Youjun Deng
Assistant Professor of Soil/Clay Mineralogy
Ph.D., Texas A&M University, 2001
Email: yjd@tamu.edu
Voice: 979.862.8476
Office: 541B Heep Center
Research. The research focus of soil/clay mineralogy group is to reveal molecular mechanisms of
- soil/clay mineral transformation under various natural and anthropogenic conditions, e.g., agriculture, forest, desert, wetland, polar region, and Mars soils; at nuclear waste storage sites and repositories, mine tailing and dump sites.
- reactions of soil/clay minerals with natural and synthetic organic, inorganic, and biological compounds with environmental and industrial importance, e.g., mycotoxins, emerging organic contaminants, organoclays, modification of clay minerals.
Teaching: Soil/Clay Mineralogy. Crystallography, physical and chemical properties of important minerals in soils and sediments especially clay minerals and oxides. Agricultural, environmental, industrial, engineering, geological, and oceanographic importance of the minerals. Hands-on experience with mineral identification and quantification involving theory and practice with X-ray and electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, vibration spectroscopies (infrared and Raman), computer modeling, and chemical methods. Students work on their own samples related to their thesis/dissertation projects.