Dr. Zhiping Lai is current an assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the Devision of Chemical and Life Science and Engineering, and fully affiliated to the Membrane Center.

Dr. Lai’s research mainly focuses on developing high-performance inorganic membranes out of ordered porous materials such as zeolites, mesoporous silicas, metal organic frameworks etc., and their applications in gas separations (such as natural gas, hydrogen, CO2 capture and sequestration, and oxygen enrichment, etc.), hydrocarbon isomer separations (such as xylene isomers, butane isomers, C6 isomers, and benzene and cyclohexane, etc.), waste-water treatments, recovery of industrial organic solvents, membrane reactors and chemical sensors, etc. He has more than 10 years research experience in this field with publications on several prestigious journals such as Science, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Advanced Funct. Mater., etc. His work was reported by Chemical & Engineering News and MaterialsToday, and received more than 500 citations.

Dr Lai received his bachelor and master degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua Univerisity China, and his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also received two years postdoctoral training in the department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science of University of Minnesota Twin Cities.