Skip to main content
Ni-Bin Chang

Ni-Bin Chang

Professor

EMAIL

BIOGRAPHY

Ni-Bin Chang received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan in 1983, and his master’s and  doctoral degrees in environmental system engineering from Cornell University in 1989 and 1991, respectively. He is a professor of sustainable system engineering having held this post in the U.S. since 2002. He is also a professional engineer in the U.S. with over 30 years of experience in research, teaching and outreach/community services. He conducts both fundamental and applied research, combining theory and experimentation to work on these next-generation challenges aiming to minimize operational disruption of infrastructure due to human activities and natural disasters, develop green and sustainable materials, explore remote sensing of the environment and implement ecological engineering principles. It led to providing risk-informed, forward-looking, cost-effective and environmentally benign solutions for sustainable development at varying scales.

His research lies at the intersection of sustainability science and sustainable engineering with a highly interdisciplinary nature. He has been seeking interdisciplinary sustainability solutions for three decades to discover synergistic knowledge with the aid of convergence science. These findings are deeply rooted among intertwined issues in system engineering, industrial ecology, ecological engineering, material engineering, environmental engineering, earth science, hydrological science, machine learning, remote sensing and spatial informatics. He strived to tackle interdisciplinary sustainability solutions in cross-linked facets of water availability and quality, air quality, waste flows, urban growth and urban food-energy-water nexus at varying scales leading to explore urban metabolisms, urban ecology and earth system processes in the coupled natural system and the built environment. His inventions with different green sorption media for removal of nutrients, heavy metals, E. Coli, algal toxins, and fluorinated surfactants from stormwater runoff, agricultural discharge, and wastewater effluent have led to 15 patented technologies in the food-energy-water-environment nexus and his patents of green sorption media have been licensed to industry after acquiring a $20-million industrial investment affecting sustainable engineering design and public policies.

He has been invited for presentations worldwide, published over 300 peered review journal articles and eight books, and provided journal leaderships as editor-in-chief, associate editor, and board member for over 20 journals relevant to sustainable development. He served as program director in the Hydrologic Sciences Program and the Cyber-Innovation Sustainability Science and Engineering Program at the National Science Foundation from August 2012 to August 2014. All these activities have a significant influence on the direction of a broad spectrum of sustainability science and engineering. He has received 40 honors and awards since 1987, including the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2010, the Bridging the Gaps Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the United Kingdom in 2012, the Distinguished Visiting Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom in 2014, the Blaise Pascal Medal from the European Academy of Sciences in 2016, and Fulbright Canada Research Chair Award in 2020.

He is listed among top 2% of environmental scientists and environmental engineers, respectively, and top 2% of the engineering community globally, in terms of citations from 1993 to 2026, as by released Stanford University and published by Elsevier.

He was also listed as an inaugural Highly Ranked Scholar worldwide by ScholarGPS on May 3, 2025, with a global ranking of four subject areas: Municipal Solid Waste (ranked no. 1), Environmental Resources Management (ranked no. 4); Waste Management (ranked no. 7); and Urban Area Research (ranked no. 14).

Up to now, he has been involved in $18.66 million worth of research projects. According to Google Scholar, as of May 2026, his research publications have been cited up to 21,233 times in which his h-index is 76 and his i10-index is 297. At UCF, he has been directing the Stormwater Management Academy since October 2011. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the International Society of Optics and Photonics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association, the International Association of Advanced Materials, and the European Academy of Sciences in European Union. Chang is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing published by the International Society of Optics and Photonics  and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hydroinformatics co-published by the International Water Association.

RESEARCH

  • Urban food-energy-water nexus analysis
  • Water quality management and hydroenvironmental systems
  • Waste management and industrial ecology
  • Fate and transport of contaminants in the environment
  • Environmental materials and pollution control
  • Remote sensing of environment and environmental informatics
  • System engineering, design science and transdisciplinary complex adaptive system analysis
  • Machine learning and artificial general intelligence
  • Synergistic Zero-Valent Iron-Based Green Sorption Media for Contaminant Removal. U.S. Patent 11,896,948, issued on Feb. 13, 2024. Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang, Debra Reinhart, and A. H. M. Anwar Sadmani.
  • Contaminant Removal by Zero-valent Iron-based Green Sorption Media. U.S. Patent 11,980,865 B2 issued on May 14, 2024. Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang, Debra Reinhart, and A. H. M. Anwar Sadmani.
  • Synergistic Green Sorption Media for Cyanobacterial Toxin Remediation. U.S. Patent 12,365,604 B2 issued on July 22, 2025. Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Color Removal with ZIPGEM Filtration Media for Water and Wastewater Treatment. Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang, U.S. Patent 12,577,129 and 12,577,129 В2, issued on March 17, 2026.
  • Passive Nutrient Removal Material Mixes. US Patent 7824551, issued on Nov. 2, 2010, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Passive Nutrient Removal Material Mixes (DIV). US Patent 8002985, issued on August 23, 2011, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Retention/Detention Pond Stormwater Treatment System. US Patent 8153005, issued on April 10, 2012, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Retention/Detention Pond and Green Roof Passive Nutrient Removal Material Mixes.US Patent 7897047, issued on March 1, 2011, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Passive Underground Drainfield for Septic Tank Nutrient Removal Using Special Functionalized Green Filtration Media. US Patent 7927484, issued on April 19, 2011, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang, Ammarin Makkeasorn.
  • Functionalized Green Filtration for Passive Underground Drainfield for Septic Tank Nutrient Removal. US Patent 7955507 issued on June 7, 2011, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang, Ammarin Makkeasorn.
  • On-Site Wastewater Treatment Using a Functionalized Green Filtration Media Sorption Field. US Patent 8101079, issued on Jan. 24, 2012, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang, Ammarin Makkeasorn.
  • Green Sorption Media for Water Treatment. US Patent 8002984, issued on August 23, 2011, Martin P. Wanielista, Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Subsurface Upflow Wetland System for Nutrient and Pathogen Removal in Wastewater Treatment Systems. US Patent 8252182, issued on August 28, 2012, Ni-Bin Chang, Martin P. Wanielista.
  • Automatic Pulse Tracer Velocimeter (APTV), US Patent 10612952, issued on April 7, 2020, A. James Crawford, Ni-Bin Chang.
  • Water Treatment Using an Iron and Clay-Based Sorption Media, US Patent 10,696,567, issued on July 31, 2020, Ni-Bin Chang, Martin P. Wanielista
  • The Iron Filings-Based Green Environmental Media for Nutrient Removal and Methods of Use, US Patent 10,787,373, issued on Sept. 29, 2020, Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang, Martin P. Wanielista.
  • Synergistic Iron and Clay-Based Green Environmental Media for Nutrient Removal, US Patent 10,947,131 B2, issued on March 16, 2021, Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang, Martin P. Wanielista.
  • Filtration System and Method for Treating Water Containing Nitrogen and Phosphorus Compounds, US Patent 11,235,307, issued on February 1, 2022,Inventors: Ni-Bin Chang, Martin P. Wanielista.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Joyce, J., Chang, N. B., Harji, R., and Ruppert, T. (2018) Coupling infrastructure resilience and flood risk assessment via copulas analyses for a coastal green-grey-blue drainage system under extreme weather events. Environmental Modelling and Software, 100, 82-103
  • Lu, Q., Chang, N. B., Joyce, J., Chen, A. S., Savic, D. A., Djordjevic, S., and Fu, G.  (2018) Exploring the potential flood impact on urban growth in London by a cellular automata-based Markov chain model. Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems, 68, 121-132.
  • Chang, N. B., Wen, D., McKenna, A., and Wanielista, M. P. (2018) The impact of carbon source as electron donor on composition and concentration of dissolved organic nitrogen in biosorption-activated media for stormwater and groundwater co-treatment. Environmental Science and Technology, 52(16), 9380–9390.
  • Wen, D., Ordonez, D., McKenna A., and Chang, N. B. (2019) Fate and transport processes of nitrogen in biosorption activated media for stormwater treatment at varying field conditions of a roadside linear ditch, Environmental Research, 181, 108915.
  • Ordonez, D., Valencia, A., Elhakiem, H., Chang, N. B., and Wanielista, M. P. (2020) Adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics of Advanced Green Environmental Media (AGEM) for nutrient removal and recovery in agricultural discharge and stormwater runoff, Environmental Pollution, 266(1), 115172.
  • Zhang, W., Valencia, A., Gu, L., Zheng, Q., and Chang, N. B. (2020): Integrating emerging and existing renewable energy technologies for a community-scale microgrid in an energy-water nexus for resilience improvement. Applied Energy, 279, 115716.
  • Wen, D., Valencia, A., Lustosa, E., Ordonez, D., Rice, N., Shokri, M., Gao, Y., Kibler, K., Chang, N. B., and Wanielista, M. P. (2020): Evaluation of green sorption media blanket filters for nitrogen removal in a stormwater retention basin at varying groundwater conditions in a karst environment. Science of the Total Environment, 719(1), 134826. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134826.
  • Valencia, A., Zhang, W., and Chang, N. B. (2021): Integration of machine learning classifiers and higher-order tensors for screening the optimal recipe of filter media in stormwater treatment. Science of the Total Environment, doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145423
  • Zhang, W., Valencia, A., and Chang, N. B. (2021): Synergistic integration between machine learning and agent-based modeling: A multidisciplinary review. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, 10.1109/TNNLS.2021. 3106777.
  • Sun, Z., Chang, N. B., Chen, C. F., Mostafiz, C., and Gao, W. (2021): Ensemble learning via higher order singular value decomposition for integrating data and classifier fusion in water quality monitoring. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3055798.
  • Podder, A., Sadmani, A. H. M. A., Reinhart, D., Chang, N. B., and Goel, R. (2021): Per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a contaminant of emerging concern in surface water: A transboundary review of their occurrences and toxicity effects. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 419, 126361.
  • Valencia, A., Zhang, W., and Chang, N. B. (2022): Sustainability transitions of urban food-energy-water-waste infrastructure: A living laboratory approach for circular economy. Resources Conservation and Recycling, 177, 105991.
  • Valencia, A., Zhang, W., Gu, L., and Chang, N. B. (2022): Synergies of green building retrofit strategies for improving sustainability and resilience via a building-scale food-energy-water nexus. Resources Conservation and Recycling, 176, 105939.
  • Valencia, A., Qiu, J., and Chang, N. B. (2022) Integrating sustainability indicators and governance structures via clustering analysis and multicriteria decision making for an urban agriculture network. Ecological Indicators, 142, 109237.
  • Valencia, A., Hossain, M. U., and Chang, N. B. (2022) Building energy retrofit simulation for exploring decarbonization pathways in a community-scale food-energy-water-waste nexus. Sustainable Cities and Society, 87, 104173.
  • Sun, Z., Chang, N. B., Chen, C. F., and Gao, W. (2022): Lake algal bloom monitoring via remote sensing with biomimetic and computational intelligence. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 113, 102991.
  • Ordonez, D., Podder, A., Valencia, A., Sadmani, H. M., Reinhart, D., and Chang, N. B. (2022): Continuous fixed-bed column adsorption of Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) from canal water using zero-valent iron-based filtration media, Separation and Purification Technology, 299(15), 121800.
  • Islam, T., Valencia, A., Ordonez, D., Sadmani, A.H.M., and Chang, N. B. (2023): The effect of Green Sorption Media pretreatment on nanofiltration membrane for PFAS removal. Separation and Purification Technology, 324, 124548,
  • Elkamel M., Valencia A., Zhang, W., Zheng, Q., and Chang, N. B. (2023): Multiagentdeling for linking a green transportation system with an urban agriculture network in a food-energy-water nexus. Sustainable Cities and Society, 89, 104354.
  • Zhang, W., Valencia, A., and Chang N. B. (2023): Fingerprint networked reinforcement learning via multiagent modeling for improving decision-making in an urban food-energy-water nexus. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 53(7), 4324 – 4338.
  • Ordonez, D., Valencia, A., and Chang, N. B. (2023) Investigating shared adsorption capacity and thermodynamics for simultaneous removal of microcystin and phosphorus via green sorption media in eutrophic water, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 38, e00777.
  • Kilgus-Vesely, S., Valencia, A., Ordonez, D., and Chang, N. B. (2024) Developing upflow filters operated in a cascade sequence to compare two green sorption media for phosphorus removal. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 39, e00808.
  • Cheng, J., Odeh, M., Robles Lecompte, A., Islam, T., Ordonez, D., Valencia, A., Sadmani, A. H. M., Reinhart, D., and Chang, N. B. (2024) Simultaneous removal of nutrients and biological pollutants via specialty absorbents in a water filtration system for watershed remediation, Environmental Pollution, 349, 123903.
  • Robles Lecompte A., Cheng, J., McKenna, A. M., and Chang, N. B. (2024) Linking pattern shifts of dissolved organic nitrogen fractional removal with microbial species richness in a cascade upflow biofiltration process. Water Research, 264, 122130.
  • Cheng, J. and Chang, N. B. (2024) Understanding the transitional phase of nitrate removal in three different specialty adsorbents for stormwater treatment, Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2, 113971.
  • Qiu, J., Zhao. H., Chang, N. B., Wardropper, C. B., Campbell, C., Baggio, J. A., Guan, Z., Kohl, P., Newell, J., and Wu, J. (2024) Scaling up urban agriculture as a transformative change to advance social-ecological resilience. Nature-Food, 5, 83–92.
  • Islam, T., Sadmani, A.H.M., and Chang, N. B. (2025) Exploring Architected Functional Adaptive Semiconductor Material Design for the Visible Light-Driven Photocatalytic Destruction of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, ACS Physical Chemistry C, 129, 11927−11937.
  • Gudla, R. and Chang, N. B. (2025) Multi-sensor data fusion via a cortical gap network for time series large data gap filling under uncertainties, 126, Information Fusion, Part A, 103618.
  • Cheng, J., McKenna, A., and Chang, N. B. (2026) Exploring seasonal lability and fate of dissolved organic nitrogen cycling in a field-scale water filtration system. Water Research, 292, 125251.
  • Gudla, R., Cheng, J., and Chang, N. B. (2026) An attention-driven and autoencoder-based bidirectional LSTM for long interval gap-filling in a water treatment process data set. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 41(1), 15-25.
  • Gudla, R., Cheng, J., and Chang, N. B. (2026) Developing chemical and microbial virtual sensors with cortical gap fusion network in a water filtration system. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 175, 114560.
  • Cheng, J., Robles-Lecompte, A., McKenna, A., and Chang, N. B.  (2026) Exploring Molecular Dynamics and Structure Change of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen under Nitrate and Phosphate Pulses in a Cascade Upflow Biofiltration System. Environmental Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c16948.

AWARDS

  • Lifetime Achievement Award, International Conferences on Water Resources and Environment Research, 2025.
  • Distinguished Lecturer, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (DL. IEEE), Oct. 2018 – Oct. 2028.
  • Fulbright Canada Research Chair (Finalist) in Interdisciplinary Sustainability Solutions, the Department of State in the US and the Fulbright Canada, June 2020.
  • Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), United Kingdom, Feb. 2014.
  • Fulbright Specialty Award, Department of State in the United States and the German- American Fulbright Commission, July 2012.
  • Bridging the Gaps Award, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Exeter, United Kingdom, May 2012.
  • Intergovernmental Personnel Award, National Science Foundation, USA, Aug. 2012 – Aug. 2014.
  • Outstanding Achievement Award, Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), ASCE, USA, May 2010.
  • Member, Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida
  • Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • Recipient, Blaise Pascal Medal, European Academy of Sciences
  • Fellow, the International Society of Optics and Photonics
  • Fellow, the American Society of Civil Engineers 
  • Fellow, the Royal Society of Chemistry (the United Kingdom) 
  • Fellow, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • Fellow, the International Association of Advanced Materials
  • Fellow, the Asia- Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association
  • Fellow, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • Fellow, the European Academy of Sciences
  • Fellow, the National Academy of Inventors 
  • Member, Florida Inventors Hall of Fame

LATEST NEWS

    Environmental Engineering Professor Honored for Science Contributions

    Read more ➞