2024
• 02/11/2024: In response to an invitation from Springer Nature’s “The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry” series, Dr. Tang contributed two chapters: “Disinfection By-Products in Daily Life” and “Disinfection By-Products in the Energy Sector,” to the volume “Disinfection By-Products in Water.” These contributions mark the 50th anniversary of disinfection by-products research since their discovery in 1974.

2020
• 05/28/2020: Congratulations to Micayla Schambura who is funded by the U-SOAR program at IUP to conduct research during the summer!
• 05/27/2020: Alvyn Berg’s paper titled “Unlocked disinfection by-product formation potential upon exposure of swimming pool water to additional stimulants” is chosen as the Best Paper published in the journal Frontiers of Environmental Science and Engineering. This news is announced in the latest Editorial at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11783-020-1234-0 and http://journal.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-020-1234-0. It is also published in the printed version in Issue 3 of Volume 14 in June.
2019
• 12/5/2019: Dr. Tang serves as a panelist for NSF Environmental Engineering program in Washington DC.
• 11/20/2019: Dr. Tang’s paper titled “The haloacetic acid leap in effluent of a biologically active carbon filter experiencing a disinfectant switch” is accepted for publication on Chemosphere.
• 11/11/2019: Congrats to Siyu Zhu, whose paper on membrane capacitive deionization modeling is accepted for publication on AWWA Water Science.
• 11/5/2019: Dr. Tang chairs the second faculty development colloquium series with a topic on budgeting for grant proposals. Ms. Jennifer Beauseigneur from Research Institute is the invited panel speaker.
• 10/14/2019: Dr. Tang talks in the Chinese/English Bilingual Forum, hosted by the Department of Foreign Languages & Asian Studies Program. He is the first speaker invited to talk in this forum.
• 10/10/2019: Dr. Tang chairs the first faculty development colloquium series with a topic on writing grant proposals. Dr. Jeffrey Larkin from Biology Department is the invited panel speaker.
• 9/20/2019: The 8th Environmental Engineering Advisory Board Meeting was held on September 20, 2019. Dr. Tang updated the board with the progress of the Environmental Engineering Program.
• 7/29/2019: Dr. Tang presented a poster at Gordon Research Conference (GRC) – Water Disinfection, Byproducts and Health. He was selected to receive the Predominantly Undergraduate Institution (PUI) fund of GRC to attend this conference at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA from July 28 to August 2, 2019.
• 5/9/2019: Dr. Tang received recognition of 2018 scholarship achievement by the President’s Office.
• 4/30/2019: Dr. Tang led a field trip to Indiana Borough Wastewater Treatment Plant, bringing all students in his ENVE 461 class.
• 4/17/2019: Dr. Tang’s paper “Temperature and Desorption Mode Matter in Capacitive Deionization Process for Water Desalination” was accepted for publication by Environmental Technology. The first author Kuan Huang – Dr. Tang’ previous advisee, was now a PhD candidate at Case Western Reserve University.
• 4/16/2019: Dr. Tang led a field trip to Seward Power Plant – the world largest waste coal fired power plant. The plant offers two paid internships for our ENVE students to work on cooling water quality and treatment.
• 4/3/2019: Congratulations to Ting-An Fang and Alvyn Berg who won an award from the Sigma Xi society for their presentation at IUP Undergraduate Research Forum.
• 3/22/2019: Environmental engineering students Sarah Smallwood, Savannah Mitchell, and Andre Reis, Chemistry student Ting-An Fang, and Mathematics student Alvyn Berg, all supervised by Dr. Tang, presented their research to Environmental Engineering External Advisory Board members.
• 2/14/2019: As the first engineering speaker, Dr. Tang talked in the College Science Inspires Series Lecture. His lecture is entitled “Drowning in Disinfection Byproducts? Swimming Pool Water Quality and Treatment”.
• 2/1/2019: Dr. Tang gave an invited environmental engineering seminar titled “Disinfection byproducts in swimming pool water” at Saint Francis University.

2018
• 11/25/2018: Congratulations again to Alvyn Berg and Justine Fang whose second paper on swimming pool water study has been accepted by Journal of Water and Health.
• 11/14/2018: Congratulations to Alvyn Berg and Justine Fang whose paper on swimming pool water study has been accepted by Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering.
• 11/9/2018: Dr. Tang presented in Geosciences Department Seminar on “Shale gas production wastewater: Environmental implications and treatment”.
• 10/29/2018: Congratulations to Yanting Li and Ty Stewart whose paper has just been accepted by Journal of Water Process Engineering. Yanting and Ty were both undergraduate students when the work was done in Dr. Tang’s lab. They are currently pursuing master’s degrees in China and United States, respectively.
• 10/12/2018: We are glad to host Prof. Jay Regan’s visit to IUP. Prof. Regan was Dr. Tang’s Ph.D. co-advisor at Penn State Civil & Environmental Engineering. (Link)
• 9/28/2018: Dr. Tang gave a research presentation to the Environmental Engineering Advisory Board. His topic is “Applications of sustainable physicochemical processes to address challenging environmental issues”.
• 9/28/2018: Dr. Tang’s paper titled “Aerated electrolysis for reducing impacts of shale gas production wastewater on water sources regarding disinfection byproduct formation” has been accepted for publication by Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
• 8/23/2018: Stephen Long’s paper titled “A feasibility study of disinfection by-product precursor removal from surface water by a membrane bioreactor acclimatized with wastewater organic matter” has been accepted for publication in Water Science and Technology. Congratulations to Stephen!
• 8/9/2018: Alvyn Berg and Justine Fang presented their poster on swimming pool water study at 2018 RESS Poster Exhibition. We are glad that YMCA facilities director Bob Beckwith came to the poster session to support them. (Photo)
• 8/4/2018: Kuan Huang’s paper titled “Formation of disinfection by-products under influence of shale gas produced water” has been accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment.
• 7/29/2018: Adil Alsaiari’s paper titled “Field Investigations of Passive and Active Processes for Acid Mine Drainage Treatment: Are Anions a Concern?” has been accepted for publication in Ecological Engineering. Congratulations to Adil!
• 7/18/2018: Dr. Tang’s collaborating paper with Dr. Yuefeng Xie (Penn State) – “Impacts of shale gas production wastewater on disinfection byproduct formation: an investigation from a non-bromide perspective” has been accepted for publication by Water Research. The project was partially funded by Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center USGS 104B Small Grant Program.
• 7/13/2018: Alvyn Berg presented his research project titled “Determining best practices for swimming pool chlorination” in the second part of the Presenter Pizza Series for the RESS program.
• 5/18/2018: Dr. Tang’s collaborating paper with Dr. Jian Yu (Hunan University, China) – “Novel ZnFe2O4/TiO2/flake graphite composite as particle electrodes for efficient photoelectrocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B in water” has been accepted for publication by Water Science & Technology. IUP PSM program student Stephen Long is a co-author of the manuscript. Congratulations to Stephen!
• 5/5/2018: Kuan Huang graduates with Master’s degree from Penn State. He will pursue his Ph.D. degree at Case Western Reserve University this fall. Congratulations! (Graduation Photo)
• 4/28/2018: Justine Fang and Alvyn Berg are accepted to the 2018 RESS program. Alvyn is the RESS scholarship recipient. They will work on water quality projects related to swimming pools, water treatment, and water reuse.
• 4/10/2018: The class of CHEM 481/581 (Water Quality Chemistry) did a field trip to the Tanoma acid mine drainage (AMD) site to learn passive and active AMD treatment processes. (Photo)
• 3/19/2018: Dr. Xiangfei Sun from Carnegie Mellon University presents in Environmental Engineering Seminar with a topic “Using redox potential and bio-selectivity to simulate PCB chlorination process in anaerobic environment”.
• 2/26/2018: Stephen Long, PSM student, presents in Chemistry seminar on topic of disinfection byproduct precursor removal by membrane bioreactor.

2017
• 12/23/2017: Dr. Tang talks in College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Yangzhou University.
• 12/18/2017: Environmental Engineering student Shannon Madigan becomes ambassador at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China this winter. (Link)
• 10/04/2017: Penn State Professor Yuefeng Xie talks in Environmental Engineering Seminar. (Link)
• 9/26/2017: Drs Tang and Hamidi holds environmental engineering information nights for students. (Link)
• 9/15/2017: Penn State Professor Huanyu Cheng discusses “Dissolvable Tattoo Electronics for Bio-medicine” in Environmental Engineering Seminar.
• 8/28/2017: We welcome Sarah Smallwood to our environmental engineering program. She is the first student since the new program is launched this fall. (Photo)
• 8/10/2017: Jinxi Du, a gradated PSM student, presented his summer research titled “Trace elements in coals – A COALQUAL database investigation” at the RESS poster session.(Photo)
• 6/8/2017: Dr. Tang gave an invited seminar at Anhui University of Science and Technology (AUST), Huainan, China and met the President of AUST (News link).
• 6/6/2017: Dr. Tang gave an invited seminar at China University of Mining Technology, Xuzhou, China.
• 5/22/2017: CHEM 112 Lab Report Class Portfolio is published online. Download PDF
• 5/13/2017: Dr. Tang gave an invited talk at the annual meeting of Chinese American Professors and Professionals of Pennsylvania (CAP) on “Talent recruiting activities in China”.
• 5/12/2017: Jinxi Du – a graduated IUP PSM student, joined Tang’s group. He was selected by the summer’s RESS program.
• 5/4/2017: Dr. Yajuan Mu, a visiting scholar from Hebei University, finished her 3-month exchange in Dr. Tang’s research group. We wish her great success after she returns to China. (Photo)
• 5/1/2017: Adil Alsaiari presented his research at IUP Chemistry Seminar.
• 4/26/2017: Dr. Tang gave a lecture to high school students at Saltsburg Middle High School on using smartphones for water quality analysis.
• 4/15/2017: Dr. Tang gave an invited seminar titled “Effectiveness of Capacitive Deionization on Disinfection By-product Precursors” at Wuhan University, China.
• 4/5/2017: Adil Alsaiari presented his poster entitled “Removal of halides by acid mine drainage treatment processes” at IUP Graduate Forum and won the third place. Congratulations to Adil! (Photo 1, Photo 2)
• 3/31/2017: Dr. Tang serves as an IUP Scholarship Judge at the 78th Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair. (Photo 1, Photo 2)
• 3/18/2017: Tang receives 2016 Excellence in Review Award for Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering. (Award Certificate )
• 2/21/2017: “Effect of desorption methods on electrode regeneration performance of capacitive deionization”, first-authored by a past undergraduate supervised by Dr. Tang, was accepted for publication by Journal of Environmental Engineering.
• 2/16/2017: Dr. Tang joined the Provost to welcome the visiting scholar group from Hebei University in a reception lunch. Chemistry Department hosts three visiting scholars and Dr. Tang hosts one of them in his research lab. (Photo)
• 2/14/2017: Chinese American Professors and Professionals of Pennsylvania‘s new website is online. Dr. Tang serves as the Webmaster Committee Chair of the association.
• 2/13/2017: Prof. Joseph Goodwill from St. Francis University visited Dr. Tang’s lab and gave a seminar titled “Use of Ferrate for Water Treatment”.
• 2/11/2017: In collaboration with Department of Food and Nutrition, Prof. Idamarie Laquatra and Hao Tang’s proposed interdisciplinary project titled “The Intersection of Food Systems and Water Quality” on a teamwork course development received $2,000 internal support from an NSF grant awarded to IUP. (Link)
• 1/25/2017: Dr. Tang gave a guest lecture titled “Use your smartphones for water quality analysis” at Richland High School, Johnstown, PA. This event is part of the IUP Chemistry Department Visiting Scientist Program.
• 1/19/2017: Featured stories of Dr. Tang appeared in GeoTidings 2017 on Page 4. Click the PDF icon to download .
• 1/18/2017: Dr. Tang gave a lecture titled “Create your own dynamic research website using IUP resources” on IUP Technology Day. Handout PDF download . Photo 1, Photo 2

2016
• 12/29/2016: Dr. Tang gave an invited seminar titled “Capacitive Deionization Technology for Disinfection By-product Control” in Department of Environmental Science and Technology at Fudan University.
• 12/16/2016: Dr. Tang’s proposal “Impacts of Shale Gas Extraction on Disinfection Byproduct Formation”, in collaboration with Penn State, was selected to be recommended funding for a USGS 104B award from the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center. Final PA-WRRC project awards are contingent upon Congressional approval of funding for the NIWR program and the availability of these appropriated funds via USGS.
• 12/13/2016: CHEM 111 Lab Report Class Portfolio is published online. Download PDF
• 11/28/2016: Gloria Lo – a sophomore from Indiana Area Senior High School joined our group. This is the outreach plan under the Science Club Project between IUP and the local high school.
• 11/26/2016: Dr. Tang gave an invited seminar titled “Capacitive Deionization – a Promising Water Desalination Technology” in School of Resources and Environment at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. (Link) (Photo)
• 9/26/2016: Dr. Tang gave an invited seminar titled “Capacitive Deionization for Disinfection By-product Control: Effectiveness, Options and Challenges” at Penn State Harrisburg.
• 9/1/2016: Adil Alsaiari – a graduate student in PSM program joined our group. He will be advised till completion of his independent research CHEM690.
• 8/20/2016: Welcome to the new website of Tang’s research group. The site will be updated once a week.