Adeyemi Adeleye

His recent work focuses on using the reactions between certain heavy metals and other earth-abundant elements to control heavy metal mobility at the soil–plant interface. These approaches aim to reduce the movement of heavy metals in the environment and limit their uptake from contaminated soils into food crops. His team also investigates benign chemical reactions that enhance metal transport into plants for applications in phytoremediation and phytomining.

Dr. Adeleye is also advancing solutions for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—persistent contaminants also known as “forever chemicals.” In collaboration with Southern California water and wastewater utilities, his team has quantified household PFAS contributions to the municipal wastewater stream and is uncovering how PFAS and water chemistry interact to control aqueous phase PFAS degradation and mineralization.

He earned his Ph.D. in 2015 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by postdoctoral research at the UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Adeleye joined the faculty at the University of California, Irvine, in 2018 before moving to Columbia University in 2024.

Research Areas

• Environmental Soil Chemistry
• Environmental Engineering
• Water and Soil Treatment
• Phytomining of Critical Minerals
• Phytoremediation
• Nanotechnology
• Non-thermal plasma
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)