Dr. Nathan Yee

 

Assistant Professor

 

Department of Environmental Sciences

 

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

 

Phone:   (732) 932-9800 x6221

Email:   nyee@envsci.rutgers.edu
 

 

 

 

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

 

            McGill University                  Earth and Planetary Sciences     B.Sc.      1997

            University of Notre Dame    Geological Sciences                      Ph.D.     2001

 

Teaching

 

Environmental Geology (01:460:202)

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. (2007) A chemical kinetic and molecular genetic study of selenium oxyanion reduction by Enterobacter cloacae SLD1a-1, Environmental Science & Technology, 41, 7795-7801

2.            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

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

4.            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

5.            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

6.            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

7.            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

8.            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

9.            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

10.        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

11.        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

12.        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.

13.        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

14.        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

15.        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

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

17.        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

18.        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

19.        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

20.        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