Research Interests

 

The goal of my research is to understand the impact of microorganisms on the geochemistry of inorganic contaminants. I apply a combination of microscopic, spectroscopic, and genetic techniques to investigate microbial-mediated contaminant transformations, including reduction/oxidation, complexation, dissolution, and precipitation reactions. A significant component of my current work focuses on how microorganisms induce mineral precipitation and the implications of biomineralization for contaminant sequestration.

 


Education

 

            McGill University                  Earth and Planetary Sciences     B.Sc.      1997

            University of Notre Dame    Geological Sciences                      Ph.D.     2001

 


Awards

 

2009    Houtermans Medal,  European Society for Geochemistry

 


Teaching

 

Environmental Geology (01:460:202)

Environmental Geochemistry (01:460:417)

Water Chemistry (11:375:444)

Geomicrobiology (16:375:625)

 


Research Projects

 

Project Title:   Reduction of mercury in saturated subsurface sediments and its potential to mobilize in its elemental form

Collaborator:  Tamar Barkay

 

Project Title:   The kinetics and mechanisms of selenium oxyanion reduction by soil microorganisms

Collaborator:  Donald Kobayashi

 


Publications

 

1.            Slater L.,Day-Lewis F., Ntarlagiannis D., O’Brien  M. Yee N. (2009) Geoelectrical measurement and modeling of biogeochemical breakthrough behavior during microbially induced precipitation of elemental selenium, Geophysical Research Letters (in press)

2.            Waitrowski H.A., Das S., Kukkadapu K., Ilton E., Barkay T., Yee N. (2009) Reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0) by magnetite, Environmental Science & Technology (in press)

3.            Ma J., Kobayashi D.Y. Yee N. (2009) Role of menaquinone biosynthesis genes in selenate reduction by Enterobacter cloacae SLD1a-1 and Escherichia coli K12, Environmental Microbiology, 11, 149-158

4.            Boonfueng T. Axe L., Yee N., Hahn D. Ndiba  P.K. (2009) Zn sorption mechanisms onto sheathed Leptothrix discophora and the impact of nanoparticulate biogenic Mn oxide coating, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 333, 439-447

5.            Zhu W., Young L.Y., Yee N., Serfes M., Rhine E.D., Reinfelder J.R. (2008) Sulfide driven arsenic mobilization from arsenopyrite and black shale pyrite, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72, 5243-5250

6.            Personna Y.,  Ntarlagiannis D.,  Slater L., Yee N., O’Brien M., Hubbard S. (2008) Spectral Induced Polarization and Electrodic Potential Monitoring of Microbially-Mediated Iron Sulfide Transformations, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, G02020, doi:10.1029/2007JG000614

7.            Yee N. and Kobayashi D.Y.  (2008) Molecular genetics of selenate reduction by Enterobacter cloacae SLD1a-1, Advances in Applied Microbiology, 64, 107-123

8.            Slater L., Yee N., O’Brien M., Ntarlagiannis D., Zhang C., Williams K.H., Personna Y. (2008) Galvanic cell based self potential (SP) results from microbial-driven redox chemistry in natural wetland soils, Geophysics, 73, F65-F70

9.            Ma J., Kobayashi D.Y., Yee N. (2007) A chemical kinetic and molecular genetic study of selenium oxyanion reduction by Enterobacter cloacae SLD1a-1, Environmental Science & Technology, 41, 7795-7801

10.        Yee N., Ma J., Dalia A., Boonfueng T., Kobayashi D.Y.  (2007) Se(VI) reduction and the precipitation of Se(0) by the facultative bacterium Enterobacter cloacae SLD1a-1 is regulated by FNR, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73, 1914-1920

11.        Kenward P.A., Fowle D.A., Yee N. (2006) Microbial selenate sorption and reduction in nutrient limited systems, Environmental Science & Technology, 40, 3782-3786

12.        Xu Y., Axe L., Yee N., Dyer J.A. (2006) Bidentate complexation modeling of heavy metal adsorption and competition on goethite, Environmental Science & Technology, 40, 2213-2218

13.        Yee N., Shaw S., Benning L.G., and Nguyen T.H. (2006) The rate of ferrihydrite transformation to goethite via the Fe(II) pathway, American Mineralogist, 91, 92-96

14.        Ntarlagiannis D. Slater L.D., Yee N. (2005) On the low-frequency electrical polarization of bacterial cells in sands, Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L24402, doi:10.1029/2005GL024751

15.        Fein, J.B, Boily J.F, Yee N., Gorman-Lewis D., and Turner B.F. (2005) Modeling the speciation of bacterial surface ligands: Comparison of discrete and continuous pKa approaches Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 69, 1123-1132

16.        Yee, N. and Fowle D.A. Ferris F.G. (2004) A Donnan Model for metal sorption onto Bacillus subtilis, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 68, 3657-3664

17.        Yee, N., Benning L.G., Phoenix V.R., and Ferris F.G. (2004) Characterization of metal-cyanobacteria sorption reactions: A combined macroscopic and infrared spectroscopic investigation, Environmental Science & Technology, 38, 775-782

18.        Benning  L.G., Phoenix V.R. Yee N., and Konhauser K.O. (2004) Molecular characterization of cyanobacterial silicification using synchrotron infrared micro-spectroscopy, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 68, 729-741

19.        Benning  L.G., Phoenix V.R. Yee N., and Tobin, M. (2004) The dynamics of cyanobacterial silicification: an infrared micro-spectroscopic investigation, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 68, 743-757

20.        Yee, N., Phoenix, V.R., Konhauser, K.O., Benning L.G. and F.G. Ferris (2003) The effect of bacteria on silica precipitation at neutral pH: Implications for bacterial silicification in geothermal hot springs, Chemical Geology, 199, 83-90.

21.        Yee, N. and Fein, J.B. (2003) Quantifying metal adsorption onto bacteria consortia: A test and application of the surface complexation model, Geomicrobiology Journal, 20, 43-60

22.        Kelly, S.D., Kemner, K.M., Fein, J.B., Fowle, D.A., Boyanov, M.I., Bunker, B.A., and Yee, N., (2002) X-ray absorption fine structure determination of pH-dependent U-bacterial cell wall interactions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 66, 3855-3871

23.        Yee, N. and Fein, J.B. (2002) Does metal adsorption onto bacteria inhibit or enhance  metal transport?--Column and batch reactor experiments on Cd-Bacillus subtilis-quartz systems, Chemical Geology, 185, 303-319

24.        Yee, N. and Fein, J.B. (2001) Cd adsorption onto bacterial surfaces: A universal adsorption edge?, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 65, 2037-2042

25.        Kelly, S.D., Boyanov, M.I., Bunker, B.A., Fein, J.B., Fowle, D.A., and Yee, N. Kemner, K.M., (2001) XAFS determination of the bacterial cell wall functional groups responsible for complexation of Cd and U as a function of pH U-bacterial cell wall interactions at low pH. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, 8, 946-948

26.        Yee, N., Fein, J.B. and Daughney, C.J. (2000) Experimental study of the pH, ionic strength, and reversibility behavior of bacteria adsorption onto mineral surfaces, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 64,  609-617

27.        Daughney, C.J., Fein, J.B. and Yee N. (1998) A comparison of the thermodynamics of metal adsorption onto two common bacteria, Chemical Geology, 144, 161-176

28.        Fein, J.B., Daughney, C.J., Yee, N. and Davis, T.A. (1997) A chemical equilibrium model for metal adsorption onto bacterial surfaces, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 61, 3319-3328