Navid Saleh

Navid Saleh is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering. He is an environmental engineering faculty member with a research focus on nanotechnology applications for water quality improvement. Saleh earned his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 and his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2001. He completed postdoctoral training at Yale University's Department of Chemical Engineering from 2007 to 2008 and served as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina from 2009 to 2013 before joining UT Austin in 2014.

Saleh's research is structured around three thrust areas known as the 3Es: Evaluate—mechanistic studies on the fate of emerging contaminants such as nanomaterials, illicit drugs, and plastic waste; Engage—community-engaged research; and Engineer—development of community-embedded effective treatment solutions addressing water challenges for underserved communities. His scholarly contributions include more than 85 refereed journal publications and 8 book chapters, with over 12,400 citations and an h-index of 36. Key publications are "Aggregation and sedimentation of aqueous nanoscale zerovalent iron dispersions" (Environmental Science & Technology, 2007), "Titanium dioxide (P25) produces reactive oxygen species in immortalized brain microglia (BV2): implications for nanoparticle neurotoxicity" (Environmental Science & Technology, 2006), "Nano-Enabled Pesticides for Sustainable Agriculture and Global Food Security" (Nature Nanotechnology, 2022), and "Ionic Strength and Composition Affect the Mobility of Surface-Modified Fe0 Nanoparticles in Water-Saturated Sand Columns" (Environmental Science & Technology, 2008). He serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Hazardous Materials and President of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization. Saleh teaches undergraduate courses including Introduction to Environmental Engineering, Designing Sustainable Nanomaterials, and Nanotechnology Laboratory, as well as graduate courses on Physical and Chemical Treatment and Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. He is a Fellow in the 2022 cohort of the Provost's Teaching Fellows Program, with a focus on imagery for critical thinking in engineering and science education.