Department of Environmental Sciences Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Phone: (732) 932-9800
x6221 Email: nyee@envsci.rutgers.edu
Dr. Nathan
Yee
Assistant
Professor
Research Interests
The goal of my research
is to understand the impact of microorganisms on the chemistry of toxic metals.
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
University of Notre Dame Geological Sciences Ph.D. 2001
Teaching
Environmental Geology (01:460:202)
Environmental Geochemistry (01:460:417)
Water Chemistry (16:375:444)
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.
Ma
J., Kobayashi D.Y. Yee N. (2008) Role of menaquinone biosynthesis genes in
selenate reduction by Enterobacter
cloacae SLD1a-1 and Escherichia coli
K12, Environmental Microbiology (in
press)
2.
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 (in
press)
3.
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
4.
Yee
N. and Kobayashi D.Y. (2008) Molecular
genetics of selenate reduction by Enterobacter
cloacae SLD1a-1, Advances in Applied
Microbiology, 64, 107-123
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Kenward
P.A., Fowle D.A., Yee N. (2006) Microbial selenate sorption and reduction in
nutrient limited systems, Environmental
Science & Technology, 40, 3782-3786
9.
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
10.
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
11.
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
12.
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
13.
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
14.
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
15.
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
16.
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
17.
Yee,
N.,
18.
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
19.
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
20.
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
21.
Yee,
N. and Fein, J.B. (2001) Cd adsorption onto bacterial surfaces: A universal adsorption
edge?, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta,
65, 2037-2042
22.
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
23.
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
24.
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
25.
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
