Group Members

Dr. Yuji Arai (Group Leader)

After receiving a Ph.D. in environmental soil chemistry from the University of Delaware (Advisor: Dr. Donald L. Sparks), he worked at U.S. Geological Survey (Water Resource Division, Menlo Park, CA). After the postdoctoral work, he spent six great years (2007-2013) at Clemson University (first as an Assistant and later as an Associate Professor of Soil Chemistry) before joining the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in August of 2013. He currently runs a research program in molecular environmental soil/geo chemistry.

Postdoctoral researcher

Dr. Yaniv Freiberg (2024-present)

He received his doctoral degree in soil chemistry from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with research conducted at the Volcani Center, Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences.

Visiting Scholars

Dr. Jienfeng Ning (Jan, 2020 - Jan, 2021)

A visiting professor from the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Meijun Yang (Jan, 2020 - Jan, 2021)

A visiting doctoral student from Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Guangzhou, China.

Xiaomei Tang (Fall 2018 - Fall 2019)

A visiting master student from China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Kai-Yue Chen (Spring 2017 - Spring 2018)

A visiting doctoral student from National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of smart and quality agriculture, MingDao University in Taiwan.

Camila Marcon de Carvalho Leite (Summer 2014)

A visiting student from Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura-University of São Paulo

Undergraduate Researchers

Jun Hu (Summer 2020)

Danling Ma (Summer 2019)

Shih-Huai Cheng (Summer 2018)

Jiajia Chen (Summer 2017)

Sabrina Kelch (Summer 2015)

Emily Faas (formally Fraedrich) (Clemson University, 2008-2009)

Tessa Saylor (Clemson University, 2008-2009)

Alumni

Doctoral students

Chen Ai, Ph.D. (Fall 2020-Summer 2023)

Dissertation title: Effects of functional group-specific complexation and adsorption of phytic acid on its degradation by phytase

She is a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Beijing Forestry University in China.

Ying Li, Ph.D. (Post doc: Summer 2019-2022)

She is an assistant professor at the Macau Environmental Research Institute in the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Suwei Xu, Ph.D. (2019-2022)

Dissertation title: Competitive sorption of phytic acid and phosphate in agricultural soils and at the amorphous aluminum oxyhydroxide-water interface. She is currently a post doctoral researcher at the department of crop science at University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign.

Mary R. Arenberg, Ph.D. (2016-2021)

Dissertation title: The assessments of physicochemical factors influencing phosphorus mineralization and immobilization in an Illinois floodplain soil. She is an assistant professor of soil science at the State University of New York (SUNY), Cobleskill.

Zhe Li, Ph.D. (2017-2020)

Dissertation title: Passive detection of phosphorus in agricultural drainage waters using reactive hybrid anion exchange resins.

He is currently working as a a lecturer in the School of environmental and spatial informatics at China University of Mining and Technology, China.

Master students

Shravani Kalita M.S. (Fall 2021- Fall 2023)

Thesis title: Effects of pCO2 on hydroxyapatite formation and its stability: Implications for understanding phosphorus availability in calcareous soil. She is currently working as an Environmental Scientist at a consulting firm Stantec, Utah.

Suwei Xu, M.S. (2017-2019)

Thesis title: Depth sequence distribution and reactivity of phosphorus in intensively managed agricultural soils in east-central Illinois.

Ai Chen, M.S. (2017-2019)

Thesis title: Effects of phytic acid sorption on iron polymerization and at the ferrihydrite-water interface.

Xiaoqian Jiang, Ph.D. (Post doc: 2017)

She is an associate professor in the School of Agriculture at Sun Yat-Sen University in China.

Anthony P. Miller, M.S. (2015-2017)

Thesis title: Effects of extraction time and phosphorus speciation on soil test phosphorus (STP) in Illinois agricultural soils. He is currently working on a doctoral degree at UIUC.

Brian A. Lenell, M.S. (2014-2016)

Thesis title: Reaction condition effects on re(vii) sorption kinetics at the zerovalent iron-water interface He is currently working for the Region 5 Water Division in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Amanda (formally Hatfield) Meena, M.S. at Clemson University (2012-2013)

Thesis title: Aqueous geochemistry of rhenium and chromium in saltstone: implication for understanding technetium mobility in saltstone.

After working for a water treatment company in N.C., she became a homemaker.

Ethan Cox, M.S. at Clemson University (2012-2013)

Thesis title: Educating the next generation of scientists and critical evaluation of environmental iodine chemistry. He is currently a science teacher at Oconee county high school in South Carolina.

Abdurrahman Masrahi, M.S. at Clemson University (2012-2013)

Thesis title: Macroscopic investigation of ionic- and nano-silver toxicity to soil nitrification process. He is currently an assistant professor of soil science (microbiology) at Jazan University in Saudi Arabia.

Jessica Dahle, M.S. at Clemson University (2010-2012)

Thesis title: The effects of physicochemical properties of CeO2 nanoparticles on toxicity to soil denitrification processes. She is currently a product development scientist at Fitesa in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

Allison Rick VandeVoort, Ph.D./post doc at Clemson University (2008-2012)

Dissertation title: Fate and reactivity of natural and manufactured nanoparticles in soil/water environments. She is an associate professor at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Georgia College & State University