Zhiyong

"Jason"

Ren

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, Associate Director for Research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

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Research interests: Water-energy nexus and energy and resource recovery during waste treatment processes.

Workers in hard hats and protective gear crouch working around a drum of green liquid — The Princeton PureLi team works with partners in the salt flats of the Atacama desert in Chile to improve lithium production from brine. Photo courtesy of Z. Jason Ren

How water innovation could be key to a sustainable economy

A palm-sized octopus figurine made of hydrogel — Princeton researchers have developed a new type of recyclable hydrogel that can be cut and molded into different forms. Photos by Dan Komoda

Reusable and recyclable, this new hydrogel squishes the old version’s environmental impact

Researcher wearing goggles operates a laser surrounded by lab equipment — Researcher Tian Zhao uses patterns of light to help guide robots that are the size of bacteria. Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Turning breakthroughs into lasting solutions

Woman handles strings to extract lithium salts. — Meiqi Yang, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering and one of the study’s lead authors, operates the string-based approach for lithium extraction. Photo by Bumper DeJesus

Better lithium production on a string

Independent studies by Princeton researchers Cuihong Song and Daniel P. Moore concur that methane emissions from municipal wastewater in the United States are actually closer to double than formerly calculated. Photos by Bumper DeJesus

Wastewater sector emits nearly twice as much methane as previously thought

Researchers Néhémie Guillomaitre and Xiaohui Xu hold a sample of the solar absorber gel, which acts like a sponge to soak up clean water and filter out contaminants. Photo by Bumper DeJesus

Solar-powered gel filters enough clean water to meet daily needs

Three students look closely at a model of an architectural structure.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fundamental insights into the built and natural environments, and interactions between the two

Faculty member, seated at end of row of colleagues, leads panel discussion.

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Decarbonizing the world while increasing energy access worldwide