Dr. Aixin Hou
Area of Expertise
Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry of Natural Wetlands
Education
- Ph.D. in Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China/Ghent University, Belgium, 1997
- B.S. in Microbiology, Beijing University, Beijing, China, 1989
Associate Professor
Research Interests
Biogeochemistry and microbiology of soils and sediments. Particularly microbial processes and controlling factors of carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural lands and natural ecosystems, redox chemistry of toxic heavy metals, detoxification of contaminated soils and sediments by microorganisms, and microbial ecology of extreme environments. Major current studies are microbial mercury cycling in sediments of the lakes and coast, methane and nitrous oxide emissions from irrigated rice fields and mitigation techniques, and hypoxia in the Gulf.