PhD Application in Environmental Science and Engineering at KAUST: Research in Microbial Electrochemistry

I am Bohan Chen from China, a master's student majoring in Civil Engineering (biological wastewater treatment direction) at Harbin Institute of Technology. I am eager to pursue a PhD degree in Environmental Science and Engineering at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to contribute to the academic community through cutting-edge research.

My research experience in magnetic biochar during my undergraduate studies demonstrated the precision and fulfillment of scientific research, sparking my initial interest. Therefore, I chose to earn a master’s degree after graduating from college. My master’s research field was biological wastewater treatment, and one of my research targets was to explain the metabolism of microbes in wastewater treatment. In the process of consulting relevant literature about microbial metabolism, I found that some research utilized microbial electrochemistry, specifically the microbial extracellular electron transfer, to investigate detailed microbial metabolism. After learning related knowledge, I was fascinated by microbial electrochemistry and wanted to conduct my future research in this field. This prompted me to pursue a PhD degree in this field.

Through further investigation, I found that KAUST has a research focus on microbial electrochemistry in the Environmental Science and Engineering Program. The presence of top scientists and their excellent academic achievements in this field at KAUST initially attracted me. Moreover, KAUST provides an ideal environment with abundant educational resources, including advanced research facilities, that enable students to focus on their research. The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the research community at KAUST will also provide opportunities for me to learn from experts in other related fields and broaden my knowledge. Therefore, I apply for a PhD position, hoping to conduct my research in microbial electrochemistry and contribute to the advancement of this field at KAUST.

My dissertation project focused on biological wastewater treatment, specifically enhanced biological phosphorus removal. This project allowed me to have a basic understanding of the related knowledge, methods, and facilities to reveal microbial mechanisms. In this project, I explored the formation mechanism of granular sludge and achieved enhanced phosphorus removal (from 0.5 mg/L to less than 0.1 mg/L) based on granular sludge. The main methods and facilities utilized include spectrophotometry, particle size analysis, parallel factor analysis of 3D fluorescence, XRD, ICP-MS, and metagenomics. These methods and facilities helped me to have a deeper insight into the impact of specific microbial metabolism on sludge granulation. Besides, my team collaboration, communication skills, and scheduling ability were developed in another project about sulfur autotrophic denitrification, cooperating with other researchers in our team. This experience further promoted me to learn knowledge of proteins, enzymes, and DNA transcription, etc., which impressed my understanding of microbial metabolism activity. Moreover, I got familiar with other facilities (e.g., HPLC, GC-MS, IC, qPCR) in our research group’s or school’s platform in my spare time. These prior research experiences have enhanced my understanding of microbial electrochemistry and equipped me with the necessary skills for scientific research, enabling me to quickly commence research work once the specific objective is determined.

Apart from academic experience, I also had two internships at the municipal design institute and environmental audit bureau, respectively. In the first internship, I acquired an understanding of the detailed operation of urban sewage treatment systems. In the later internship, my main work was to find out flaws in municipal construction, and I realized that most of the irrationalities in engineering were caused by empirical design and could be avoided with theoretical guidance, which taught me the essentiality of fundamental research for engineering application. Therefore, I aim to contribute theoretical support to the application of microbial electrochemistry in the engineering of wastewater treatment through my future research.

The journey of pursuing a PhD degree is the key preparation for me to enter research institutes as a scientist. In my future PhD period, I want to conduct my research in microbial electrochemistry, investigate the insidious mechanism of microbial metabolism in this direction, and explore its potential for engineering application. I am keen to learn about advanced knowledge and methodologies at KAUST and use them to conduct cutting-edge research. I am also desired to learn from students or experts across disciplines to broaden my horizon and research. Your university will be a magnificent stage for me to accomplish my goals.