User:Kipepea/Janet Hering

Janet Hering (born 1958) is an US American biogeochemist and the Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology (Eawag). She is Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETHZ) and Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Hering is well-known for her laboratory and field experimental studies on biogeochemical cycling of trace elements in natural waters, water treatment technologies for the removal of inorganic contaminants from drinking water and the management of water resources and water infrastructure.

Biography
Hering studied chemistry at Cornell University and graduated with a Master's degree from Harvard University in 1981. In 1988, she earned her doctoral degree in oceanography in the joint graduate program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and started as research fellow at Eawag until 1991. At the University of California in Los Angeles, she held the post of Assistant Professor (1991-1995), Associate Professor (1995-1996) and Adjunct Professor (1997-1999). In 1997, she transferred to the California Institute of Technology, working as Associate Professor (1996-2002), Professor (2002-2008) and Visiting Associate (2009-2011). In 2002, she was awarded a professorship at Caltech and she became Executive Officer at Caltech Keck Laboratories in 2003. In 2007, Hering followed a call to the chair of Environmental Biogeochemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETHZ) and became the director of Eawag. Since 2010, she is also Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and was Scientific Director of the Center for Risk Analysis and Risk Governance (CRAG) until 2015.

Scientific contribution
For most of her career, Hering’s research focused on the biogeochemical processes underlying both the occurrence and mobility of inorganic contaminants (e.g., arsenic, copper, manganese, uranium, etc.) in the aquatic environment and the efficiency of their removal during water treatment. By studying both natural and engineered systems, Hering has been able to identify processes that are relevant in both types of systems as well as the factors whose variation can result in different mobility of contaminants in different systems. This not only extends the understanding of both natural and engineered systems but allows for the optimization of engineered systems and for the development of “partially-controlled” systems. As an example, column studies of manganese transport were conducted in Hering’s laboratory under variable saturation conditions. The influx of oxygen under unsaturated conditions was shown to induce microbially-mediated manganese oxidation resulting in sequestration not only of manganese but also of zinc (added as a co-contaminant). Such phenomena could be exploited to sequester dissolved manganese in the sub-surface before it contacts a drinking-water well, where oxidation and concurrent precipitation of manganese oxides can cause clogging problems.

Earlier field and laboratory studies conducted in California examined the complex interplay between microbial and geochemical reactions of arsenic, demonstrating that both adsorbed and dissolved arsenate could be microbially reduced to arsenite, concurrent with iron reduction. Comparable processes were observed in field studies conducted on a reservoir in the Los Angeles Aqueduct system where in situ addition of ferric chloride coagulant has been used to sequester arsenic. Integration does not, however, come without costs. The rationale for setting bounds to integration were explored by Hering in a policy forum article published in Science.

Hering’s research has spanned several disciplines (from geochemistry to microbiology to engineering) and has addressed processes at multiple scales. The evolution of her research interests have led to a focus on partially-engineered systems (such as bank filtration) in which natural processes play a central role. Hering has identified a greater reliance on such partially-engineered systems as one possible path toward more sustainable water management.

Awards

 * U.S. National Science Foundation’s Young Investigator Award and Presidential Faculty Fellows Award
 * IUPAC 2015 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Awards
 * 2015 to present member, U.S. National Academy of Engineering

Selected activities

 * 2016 to present member, Swiss National Science Foundation Council
 * 2013 to present member, scientific advisory board, AquaDiva, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
 * 2009 to present Chair, 2008-2009, Member, Advisory Board, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
 * 2008 to present member, GAIA Advisory Board

Hering is currently a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science. She further is contributing her expertise to the following institutions: Environmental Science & Technology, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Deep-Sea Research, Journal of Environmental Engineering ASCE, Colloids and Surfaces, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of the American Water Works Association, Nature, Separation Science and Technology, Water Environment Research, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ACS/Petroleum Research Fund, Swiss National Science Foundation

Publications
List of Publications on Research Gate