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Ming Xu

Director, China Programs; Professor
Sustainable Systems
Conservation + Restoration
Cities + Mobility + Built Environment
mingxu@umich.edu
(734)-763-8644
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About

Ming Xu is a Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability and Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research focuses on environmental systems engineering. At the University of Michigan, he is a core faculty member in the Center for Sustainable Systems, Co-Director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Industrial Ecology, and the Director of China Programs in School for Environment and Sustainability. He received the Robert A. Laudise Medal from International Society for Industrial Ecology for “outstanding achievement in industrial ecology by a researcher under the age of 36” in 2015, the US National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in 2016, and the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for "his significant contributions in advancing life-cycle environmental impact assessment of industrial systems" in 2021. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling since 2016 (latest Impact Factor: 8.086). He was elected to Chair the 2024 Gordon Research Conference on Industrial Ecology, and elected President of International Society for Industrial Ecology to serve the term in 2023-2024.

Publications

  • Qu, S.; Wang, H.-X.; Liang, S.; Shapiro, A. M.; Suh, S.; Sheldon, S.; Zik, O.; Fang, H.; Xu, M.* A Quasi-Input-Output model to improve the estimation of emission factors for purchased electricity from interconnected grids. Applied Energy 2017, 200, 249-259.
  • Liang, S.; Qu, S.; Zhu, Z.-Q.; Guan, D.-B.; Xu, M.* Income-based greenhouse gas emissions of nations. Environmental Science & Technology 2017, 51 (1), 346-355.
  • Liang, S.; Wang, H.-X.; Qu, S.; Feng, T.-T.; Guan, D.-B.; Fang, H.; Xu, M.* Socioeconomic drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology 2016, 50 (14), 7535-7545.
  • Xu, M.*; Cai, H.; Liang, S. Big data and industrial ecology. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2015, 19 (2), 205-210.
  • Cai, H.; Xu, M.* Greenhouse gas implications of fleet electrification based on Big Data-informed individual travel patterns. Environmental Science & Technology 2013, 47 (16), 9035-9043.

Read more publications here.

Research
  • 2016- 2020: PI, "UNS: U.S.-China: Integrated Systems Modeling of Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus for Urban Sustainability," National Science Foundation, $499,990, CBET-160520. 
  • 2016-2021: Single PI, "CAREER: Computational Approaches for Life Cycle Inventory Database Development," National Science Foundation, $509,800, CBET-1554349.
  • 2014-2017: PI, "Water Scarcity Risk for the Global Trade Network," National Science Foundation, $319,200, CBET-1438197.
  • 2011-2015: PI, "Developing a Spatially-Explicit Agent-Based Life Cycle Analysis Framework for Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Bioenergy Systems," National Science Foundation, $309,097, CBET- 1132581. 
  • 2010-2015: Co-PI, "CERC-CV: U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center for Clean Vehicles," Department of Energy, $12,500,000, DE-PI0000012.
Accolades
  • Research Frontier Award, Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology (2019)
  • President of Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology (CSIE) (2018) 
  • Nanova/CAPEES Frontier Research Award, Chinese-American Professors in Environmental Engineering and Science (CAPEES) (2017)
  • NSF CAREER Award (2016)
  • Robert A. Laudise Medal, International Society for Industrial Ecology (2015)
  • Recognized for Impact in Global Education by the Council on Global Engagement at the University of Michigan (2013)

 

Education

PhD, Arizona State University (civil and environmental engineering)

MS, Tsinghua University (environmental science and engineering)

BS, Tsinghua University (environmental engineering)

Affiliations

President, Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology (2018)

Councilor, Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology (2015-2016).

Councilor, International Society for Industrial Ecology (2013-2015).

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