Advances in Wastewater Treatment Technologies and Approaches

Co-Chair Biographies:

1.  Dr. Hongde Zhou is an NSERC/GE Industrial Research Chair in Advanced Wastewater Technologies and an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph. His research interests include Membrane bioreactor processes for wastewater treatment, Hybrid membrane technologies for NOM removal, Ozonation and advanced oxidation processes, Agricultural waste management, Manure anaerobic digestion, Wastewater reuse and Water disinfection.

  1. Dr. Wayne Parker is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Parker conducts research in the areas of wastewater treatment and sludge processing with a specific emphasis on model development and evaluation. In this regard he is actively involved in studies that address the fate of microconstituents in wastewater systems, integrated modeling of wastewater and sludge handling systems, sludge pre-treatment processes and advanced digestion configurations. Wayne is the recipient of the Water Environment Federation’s Willem Rudolfs Medal, the province of Ontario’s Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the Petro-Canada Young Innovators Award and Carleton Universities Research Achievement Award. Dr. Parker is member of the Water Environment of Ontario’s Biosolids Committee and Wastewater Treatment and Technology Committee and is an active member of the Water Environment Federation.
  1. Dr. James Higgins is a Senior Consultant and Director of Ecological Engineering for Jacques Whitford Limited, based in its Burlington, ON office. He was formerly President and CEO of Soil Enrichment Systems, an ecological engineering consulting & contracting firm. He also is an adjunct professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Ottawa. James is/has been project/technical manager of various water/wastewater treatment, phytoremediation, constructed wetlands, stormwater management and bioengineering projects, including one for the design of the now successfully operating, horizontal sub-surface flow constructed wetland for treating ethylene glycol-contaminated stormwater runoff from Edmonton International Airport. He is currently project manager for the final design of a large vertical sub-surface flow engineered wetland (5 acres) to treat up to 1.2 MM gpd of propylene glycol-contaminated stormwater and spent ADFs from Buffalo Niagara International Airport, and technical manager for water/wastewater treatment matters for a Class Ea for a major new refinery.