Adi Radian

Adi Radian is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and head of the Soil and Environmental Chemistry Lab at the Technion. Her lab designs advanced composites that absorb and degrade pollutants in natural and engineered systems.

Soil and water contamination, caused by industrial activity, agricultural pesticides, and improper waste disposal, can lead to a variety of environmental and health problems. Prof. Radian and her team are interested in the fate of these pollutants and are developing sustainable solutions to reverse environmental damage. For example, in research with Biotechnology and Food Engineering Professor Ayelet Fishman, she helped develop and patent technology to purify water from the carcinogen formaldehyde. The method uses surface-modified montmorillonite clay, which has a unique capacity to absorb formaldehyde, as well as a bacterium that decomposes formaldehyde.

Prof. Radian earned her bachelor’s degree from Shenkar College in Israel, and both her master’s degree in environmental studies (magna cum laude) and her doctorate in soil and water science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She did her postdoctoral work as a BARD Fellow at the University of Minnesota in The Biotechnology Institute and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and joined the Technion faculty in 2016.

Prof. Radian has received numerous awards including both the Aaronson Teaching Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award at the Technion. And she has been appointed the Deloro Career Advancement Chair in the Technion’s Leaders of Science and Technology program.