Tang, Chong Jian; Qu, Caiyan; Tang, Xi; Spinney, Richard; Dionysiou, Dionysios D.; Wells, George F.; Xiao, Ruiyang, Acyl-Homoserine Lactone Enhances the Resistance of Anammox Consortia under Heavy Metal Stress, Environmental Science and Technology (2025).
  • Taylor, Stephen; Jaliff, Laura; Wells, George; Josephson, Colleen, Is it time to start moving soil microbial fuel cell research out of the lab and into the field?, Science of the Total Environment (2024).

Patents

Cantwell, B. J., Criddle, C. S., Scherson, Y. D., & Wells, G. F. “Microbial Production of Nitrous Oxide Coupled with Chemical Reaction of Gaseous Nitrous Oxide.”  US Patent Appl. 13/066911, filed 4/27/2011