About

Helen Nguyen holds a B.S. with Honors in Geology from Ivan Franko National University of L'viv, Ukraine, an M.S. in Earth and Environmental Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. She joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in November 2006, where she is currently the Ivan Racheff Professor of Environmental Engineering and a faculty member. Her teaching encompasses graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental engineering, with a focus on physico-chemical processes for water and wastewater treatments. Dr. Nguyen's research interests include pathogens and biofilms in drinking water distribution systems, environmental surveillance of pathogens, and water and food safety. She is actively involved in advising undergraduate students on pathogen removal research and has contributed significantly to the field through her research, which emphasizes societal risk and hazard mitigation in environmental engineering.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Medicine
• Virology
• Computer Security
• Biology
• Engineering
• Statistics
• Environmental health
• Risk analysis (engineering)
• Environmental planning
• Agronomy
• Econometrics
• Demography
• Mathematics
• Pathology
• Waste management
• Telecommunications
• Environmental engineering
• Microbiology
• Business
• Environmental science
• Materials science
• Food science
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Developing Scenario‐Based Strategies for Health, Climate, and Environmental Preparedness: The One Health, One Earth Approach

  GeoHealth · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  workshop sought to explore this gap through human-centered design exercises involving interdisciplinary researchers from climate and Earth sciences, engineering, epidemiology, microbiology, and environmental health. Although participants did not co-develop solutions with affected communities, they used stakeholder role-playing to guide ideation and lay groundwork for actionable plans. Through these methods, participants identified community needs and proposed prototype solutions to alleviate health threats exacerbated by global environmental change. Prototypes were organized around infectious diseases, extreme weather, and air quality, as illustrative themes rather than an exhaustive set of risks. Key solutions included strategies for anticipatory systems and early warning (e.g., integrating environmental signals with health data), inclusive communication and infrastructure needs for responding to extreme weather events, and integrated platforms visualizing air quality trends to support tailored, context-aware guidance beyond one-size-fits-all alerts. The workshop highlighted opportunities such as leveraging machine learning, Earth observation, and real-time surveillance to protect communities, but also noted barriers including data quality, technological redundancy, privacy, and governance challenges. Additionally, participants emphasized the need for interdisciplinary teams capable of collaborating across sectors, breaking down silos and addressing gaps in training and education. Overall, the workshop illustrates how process-driven, human-centered approaches can help surface user needs and generate testable prototype concepts, while underscoring the importance of direct community partnership for implementation.

  PublisherDOI

• Thank You to Our 2025 Peer Reviewers

  GeoHealth · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Key Points The editors thank the 2025 peer reviewers

  PublisherDOI

• The Executive Order “Restoring Gold Standard Science” is Dangerous for America

  AGU Advances · 2025-08-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The recent U.S. executive order “Restoring Gold Standard Science” poses a significant threat to the U.S. national economy and security. The order replaces the scientific experts who lead U.S. governmental scientific organizations with non‐scientific political appointees who would have the power to decide what science could and could not be published. In doing so, the executive order threatens to reverse more than 80 years of scientific advancements that have given the U.S. its world‐leading military, technology, and economy. The justifications provided in the executive order for this change in policy are false or misleading in their assessment and representation of the current state of U.S. scientific scholarship. Hypocritical in its aims, the executive order claims to promote integrity in science while at the same time calling to remove the “Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice” that currently ensure veracity and credibility in science. The executive order is also unconstitutional, threatening to take away the First Amendment rights of scientists by punishing them if they publish truthful and accurate science that is contrary to the administration's political agenda. Such censorship of scientists has been attempted by failed governments of the past such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and early communist China, always with disastrous consequences for their citizens. “Restoring Gold Standard Science” needs to be rescinded to avoid catastrophic consequences for the U.S. economy and national security.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Capsid and genome damage are the leading inactivation mechanisms of aerosolized porcine respiratory coronavirus at different relative humidities

  Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2025-04-07 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Relative humidity (RH) varies widely in indoor environments based on temperature, outdoor humidity, heating systems, and other environmental conditions. This study explored how RH affects aerosolized porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV), a model for coronaviruses, over a time range from 0 min to a maximum of 1 h, and the molecular mechanism behind viral infectivity reduction. These questions were answered by quantifying: (i) viral-host receptor interactions, (ii) capsid integrity, (iii) viral genome integrity, and (iv) virus infectivity. We found RH did not alter PRCV-receptor interactions. RHs 45–55% and 65–75% damaged viral genomes (2 log 10 reduction and 1 log 10 reduction, respectively, in terms of median sample value), whereas RHs 55–65% decreased capsid integrity (2 log 10 reduction). No apparent virion damage was observed in RH 75–85%. Two assays were used to quantify virus presence: qPCR for detecting the viral genomes and plaque-forming unit assay for detecting the virus replication. Our results indicated that the qPCR assay overestimated the concentrations of infectious viruses, and RNase treatment with long-range RT-qPCR performed better than one-step RT-qPCR. We propose that understanding the influence of RH on the stability of aerosolized viruses provides critical information for detecting and preventing the indoor transmission of coronaviruses. IMPORTANCE Indoor environments can impact the stability of respiratory viruses, which can then affect the transmission rates. The mechanisms of how relative humidity (RH) affects virus infectivity still remain unclear. This study found RH inactivates porcine respiratory coronavirus by damaging its capsid and genome. The finding highlights the potential role of controlling indoor RH levels as a strategy to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.

  PublisherDOI

• Local temperature of water determined based on fluorescent intensity ratio of NaYF4:Er3+,Yb3+ upconversion nanoparticles

  Ceramics International · 2025-01-11 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Assessment of <i>Legionella pneumophila</i> in Rural Homes Supplied by Private Well Water

  ACS ES&T Water · 2025-01-28 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Legionella pneumophila is a major cause of waterborne disease in the United States, but little is known about its prevalence in rural homes supplied by domestic well water. With a citizen science campaign involving 57 such homes in Illinois, conclusive results from 39 homes showed intact L. pneumophila in 31% and 28% of warm and hot water samples, respectively. We conducted a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) for L. pneumophila infection risk using L. pneumophila data from three studies (ours, another on rural homes in North Carolina, and another on a public water supply). The risk of illness was non-negligible in all cases and sometimes exceeded the 10–4 target annual risk. The L. pneumophila concentration and exposure time had the greatest impact on the risk of illness due to a one-time exposure. Aerosol concentration had the greatest impact on the annual risk of illness. A maximum L. pneumophila concentration of 6 × 10–3 copies/mL was needed to achieve the 10–4 target. This study showed that L. pneumophila risk could be present in homes supplied by private wells, like those studied here, but can be mitigated by reducing L. pneumophila concentration, reducing exposure time, and careful consideration of fixtures that produce high concentrations of respirable aerosols.

  PublisherDOI

• Developing Scenario-Based Strategies for Health, Climate, and Environmental Preparedness: The One Health, One Earth Approach

  2025-10-19

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  Climate change amplifies many threats to human health. Despite advances in understanding climate change dynamics and impacts, there remains a critical gap in translating scientific knowledge into equitable, and community-driven health interventions. The inaugural One Earth, One Health workshop sought to explore this gap through human centered design exercises involving interdisciplinary researchers from climate and earth sciences, engineering, epidemiology, microbiology, and environmental health. Although participants did not co-develop solutions with affected communities, they used stakeholder role-playing to guide ideation and lay groundwork for actionable plans. Through these methods, participants identified community needs and proposed prototype solutions to alleviate health threats exacerbated by global environmental change without getting into contentious debate about climate change. Participants focused on three examples---infectious disease, extreme weather, and air quality---while recognizing these do not encompass all health threats. Key solutions included advanced strategies for predicting infectious disease outbreaks, inclusive communication and infrastructure needs for responding to extreme weather events, and integrated platforms visualizing air quality trends to make tailored public health recommendations. The workshop highlighted opportunities such as leveraging artificial intelligence and real-time epidemiological surveillance to protect communities, but also noted barriers including data quality, technological redundancy, and limitations. Additionally, participants emphasized the need for interdisciplinary teams capable of collaborating across sectors, breaking down silos and addressing gaps in training and education. The suite of proposed strategies highlights the importance of cross-sector collaboration, interdisciplinary training, and direct community involvement in co-creating content-specific, inclusive responses for mitigating health threats amplified by global environmental change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Influence of Biofilm and Calcium on Transport of Lead Phosphate Nanoparticles through Solid Block Activated Carbon Media

  ACS ES&T Water · 2025-11-04

  articleSenior author

  Solid block activated carbon (SBAC) is a common material used in many point-of-use (POU) filters. Previous work on POU filters has focused primarily on one type of contaminant; however, inorganic contaminants, organic contaminants, and biogenic products from microorganisms co-occur. We examined the interactions of Pb nanoparticles and biofilm in a SBAC environment. Filters with and without bacteria growing on the surface of the SBAC media were challenged with suspensions of Pb phosphate nanoparticles containing various aqueous concentrations of calcium (0 mM, 0.5 mM, and 1.5 mM). Filters with bacteria and 1.5 mM Ca(II) had the highest Pb removal efficiency (72–82%). Biofilm presence and the addition of Ca(II) resulted in better removal of Pb phosphate nanoparticles. To understand the impact of particle size and electrostatic interactions on Pb removal, we measured the hydrodynamic diameter and zeta potential of Pb nanoparticles with varying concentrations of Ca(II) and dissolved biomass. Fast aggregation of nanoparticles in the presence of Ca(II) was strongly correlated with Pb removal by filters. Particle aggregation in the presence of dissolved biomass was moderately correlated with Pb removal in biofilm-coated filters, suggesting that investigation of additional mechanisms is needed to fully explain the increase in Pb removal from biofilm-coated filters.

  PublisherDOI

• Thank You to Our GeoHealth 2024 Reviewers

  GeoHealth · 2025-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Peer‐review is the foundation and the safeguard of scientific research. Without the dedication of our reviewers, the journal would not have been successful. In 2024, 231 reviewers completed the review for 238 manuscripts submitted to GeoHealth. Our reviewers are from all continents except Antarctica. Besides reviewers from North America, China, Europe, and China, we started to have reviewers from India, Latin America, and Africa. GeoHealth editorial board is committed to expanding the readership, authorship, and reviewership to other countries. If you have already reviewed for us, no matter where or who you are, we hope you and your colleagues will consider GeoHeatlh a home for your work. Below is the list of reviewers who completed more than two reviews ( noted in italics ) or have outstanding quality reviews. Two of our reviewers have been nominated for AGU Best Reviewers awards (*noted with an asterisk).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dynamic Adsorption of Sulfate Propoxylate and Alkylbenzene Sulfonate Surfactants: Correlation with 3D Pore Geometry in Highly Heterogeneous High-Salinity Carbonate Reservoirs

  Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering · 2025-03-24 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Horizontal Gene Transfer in Porous Media: Experiments and Modeling

  NSF · $238k · 2011–2015

• IRES Water Quality and Household Energy in Post-Earthquake Nepal: Long Term Protection of Community Health

  NSF · $250k · 2016–2020

• Collaborative Research: Plant-based Pathogen Filters

  NSF · $141k · 2020–2023

• US-Singapore planning visit: Survivability of human enteric virus in surface water

  NSF · $16k · 2011–2013

• Collaborative Research: Influence of Drinking Water Chemical Composition on Biofilm Properties and Decay of Disinfectant Residual: An Experimental and Modeling Study

  NSF · $222k · 2019–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew W. Taylor‐Robinson

  University of Pennsylvania

  37 shared

• Phong V. V. Le

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  36 shared

• Praveen Kumar

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  36 shared

• Brian F. Allan

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  36 shared

• Lei Zhao

  36 shared

• Jinhui Yan

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  36 shared

• Joanna L. Shisler

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  34 shared

• Chamteut Oh

  University of Florida

  32 shared

Labs

• Helen Nguyen LabPI

Education

• PHD, Geography and Environmental Engineering

  Johns Hopkins University

  2005

Awards & honors

• 2006 AEESP/CH2M Hill Outstanding Dissertation Award
• 2010 NSF CAREER award
• EPA P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) phase I and II aw…
• ASCE-EWB Sustainable Development Award (2010)