Professor Zhang (second from right) receiving her AEESP Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Engineering & Science Education award at the 2025 AEESP Education and Research Conference.
Professor Qiong Zhang of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department received the Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Engineering & Science Education award from the Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP). This award recognizes excellence in teaching scholarship and/or professional society educational initiatives.
Dr. Zhang was recognized for being a pioneer in environmental engineering and science education through leadership and effective tools for teaching sustainable design and systems thinking. She is one of the earliest leaders of the monumental shift in engineering education to integrate principles and frameworks of sustainability, green/sustainable design, and systems thinking into education, practice, and research. Her educational contributions were noted to be numerous, sustained, and impactful. She started this trajectory early in her career and has continued those efforts to the present day.
Dr. Zhang has contributed to two widely used textbooks: Water Treatment: Principles and Design (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) (published in 2005 and now in its 3rd Edition) and Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design (now in its 3rd Edition, 2021). She also co-authored the first professional journal article that articulated the case for a new discipline of sustainability science and engineering (Sustainability Science and Engineering: The Emergence of a New Metadiscipline, Environmental Science & Technology, 2003). She has published seven peer-reviewed conference papers that enhance the engineering education process and add value to teaching methodology. Her contributions in the area of integrating principles of sustainability in the classroom were recognized by a 2009 Best Paper Award by the Environmental Engineering Division of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). She also received a 2011 ASEE Southeastern section New Faculty Research Award for “demonstrated excellence in teaching and research” for her efforts in developing and disseminating tools to advance educational initiatives relate to green engineering and sustainability science and engineering.