Rate My Professor Haibo Zhai

Haibo Zhai, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management at the University of Wyoming, holding the Roy & Caryl Cline Distinguished Chair in Engineering and the Wyoming Excellence Chair. He serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Energy Resources and School of Computing at the University of Wyoming, and in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Zhai received his B.S. in Water Supply and Drainage Engineering from Xi’an University of Technology in 1999, M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Tongji University in 2002, and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2008. His career history includes postdoctoral research associate at North Carolina State University (2008), postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University (2008–2010), manager for Integrated Environmental Control Model development at Carnegie Mellon University (2010–2020), assistant research professor (2012–2017) and associate research professor (2017–2020) there, and associate professor then professor at the University of Wyoming since August 2020.

Professor Zhai conducts systems research in low-carbon energy and environmental sustainability, addressing technical, economic, and policy issues related to energy and the environment. His academic interests encompass carbon capture, utilization and storage, hydrogen energy, bioenergy, nuclear energy, and the energy-water nexus under carbon constraints for climate change mitigation, using computational modeling combined with engineering economics, life cycle assessment, risk analysis, and policy analysis. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, appointed member of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Transportation and Air Quality (2011–2020), ad-hoc reviewer for the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and funding agencies including the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, advisory board member of iScience (Cell Press), and lead author for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Key publications include “Technological evolution of large-scale blue hydrogen production toward the U.S. Hydrogen Energy Earthshot” (Nature Communications, 2024), “Unlocking potential for low-carbon hydrogen production from U.S. natural gas resources” (Environmental Science & Technology, 2024), “Bioresources and bioproducts with carbon capture and storage: A firm energy option for carbon neutrality” (Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2025), “Comparative life cycle water use assessment of diverse hydrogen production pathways” (Environmental Science & Technology, 2025), and “Modifying the EPA’s new power plant rules to eliminate unnecessary reliability risks” (Environmental Science & Technology, 2023). His carbon capture research was recognized among the top 10 most productive researchers (1997–2017), and his work has influenced U.S. national rulemaking for power sector carbon dioxide emissions and the IPCC sixth assessment report. He directs development of the Integrated Environmental Control Model for the U.S. Department of Energy.