Prof. ZHANG Xiangru Named First Joint Winner in 2022 Environmental Science and Technology Best Paper Awards

Prof. Zhang Xiangru’s research paper was recognized as one of the most impactful publications of 2022 in Environmental Science & Technology, a leading journal in the field. [Download Photo]

A research paper authored by Prof. ZHANG Xiangru of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been selected as the First Joint Winner in the Critical Review category of the 2022 Environmental Science and Technology Best Paper Awards.

Titled “Which Micropollutants in Water Environments Deserve More Attention Globally?”, the paper was published in Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T), a leading journal in the field, in 2022. The announcement of the awards was made on the front cover and in an editorial of ES&T (Volume 58, Issue 14), which was published on April 9, 2024.

The paper was co-authored by Prof. Zhang (corresponding author) and his former PhD students Dr. YANG Yun (now postdoc at Beijing Normal University), Dr. JIANG Jingyi (now Assistant Professor at Changsha University of Science and Technology), Dr. HAN Jiarui (now Research Assistant Professor at HKUST and Visiting Scholar at Stanford University), Dr. LI Wanxin (now Assistant Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University), as well as collaborators from the University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Rice University in the United States.

Over the past three years, ES&T has published an average of 1,750 research papers annually. Each year, ES&T editors meticulously review all published papers to select those that represent the most vital and influential work in the field. The selected papers represent the most impactful publications of 2022.

Prof. Zhang’s winning paper not only provides a comprehensive review of the ever-increasing chemical pollution in water environments, but also answers an important lingering question — which micropollutants or class of micropollutants deserve more attention globally and should be given higher priority for removal?

Prof. Zhang’s research is mainly about detection, identification, control and toxicity evaluation of new disinfection byproducts and micropollutants in waters. An area of global concern, the study of new pollutants in multi-media environments was recently identified as a top 10 cutting-edge scientific issue by China Association for Science and Technology. Prof. Zhang has generated 100 journal papers, 60 of which are published in Nature Water, Nature Communications, Science Bulletin, Environmental Science & Technology and Water Research. His 12 papers have been ranked as “ESI top 1% highly cited papers” by Web of Science. His 12 PhD graduates and six MSc graduates work as professors at universities. In recognition of his achievements in the field of disinfection byproducts, he was invited to give plenary presentations at the Gordon Research Conference on Drinking Water Disinfection Byproducts four consecutive times in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

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