Bei Liu

Dr. Bei Liu is a Research Associate Professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, where she has advanced from Postdoctoral Researcher (2020-2021) to Research Assistant Professor (2021-2024) before her current position since June 2024. Previously, she served as a Lecturer at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology (2018-2019) and conducted academic exchanges at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Zurich.

Dr. Liu earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Beijing Normal University (2011-2017), where she was awarded the National Scholarship for Doctoral Students in both 2015 and 2016. During her doctoral studies, she completed a co-education period in Prof. Joel A. Pedersen's group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her research focuses on environmental interfacial chemistry, particularly examining

• the environmental behavior and transformation of nanomaterials, including redox reactions and colloidal stability in terrestrial and aquatic systems
• the geochemical cycling of rare earth elements, specifically cerium oxide transformations and interactions with organic ligands and earth minerals
• the transport mechanisms of organic pollutants in soil-plant systems

Her work bridges fundamental interfacial processes with practical environmental applications.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on two-dimensional nanomaterials (particularly MoS₂ and CeO₂), with research spanning environmental fate, transformation mechanisms, and applications in water treatment. Her work increasingly focuses on practical environmental remediation technologies, with growing emphasis on heavy metal removal and resource recovery applications.

Dr. Liu has received significant recognition including:

• National Scholarship for Doctoral Students (2015, 2016)
• Yutu Tianxia Excellence Award (2014)

She serves as a reviewer for several prestigious journals including Journal of Hazardous Materials and Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.

Her research program is supported by multiple competitive grants including:

• Principal investigator for National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Program (2020-2022)
• Principal investigator for China Postdoctoral Science Foundation General Project (2020-2021)
• Major participant in Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation Key Project (2023-2026)
• Major participant in National Natural Science Foundation of China General Project (2021-2024)

She has published over 20 papers as first or corresponding author in top environmental journals including Environmental Science & Technology, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, and Chemical Engineering Journal.