Center for PFAS Research Faculty Spotlight: Hui Li

Hui Li and Ashley Lathrop<danas@msu.edu> -

Dr. Li contributes to research on PFAS fate and mitigation in soil-water-plant systems. His research focuses on PFAS sorption by soil, plant uptake, bioavailability in the environmental media, and remediation.

Hui LiDr. Hui Li is a Professor of Environmental Soil Chemistry in Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University. His research program focuses on occurrence, sorption, transformation, bioavailability and potential impacts of emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals and personal care products, PFAS), persistent organic contaminants and pesticides in the environment, understanding the fundamental environmental processes at molecular level, plant uptake and accumulation of organic contaminants, and development of innovative remediation technology. Dr. Li’s current PFAS-related research projects mainly include: 1) an EPA-funded team project focusing on PFAS occurrence in biosolids, plant uptake of PFAS from soils amended with biosolids, and analysis of human exposure, 2) a USDA-funded team project focusing on developing mitigation strategies to reduce PFAS accumulation in food crops, and 3) an MTRAC-funded project on development of innovative nano-reactor technology to defluorinate PFAS in water.

Dr. Li looks forward to contributing to the MSU Center for PFAS Research through 1) developing analytical methods to identify and quantify PFAS (including precursors) in biosolids, soil and plant tissues; 2) improved understanding on environmental behaviors and fate of PFAS in soil and water that facilitates better elucidation of their influence on environmental quality and natural resources; 3) providing the obtained data to assess food safety and to support exposure analysis and community engagement; 4) developing environmental-friendly and feasible remediation/mitigation technology to minimize the PFAS impacts to human and ecosystem health.

Dr. Li originally came from China where he did not have much chance to do home-improvement DIY projects. He enjoys learning the skills from online videos. Outside of his research, he is doing some DIY home improvements, particularly during the recent pandemic time.

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