EDUCATION

Executive Summary

Pei Chiu is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from National Taiwan University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He joined the faculty at UD in 1996. He was a visiting Professor at ETH Zürich, Switzerland in 2018 and a Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) Faculty Fellow from 2019 to 2020.

Chiu studies contaminant transformation in natural environments and engineered systems. His current research is concerned with the kinetics and mechanisms for the degradation of organic chemicals, such as munitions compounds. The understanding will allow us not only to predict the fate of these compounds in soil and groundwater but also to enhance their degradation in treatment and remediation systems. Another focus of Chiu’s work is the redox properties, such as reversible electron storage capacity (ESC), of biochar and other black carbon materials. The origin, size, distribution, and accessibility of ESC to solutes and microbes may have important implications for biogeochemistry as well as practical applications in environmental engineering.

Chiu is a member of the American Chemical Society. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2000 and Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Engineering in 2003. He has developed a number of water and wastewater treatment technologies based on nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) and biochar. One of his technologies was selected by NASA Tech Briefs as one of the seven Top Inventions in 2007.

Research Areas

• Environmental and Water Resources
• Sustainability
• Water