He receives the 2026 Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award
Zhen (Jason) He was honored by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists
Zhen (Jason) He, associate chair and Laura and William Jens Professor in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2026 Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES).
The Ralph and Joe Bales Graber Science Award is named after two individuals who contributed to forming the environmental engineering and science profession. It is given annually to an individual who is an outstanding performer in managing and implementing environmental science programs and projects and has demonstrated exemplary professional conduct, has distinguished qualities of personal leadership, originality in devising new management techniques for dealing with environmental issues, and sensitivity and responsiveness to the impact of social and political influences on the conduct of environmental programs.
He will accept the award at the AAEES 2026 Academy Convocation and Celebration of Excellence in Arlington, Va., April 16.
He’s Environmental Biotechnology & Bioenergy Laboratory explores the intersection of microbiology, engineering and electrochemistry. The lab seeks to understand the microbial and electrochemical processes in engineered systems designed for resource recovery from wastewater treatment. He’s work includes but is not limited to biotechnology development for wastewater treatment, bioenergy production using microbial fuel cells, sustainable desalination technology, bioremediation using bio-electrochemical techniques and the understanding of those and other environmental biological processes.
He is the director of WashU’s Center for Water Innovation (CWI) and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hazardous Materials and of Water Environment Research.
He’s contributions to environmental engineering have earned him widespread recognition, including receiving the Frederick George Pohland Medal from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) and AAEES in 2025; election as Fellow of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) in 2022 and of the International Water Association (IWA) in 2020; receiving the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the highly cited researcher designation from Clarivate Analytics in 2018; and being named a Faculty Fellow in 2017 and receiving the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research in 2019 from the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is a board-certified Environmental Engineering Member by Eminence by AAEES.