Ngai Yin Yip
Dr. Ngai Yin Yip is the La Von Duddleson Krumb Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D., M.S., and M.Ph. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale University, and B.Eng. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Minor in Business Administration) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He joined Columbia University in 2015 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2024.
Dr. Yip’s research focuses on advancing physicochemical technologies and innovations for critical separation challenges in water, energy, and the environment, including high-salinity desalination, zero-liquid discharge, resource recovery from wastewaters, next-generation selective membranes, switchable solvents for water treatment, and low-grade heat utilization. See descriptions of active projects.
Dr. Yip’s research contributions have earned him numerous honors and recognitions, including the Impact Award from the Global Prize Innovation in Desalination and the James J. Morgan Early Career Award (Honorable Mention) from Environmental Science & Technology. He has also been featured as an Emerging Investigator in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, as a Young Talent in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, and as a Pioneering Investigator for Chemical Communications. Since 2018, Dr. Yip has been listed among the world’s top 2% most-cited researchers by Stanford-Elsevier. He currently serves as an associate editor of RSC journal Environmental Science: Advances. Additionally, he serves as editorial advisory board member for ACS ES&T Engineering and editorial board member for Desalination and Chemical Engineering Journal Advances.
In the Fall semesters, Dr. Yip teaches Applied Transport and Chemical Rate Phenomena (EAEE E3200), and in the Spring semesters he is the instructor for elective EAEE E4140 Environmental Physicochemical Processes. Other classes taught include CIEE E4252 Foundations of Environmental Engineering, Aquatic Chemistry (EAEE E4003), EAEE E2100 A Better Planet by Design.