
Arizona State University
Encourages students to keep striving for excellence.
Rolf Halden is a tenured Full Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment and Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, positions held since 2011 and 2010, respectively. He serves as the Founding Director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering. Halden holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1997, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the same institution in 1994, and an M.S. (Diploma) in Biology with minors in Microbiology, Biotechnology, and Sanitary Engineering from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, in 1992. His professional experience includes Assistant Professor (2001–2007) and Associate Professor (2007) in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Project Engineer and Environmental Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1998–2001), and postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1997–1998).
Halden's research specializations include public health engineering, sustainable cities, urban water cycle, green chemistry and engineering, urban metabolism and exposure assessment, biological treatment processes, bioremediation, environmental chemistry, and public health. Major awards include the JM Kaplan Foundation Prize for Social Innovation (Focus: Environment) in 2019, Arizona State University Leadership Award in 2018, Invited Fellow at the Institute for the Future of Innovation in Society at ASU (2017–present), and Leroy E. Burney Lecturer at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2011. His publications have garnered a Google Scholar h-index of 65 and over 16,400 citations. Key publications are "Leveraging an established neighbourhood-level, open access wastewater monitoring network to address public health priorities: a population-based study" (The Lancet Microbe, 2023), "Stability of human stress hormones and stress hormone metabolites in wastewater under oxic and anoxic conditions" (Science of The Total Environment, 2023), "Occurrence of Z-drugs, benzodiazepines, and ketamine in wastewater in the United States and Mexico during the Covid-19 pandemic" (Science of The Total Environment, 2023), "Baseline Sequencing Surveillance of Public Clinical Testing, Hospitals, and Community Wastewater Reveals Rapid Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant of Concern in Arizona, USA" (mBio, 2023), and "Surveillance of rhinovirus diversity among a university community identifies multiple types from all three species including an unassigned rhinovirus A genotype" (Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 2023). Halden is an Invited Member of the Editorial Board of Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health (2018–present) and served as National Leader of the R01 Working Group for the NIEHS Superfund Program (2012–2014).
Professional Email: Rolf.Halden@asu.edu