Patrick Lee is a Professor in the School of Energy and Environment. His academic background is in biochemical engineering, environmental engineering and environmental microbiology. He began his independent career in 2011.
Together with members of his research group, Prof. Lee is interested in solving biologically-related energy and environmental problems and he often works at the interface of fundamental and applied sciences. While he is interested in understanding microbiology at the molecular and cellular levels, it is also his goal to apply the fundamental findings in engineering applications to solve real-world problems.
Prof. Lee’s research group is currently studying microbes in indoor and outdoor air, different environmental systems, and how to harness bacteria and their molecular parts to effectively produce renewable biobased chemicals. His group has expertise in wet-lab and computational techniques to manipulate and model bacteria. In addition to investigating single bacteria, his group is also interested in complex microbial communities. Through research and education, Prof. Lee strives to create a healthier, greener and more sustainable future for all.