Kartik Chandran

Dr. Kartik Chandran is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at the Henry Krumb School of Mines at Columbia University. With over 60 funded projects, his research aims to re-engineer the microbial nitrogen cycle and, through it, related carbon, water, and energy systems. He applies these insights to large-scale resource-efficient sanitation and to wastewater treatment systems in communities worldwide. One of his key breakthroughs has been to tailor mixed microbial communities in engineered bioprocess technologies to concurrently decarbonize the wastewater and sanitation sector, while enabling the recovery of valuable resources.

He has served in several leadership positions, including on the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for ISO 30500, contributing to the development of global standards for non-sewered sanitation systems. Notable honors include his membership on the Committee on Grand Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century, organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017–2018); being named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2015); and receiving the Paul L. Busch Award from the Water Environment Research Foundation (2010).

Kartik Chandran holds several patents and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has served as an editor for scientific journals, including Bioresource Technology, the Chemical Engineering Journal, Frontiers in Microbiology, and Frontiers of Environmental Science and Engineering. He is also a member of leading organizations such as the International Water Association and the Water Environment Federation.

Kartik Chandran joined Tecnológico de Monterrey as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in Advanced Technologies for Wastewater Treatment for the School of Engineering and Sciences.

• Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut
• B. Sc., Chemical Engineering (Honors), Indian Institute of Technology (formerly University of Roorkee)
  
   

• K. Chandran (2025), (Re-)engineering microbial community structure-function-metabolism toward sustainable wastewater treatment and sanitation.  Cell Reports Sustainability, 2(4), 100346
• Jiang, M., Khunjar, W., Li, A. and K. Chandran (2024). Divergent microbial structure still results in convergent microbial function during arrested anaerobic digestion of food waste at different hydraulic retention times. Bioresource Technology, 2024. 393: p. 130069.
• Narayan, A. S., Dorea, C., Willetts, J., Friedman, L., Kalbar, P. and K. Chandran (2024), A portfolio approach to achieving universal sanitation.  Nature Water, 2, p. 1044-1047
• Baideme, M. P., Long, C., Plante, L. T., Starke, J., Butkus, M. and K. Chandran (2022) Glycerol-driven denitratation: process kinetics, microbial ecology, and operational controls  Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 8, 729-741
• Lee, J.; Jeong, S.; Long, C.; Chandran, K., Size dependent impacts of a model microplastic on nitrification induced by interaction with nitrifying bacteria. J. Hazard. Mater. 2022, 424, 127363.

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