Mark Wiesner

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Wiesner's research interests include membrane processes, nanostructured materials, transport and fate of nanomaterials in the environment, colloidal and interfacial processes, and environmental systems analysis.

Appointments and Affiliations

• James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
• Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative
• Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society

Contact Information

• Office Location: 120 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC 27708-0287
• Office Phone: (919) 660-5292
• Email Address: wiesner@duke.edu
• Websites:
  • Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT)
  • International Network For Researching, Advancing, and Assessing Materials for Environmental Sustainability (INFRAMES)
  • Wiesner Research Group

Education

• Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, 1985
• M.S. University of Iowa, 1980
• B.A. Coe College, 1978

Research Interests

Membrane processes, nanostructured materials, transport and fate of nanomaterials in the environment, colloidal and interfacial processes, and environmental systems analysis

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Fellow. Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. 2015
• Member of the National Academy of Engineering. National Academy of Engineering. 2015
• Clarke Water Prize. National Water Research Institute. 2011
• Fellow. International Water Association. 2011
• AAAS Fellows. American Association for the Advancement of Science, The. 2009
• Fellow. American Society of Civil Engineers,. 2009
• Stansell Family Distinguished Research Award. Duke University. 2009
• Honorary Professor. Nankai University, Tianjin, China. 2007
• Frontiers in Research Award. Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. 2004
• Pierre de Fermat Lauréat and Chair of Excellence. L’Institut National Polytechnique, Toulouse, France. 2004
• Charles Duncan Award for Scholarship and Teaching. Rice University. 1998
• Rudolph Hering Medal. American Society of Civil Engineers. 1995
• Rudolph Hering Medal. Environmental Engineering Division, ASCE. 1995
• J.J. Barr Award. National Association of Water Companies. 1985
• Member. Phi Beta Kappa. 1978
• Undergraduate Investigator. National Science Foundation. 1978

Courses Taught

• CEE 494: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 564: Physical Chemical Processes in Environmental Engineering
• ENVIRON 899: Master's Project

In the News

• Modeling a ‘River of Plastic’ (Dec 9, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Global List of Highly Cited Puts Duke in Top Ten (Nov 19, 2019)
• Duke Faculty Plentiful On ‘Highly Cited’ List (Nov 27, 2018)
• Ten Years In, What Has CEINT Taught Us? (Oct 31, 2018 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• All That Is Gold Is Not Biochemically Stable (Aug 28, 2018 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Energy Initiative Awards Seven New Seed Grants (Apr 28, 2017)
• When Art Tackles the Invisibly Small (Dec 12, 2016 | Duke Research Blog)
• Four Pratt Faculty Listed Among Most Highly Cited (Jan 26, 2016)
• Duke Days in China Features Research Presentations by Faculty (Oct 21, 2015)
• A Digital Poetry of Gold Nanoparticles (Oct 6, 2015)
• Two New Studies Set Ground Rules for Nanotechnology Research (Aug 19, 2015)
• Wiesner Named Chair Of Duke CEE (Mar 30, 2015)
• Wiesner and Daubechies Named National Academy of Engineering Members (Feb 6, 2015)
• Mark Wiesner comments: Silver too small to see, but everywhere you look (May 28, 2014 | The New York Times)
• CEINT’s French Connection Provides Students with International Ties (Apr 13, 2014)
• Duke goes small to make big breakthroughs with $15M grant (Nov 13, 2013 | Triangle Business Journal)

Representative Publications

• Chowdhury, NN; Hicks, E; Wiesner, MR, Investigating and Modeling the Regulation of Extracellular Antibiotic Resistance Gene Bioavailability by Naturally Occurring Nanoparticles., Environmental Science & Technology, vol 56 no. 21 (2022), pp. 15044-15053 [10.1021/acs.est.2c02878] [abs].
• Thornton, LL; Carlson, DE; Wiesner, MR, Predicting emerging chemical content in consumer products using machine learning., The Science of the Total Environment, vol 834 (2022) [10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154849] [abs].
• Varga, HF; Wiesner, MR, Relationship between Atomic Force Microscopy and Centrifugation Measurements for Dust Fractions Implicated in Solar Panel Soiling., Environmental Science & Technology, vol 56 no. 13 (2022), pp. 9604-9612 [10.1021/acs.est.2c00164] [abs].
• Liu, Y; Sipe, JM; Xu, W; Zhu, X; Bai, L; Xu, D; Li, G; Liang, H; Wiesner, MR, Study on the mechanisms for the influence of nanomaterials on the separation performance of nanocomposite membrane from a modeling perspective, Desalination, vol 532 (2022) [10.1016/j.desal.2022.115740] [abs].
• Hicks, E; Wiesner, MR, Exploring the design implications of bacteriophages in mixed suspensions by considering attachment and break-up., Water Research, vol 216 (2022) [10.1016/j.watres.2022.118303] [abs].