Kaisen Lin

Dr. Kaisen Lin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Michigan State University, leading the Lin Aerosol Lab. His research focuses on bioaerosol behavior, lung deposition dynamics, and airborne pathogen transmission, with applications to public health and environmental engineering. He teaches courses like Environmental Chemistry and Air Pollution Engineering, and has received awards including the Withrow Teaching Excellence Award (2023) and the ASCE ExCEEd Fellowship (2023).

Education:

• Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech (2020)
• M.S., Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech (2016)
• B.A., Agricultural Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang University (2013)

Key Research Areas:

• Decay of airborne pathogens in environmental conditions
• Lung deposition patterns of inhalable particles
• Bioaerosol detection in HVAC systems
• Microcystin degradation in harmful algal bloom aerosols
• Hand dryer microbial dispersion

Awards:

• 2023: Withrow Teaching Excellence Award
• 2023: ASCE ExCEED Teaching Workshop Fellowship
• 2021: UC Davis Professors of the Future Fellowship
• 2019: Awardee of The Graduate Research Development Program

Lab Team: Supervises PhD students (Zhouyuan Wang, Lenny Sun), undergraduates (Janie Cooper, Om Nair, etc.), and alumni including Zoe Linko (M.S. 2025) and Joshua Gleason (B.S. 2023).

Grants & Projects:

• Funded by Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) for microcystin degradation studies
• Collaborates with MSU IPF on HVAC filter pathogen detection