Jeremy Guest

Jeremy Guest he/him/his

Associate Professor
David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar

(217) 244-9247

jsguest@illinois.edu

3221 Newmark Civil Engineering Bldg

For More Information

Education

Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, 2012
M.S., Civil Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2007
B.S., Civil Engineering, Bucknell University, 2005

Biography

Dr. Jeremy Guest (pronouns: he/him/his) is an Associate Professor and the David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The core goal of Professor Guest’s group is to advance circular bioeconomies to achieve equitable, healthy, and prosperous communities while simultaneously enhancing the ecosystems that support them. His group makes progress toward this goal on two fronts: (i) increasing access to and the sustainability of sanitation in both developing and technologically advanced communities, which they pursue by developing technologies and service delivery models that manage sanitation media (i.e., human bodily excreta) as a renewable resource; and (ii) expediting the research, development, and deployment (RD&D) of technologies that advance the sustainability of agriculture and the conversion of plants to bioproducts, biofuels, and nutritious foods. Central to their work is Quantitative Sustainable Design (QSD), a structured methodology to inform engineering, investment, and policy decision-making.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Professor Guest currently serves as the Associate Director for Research for the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at UIUC, and as the Sustainable Design Lead for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (a $262.5M center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, DOE). From 2021-2023, Professor Guest also served as the Illinois Thrust Lead for Sustainability for the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute (a $200M venture launched in 2021). He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, the 2016 recipient of the Paul L. Busch Award for innovation in applied water quality research from the Water Research Foundation, and the 2021 James J. Morgan Environmental Science & Technology Early Career Award for creativity and leadership in his field. His research has been sponsored by a number of agencies including the NSF, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. DOE, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Professor Guest’s formal training includes a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from Bucknell University and Virginia Tech, respectively, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan.

Academic Positions

Associate Director for Research; Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE); University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; 2021-present.
Affiliate; Center for Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS); University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; 2020-present.
Associate Professor; Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; 2019-present.
Assistant Professor; Civil and Environmental Engineering; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; December 2011-2019.

Research Interests

Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery [microalgae for wastewater treatment & renewable feedstock production; non-sewered sanitation (NSS) technologies & service delivery models; underserved communities; international development engineering]
Sustainable Design [open-source tools for life cycle assessment (LCA) & techno-economic analysis (TEA); quantitative sustainable design (QSD); prioritization of research, development, & deployment (RD&D) pathways for emerging technologies]
Circular Bioeconomy [nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) & energy recovery from human bodily waste; bioprocess engineering for the conversion of plants to biofuels & bioproducts; biorefinery design]

Research Areas

Selected Articles in Journals

Tran, V.G.; Mishra, S.; Bhagwat, S.S.; Shafaei, S.; Shen, Y.; Allen, J.L.; Crosly, B.A.; Tan, S-.I.; Fatma, Z.; Rabinowitz, J.; Guest, J.S.; Singh, V.; Zhao, H. An end-to-end pipeline for succinic acid production at an industrially relevant scale using Issatchenkia orientalis. Nature Communications. 2023, 14(1): 6152. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41616-9
Watabe, S.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Li, Y.; Morgan, V.L.; Rowles, L.S.; Stephen, T.; Shyu, H.Y.; Bair, R.A.; Castro, C.J.; Cusick, R.D.; Yeh, D.H.; Guest, J.S. Advancing the economic and environmental sustainability of the NEWgeneratorTM non-sewered sanitation system. ACS Environmental Au. 2023, 3(4): 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.3c00001
Lohman, H.A.C.; Morgan, V.L.; Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Rowles, L.S.; Cook, S.M.; Guest, J.S. DMsan: A multi-criteria decision analysis framework and package to characterize contextualized sustainability of sanitation and resource recovery technologies. ACS Environmental Au. 2023, 3(3): 179-192. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.2c00067
Li, Y.; Kontos, G.A.; Cabrera, D.V.; Avila, N.M.; Parkinson, T.; Viswanathan, M.B.; Singh, V.; Altpeter, F.; Labatut, R.; Guest, J.S. Design of a high-rate wastewater treatment process for energy and water recovery at biorefineries. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2023, 11(9): 3861-3872. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c07139
Stewart, D.W.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Li, Y.; Stillwell, A.S.; Khanna, M.; Guest, J.S. Implications of biorefinery policy incentives and location-specific economic parameters for the financial viability of biofuels. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023, 57(6): 2262-2271. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07936
Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Kurambhatti, C.; Eilts, K.; Singh, V.; Guest, J.S. Economic and environmental sustainability of vegetative oil extraction strategies at integrated oilcane and oil-sorghum biorefineries. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2022, 10(42): 13980-13990. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c04204
Li, Y.; Trimmer, J.T.; Hand, S.; Zhang, X.; Chambers, K.G.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Shi, R.; Byrne, D.M.; Cook, S.M.; Guest, J.S. Quantitative sustainable design (QSD) for the prioritization of research, development, and deployment of technologies: A tutorial and review. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 2022, 8: 2439-2465. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00431C
Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Morgan, V.L.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Rowles, L.S.; Mittal, S.; Kogler, A.; Cusick, R.D.; Tarpeh, W.A.; Guest, J.S. QSDsan: An integrated platform for quantitative sustainable design of sanitation and resource recovery systems. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 2022, 8: 2289-2303. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00455K
Rowles, L.S.; Morgan, V.L.; Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Watabe, S.; Stephen, T.; Lohman, H.A.C.; DeSouza, D.; Hallowell, J.; Cusick, R.D.; Guest, J.S. Financial viability and environmental sustainability of fecal sludge management with pyrolysis Omni Processors. ACS Environmental Au. 2022, 2(5): 455-466. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.2c00022
Bhagwat, S.S.; Li, Y.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Brace, E.C.; Martin, T.A.; Zhao, H.; Guest, J.S. Sustainable production of acrylic acid via 3-hydroxypropionic acid from lignocellulosic biomass. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2021, 9(49): 16659-16669. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05441
Bradley, I.M.; Li, Y.; Guest, J.S. Solids residence time impacts carbon dynamics and bioenergy feedstock potential in phototrophic wastewater treatment systems. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021, 55(18): 12574-12584. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c02590
Echevarria, D.; Trimmer, J.T.; Cusick, R.D.; Guest, J.S. Defining nutrient colocation typologies for human-derived supply and crop demand to advance resource recovery. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021, 55(15): 10704–10713. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c01389
McClelland, D.J.; Wang, B.X.; Cordell, W.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Gilcher, E.B.; Zhang, L.; Guest, J.S.; Pfleger, B.F.; Huber, G.; Dumesic, J.A. Renewable linear alpha-olefins by base-catalyzed dehydration of biologically-derived fatty alcohols. Green Chemistry. 2021, 23: 4338-4354. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1GC00243K
Byrne, D.M.; Hamilton, K.; Houser, S.A.; Mubasira, M.; Katende, D.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Trimmer, J.T.; Banadda, N.; Zerai, A.; Guest, J.S. Navigating data uncertainty and modeling assumptions in quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to support decision-making in an informal settlement. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021, 55(8): 5463–5474. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05693
Li, Y.; Bhagwat, S.S.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Ki, D.; Rao, C.V.; Jin, Y.-S.; Guest, J.S. Sustainable lactic acid production from lignocellulosic biomass. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2021, 9(3): 1341-1351. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08055
Shi, R.; Guest, J.S. BioSTEAM-LCA: An integrated modeling framework for agile life cycle assessment of biorefineries under uncertainty. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2020, 8(51): 18903-18914. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c05998
Trotochaud, L.; Andrus, R.; Tyson, K.; Miller, G.; Welling, C.; Donaghy, P.; Incardona, J.; Evans, W.; Smith, P.; Oriard, T.; Norris, I.; Stoner, B.; Guest, J.S.; Hawkins, B. Laboratory demonstration and preliminary techno-economic analysis of an onsite wastewater treatment system. Environmental Science & Technology. 2020, 54(24): 16147-16155. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02755
Trimmer, J.T.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Byrne, D.M.; Houser, S.A.; Jjuuko, F.; Katende, D.; Banadda, N.E.; Zerai, A.; Miller, D.C.; Guest, J.S. Navigating multidimensional social-ecological system tradeoffs across sanitation alternatives in an urban informal settlement. Environmental Science & Technology. 2020, 54(19): 12641-12653. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03296
Trimmer, J.T.; Miller, D.C.; Byrne, D.M.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Banadda, N.; Baylis, K.; Cook, S.M.; Cusick, R.D.; Jjuuko, F.; Margenot, A.J.; Zerai, A.; Guest, J.S. Re-envisioning sanitation as a human-derived resource system. Environmental Science & Technology. 2020, 54(17): 10466-10459. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03318
Lohman, H.A.C.; Trimmer, J.T.; Katende, D.; Mubasira, M.; Nagirinya, M.; Nsereko, F.; Banadda, N.; Cusick, R.D.; Guest, J.S. Advancing sustainable sanitation and agriculture through investments in human-derived nutrient systems. Environmental Science & Technology. 2020, 54(15): 9217-9227. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c03764
Corominas, Ll.; Byrne, D.M.; Guest, J.S.; Hospido, A.; Roux, P.; Shaw, A.; Short, M. The application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to wastewater treatment: A best practice guide and critical review. Water Research. 2020, 184: 116058 (1-18). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116058
Zhang, X.; Lardizabal, A.; Silverman, A.I.; Vione, D.; Kohn, T.; Nguyen, T.H.; Guest, J.S. Global sensitivity analysis of environmental, water quality, photoreactivity, and engineering design parameters in sunlight inactivation of viruses. Environmental Science & Technology. 2020, 54(13): 8401–8410. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c01214
Cortes-Pena, Y.; Kumar, D.; Singh, V.; Guest, J.S. BioSTEAM: A fast and flexible platform for the design, simulation, and techno-economic analysis of biorefineries under uncertainty. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2020, 8(8): 3302-3310. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b07040
Bauza, V.; Madadi, V.; Ocharo, R.; Nguyen, T.; Guest, J.S. Enteric pathogens from water, hands, surface, soil, drainage ditch, and stream exposure points in a low-income neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. Science of the Total Environment. 2020, 709: 135344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135344

Journal Editorships

Early Career Editorial Advisory Board: Environmental Science & Technology; an American Chemical Society (ACS) Journal; 2021-2023.
Guest Editor: Special Issue on "Resource Recovery from Water: From Concept to Standard Practice"; Water Research, an Elsevier Journal; 2019. Other Guest Editors: Ilje Pikaar (Univ. of Queensland), Francesco Fatone (Università Politecnica delle Marche), Xia Huang (Tsinghua Univ.).
Guest Editor: Special Issue on "Anaerobic Technology"; Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology; a Royal Society of Chemistry Journal; 2018. Other Guest Editors: Paige Novak (Univ. of Minnesota), Aijie Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences).

Other Scholarly Activities

QSDsan – Quantitative Sustainable Design of Sanitation and Resource Recovery Systems. QSDsan is an open-source process simulator in Python that enables the design, simulation, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA) of sanitation and resource recovery technologies under uncertainty. Documentation: https://qsdsan.com/; Download: https://github.com/QSD-Group.
BioSTEAM – The Biorefinery Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis Modules in Python. BioSTEAM is an open-source steady-state process simulator in Python that enables the design, simulation, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA) of biorefineries under uncertainty. Documentation: https://biosteam.readthedocs.io/; Download: https://github.com/BioSTEAMDevelopmentGroup.

Professional Societies

Cluster Member; Resource Recovery from Water Cluster; International Water Association (IWA); 2016-present.
Management Team Member; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Water and Wastewater Treatment Working Group; Modelling and Integrated Assessment Specialist Group; International Water Association (IWA); 2012-2020.
Management Team Member; Modelling of Integrated Urban Water Systems (MIUWS) Working Group; Modelling and Integrated Assessment Specialist Group; International Water Association (IWA); 2012-2020.

Service on Department Committees

Committee Member; Department Advisory Committee; 2016-2018, 2020-2024.
Co-Chair, B.S. in Environmental Engineering Committee; 2021-2023.

Service on College Committees

Theme Lead - Sustainability; Illinois-IBM Discovery Accelerator Institute (IIDAI); Grainger College of Engineering; 2021-2023.

Teaching Honors

List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students; UIUC (2014 (Sp,Fa) & every semester taught since Fall 2015 [2015 (Fa); 2016 (Sp,Fa); 2017 (Sp,Fa); 2018 (Fa); 2019 (Sp,Fa); 2020 (Sp); 2021 (Fa); 2022 (Fa); 2023 (Fa)])
Award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering & Science; Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) (2019)
Excellence Award for Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring; Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UIUC (2018)
Bill Boyle Outstanding Educator Award ("Educator of the Year"); Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA) (2016)

Research Honors

James J. Morgan Early Career Award; Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) (2021)
Best Policy Analysis Article in 2020; Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) (2021)
Dean's Award for Excellence in Research; College of Engineering, UIUC (2018)
Beckman Fellow; Center for Advanced Study (CAS), UIUC (2017-2018)
Paul L. Busch Award; Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (now The Water Research Foundation) (2016)
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award; National Science Foundation (NSF) (2014-2019)

Other Honors

David C. Crawford Faculty Scholar Award; Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering; UIUC (2022-2024)
Paul V. Roberts / AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award; John T. Trimmer (Ph.D. Advisee); Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) (2020)
CEE Outstanding Young Alumni Award; Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering; Virginia Tech (2020)
Outstanding Reviewer; Water Research and Water Research X; Elsevier (2019)
Excellence Faculty Fellow; Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (2016)
MWH/AEESP Master's Thesis Award, First Place; Brian D. Shoener (M.S. Advisee); Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) (2015)
Excellence in Review Award; Environmental Science & Technology; American Chemical Society (2014)