Biography

Dr. Lianfa Song obtained both his BS and MS degrees in 1982 and 1984, respectively, from Peking University, China. After teaching at Beijing Normal University for five and half years, he went to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for his PhD degree in the beginning of 1990 and obtained it in March 1993. Thereafter spent about two years as postdoctoral research associate at UCLA and in the Division of Environmental Sciences at Oakridge National Laboratory, Tennessee.

Dr. Song was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 1996 to 2000. Then he served as an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Division of Environmental Science and Engineering at National University of Singapore during. He moved to Texas Tech University in Fall 2007. He is currently a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas Tech University.

One of Dr. Song’s major research interests is the application of membrane processes in water desalination and purification.  His has worked on the fundamental theories of mass transfer, concentration polarization, fouling dynamics in various membrane processes, which have been well recognized and frequently cited.  His recent research focuses on the energy analysis and reduction of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination processes, especially in small-scale applications.