Mark Hernandez

About

Mark Hernandez is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds the S. J. Archuleta Endowed Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a Professional Engineer (PE). Hernandez completed his B.S. in Civil Engineering at the University of California Berkeley in December 1986, followed by an M.S. in Environmental Engineering in May 1988, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering in December 1992, with minors in Biochemical Engineering and Microbiology. He also completed postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley in Environmental Microbiology from 1994 to 1995 under advisor Lisa Alvarez-Cohen. His research focuses on environmental engineering, materials science, and geoenvironmental engineering. Hernandez has been recognized with numerous awards, including the University of Colorado's Distinguished Research Award in 2023, the S. J. Archuleta Endowed Chair in 2019, and the Hispanic Educator of the Year by the Great Minds in STEM Foundation in 2012. He has received honors such as the NSF CAREER Award in 1997 and the Water Environment Federation Robert Canham Award in 1992. Hernandez is actively involved in professional affiliations, including Engineers without Borders, the American Society of Microbiology, and the American Society of Aerosol Research, where he serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Aerosol Science and Technology. His work contributes to advancing knowledge in environmental…

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Ecology
• Geography
• Geology
• Environmental science
• Cartography
• Physics
• Medicine
• Environmental planning

Selected publications

• A global metagenomic map of urban microbiomes and antimicrobial resistance

  Cell · 2021 · 376 citations

  We present a global atlas of 4,728 metagenomic samples from mass-transit systems in 60 cities over 3 years, representing the first systematic, worldwide catalog of the urban microbial ecosystem. This atlas provides an annotated, geospatial profile of microbial strains, functional characteristics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers, and genetic elements, including 10,928 viruses, 1,302 bacteria, 2 archaea, and 838,532 CRISPR arrays not found in reference databases. We identified 4,246 known s…

  DOI

• Cartography of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in a tertiary hospital environment

  Nature Medicine · 2020 · 250 citations

  Although disinfection is key to infection control, the colonization patterns and resistomes of hospital-environment microbes remain underexplored. We report the first extensive genomic characterization of microbiomes, pathogens and antibiotic resistance cassettes in a tertiary-care hospital, from repeated sampling (up to 1.5 years apart) of 179 sites associated with 45 beds. Deep shotgun metagenomics unveiled distinct ecological niches of microbes and antibiotic resistance genes characterized by…

  DOI

• Characterization of the public transit air microbiome and resistome reveals geographical specificity

  Microbiome · 2021 · 71 citations

  BACKGROUND: The public transit is a built environment with high occupant density across the globe, and identifying factors shaping public transit air microbiomes will help design strategies to minimize the transmission of pathogens. However, the majority of microbiome works dedicated to the public transit air are limited to amplicon sequencing, and our knowledge regarding the functional potentials and the repertoire of resistance genes (i.e. resistome) is limited. Furthermore, current air microb…

  DOI

• Artificial intelligence-based prediction of indoor bioaerosol concentrations from indoor air quality sensor data

  Environment International · 2023-03-28 · 39 citations

  articleOpen access

  Exposure to bioaerosols in indoor environments, especially public venues that have a high occupancy and poor ventilation, is a serious public health concern. However, it remains challenging to monitor and determine real-time or predict near-future concentrations of airborne biological matter. In this study, we developed artificial intelligence (AI) models using physical and chemical data from indoor air quality sensors and physical data from ultraviolet light-induced fluorescence observations of…

  PublisherDOI

• Commercial toilets emit energetic and rapidly spreading aerosol plumes

  Scientific Reports · 2022 · 34 citations

  Aerosols can transmit infectious diseases including SARS-CoV-2, influenza and norovirus. Flushed toilets emit aerosols that spread pathogens contained in feces, but little is known about the spatiotemporal evolution of these plumes or the velocity fields that transport them. Using laser light to illuminate ejected aerosols we quantify the kinematics of plumes emanating from a commercial flushometer-type toilet, and use the motion of aerosol particles to compute velocity fields of the associated…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Characterization and Control of Bioaerosol Toxicology for Indoor Environments

  NSF · $274k · 2011–2015

• NIH Grant R01EB009115

  NIH · $711k · 2012

Frequent coauthors

• Marina Nieto‐Caballero

  University of Colorado Boulder

  19 shared

• Christopher E. Mason

  18 shared

• Jordan Peccia

  17 shared

• Shelly L. Miller

  University of Colorado Boulder

  17 shared

• Elmira Kujundzic

  Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

  17 shared

• Daniela Bezdan

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  17 shared

• David Danko

  15 shared

• Daniel Butler

  Cornell University

  15 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Environmental Engineering

  University of Colorado Boulder

  2005

• M.S., Environmental Engineering

  University of Colorado Boulder

  1999

• B.S., Environmental Engineering

  University of Colorado Boulder

  1997

Awards & honors

• University of Colorado, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Distingu…
• The S. J. Archuleta Endowed Chair in Civil and Environmental…
• Great Minds in STEM Foundation, Hispanic Educator of the Yea…
• President’s Commendation for Advancing Diversity, University…
• University of Colorado, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Teaching…

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