Wayne Parker, PEng

Wayne J. Parker is a Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department and is cross-appointed to the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Professor Parker is affiliated with Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), the Water Environment Association of Ontario, the Water Environment Federation, the International Water Association, and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers.

Professor Parker’s research interests include nutrient recovery from wastewaters, anaerobic membrane bioreactors for wastewater and sludge treatment, understanding the fate of emerging contaminants in wastewater systems, planning the pre-treatment of sludge for enhanced digestion, and understanding advanced sludge digestion processes. His recent sources of research funding are from NSERC, Envirosim, GE, Canadian Water Network, Ontario Research Fund, Environment Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Environment.

In addition to his research work, Professor Parker has also received several awards such as the 1994 Water Environment Federation Willem Rudolfs Medal for Industrial Wastewater Research, the 1997 Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award, and the 2002 Province of Ontario’s Premier’s Research Excellence Award. He also received the 2003 Carleton University Research Achievement Award, and the Editor’s Award from the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering in 2004.

Wayne Parker is a member of the Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (https://uwaterloo.ca/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/).

• Environmental & Water Resources, Biosolids, Sludge Digestion, Hazardous Compounds, Fate Mechanisms, Liquid-Gas Mass Transfer, Biodegradation, Adsorption, Biofilms, Anaerobic membrane bioreactors, Nutrient Recovery

Environmental Engineering Consultant (Enviromega) 1991-1995

Invited member of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Stakeholders Review Group for the Revision and Update of the Sewage Design Guidelines

Expert Reviewer for Sustainable Technology Development Canada

Member of the Water Environment Association of Ontario Biosolids Committee

Member of the Water Environment Association of Ontario Wastewater Treatment and Technology Committee

Member of the Program Committee for the Water Environment Federation Annual Conference (WEFTEC)

Session Chair at the Canadian Association on Water Quality Annual Conference

• 1991, Doctorate Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada

• 1988, Master's Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada

• 1986, Bachelor's Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada

• 2002 Evaporation for Landfill Leachate Treatment

• 0000 Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award

• 0000 Water Environment Federation Willem Rudolfs Medal for Industrial Wastewater Research

• 2002 Province of Ontario's Premier's Research Excellence Award

• 2003 Carleton University Research Achievement Award

• 2004 Editors Award from the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering

• CIVE 771 - Biological Wastewater Treatment: Theory and Practice
  • Taught in 2021, 2023, 2025
• ENVE 376 - Biological Processes
  • Taught in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
• ENVE 577 - Engineering for Solid Waste Management
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• 1.) Ali Khadir; Eunkyung Jang; Domenico Santoro; John Walton; Ahmed Al-Omari; Christopher Muller; Katherine Y. Bell; Wayne Parker; Martha J.M. Wells; George Nakhla (2025) High-Rate Vacuum-Enhanced Anaerobic Digestion: Performance, Ammonia Recovery and Process Kinetics, Accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Science

• 2.) Xiaoyu Sun and Wayne Parker (2025) Generation, Fate and Transport of Volatile Chlorine Compounds following Hypochlorite Discharges to Municipal Sewers, Accepted in Chemosphere

• 3.) Ali Khadir, Basem Haroun, Eunkyung Jang, Domenico Santoro, John Walton, Ahmed Al-Omari, Christopher Muller, Katherine Y. Bell, Wayne Parker, George Nakhla (2025) Methane Production and Microbial Adaptation in High-Load Vacuum-Enhanced Anaerobic Digestion: Addressing Ammonia and Propionate Toxicity, Accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Journal

• 4.) Ziang Zhu, Shaokang Dong, Han Zhang, Wayne Parker, Ran Yin, Xuanye Bai, Zhengxin Yu, Jinfeng Wang, Yang Gao, Hongqiang Ren (2025) Bayesian Optimization-Enhanced Reinforcement Learning for Self-adaptive and Multi-objective Control of Wastewater Treatment, Accepted in Bioresource Technology

• 5.) Narasimman Lakshminarasimman, Michelle M. McKnight, Josh D. Neufeld, Wayne Parker (2025) Characterizing biofilm thickness, density, and microbial community composition in a full-scale hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor, Accepted in Bioresource Technology

• 6.) Narasimman Lakshminarasimman, Mirzaman Zamanzadeh, Oliver Schraa, Wayne Parker (2025) Modeling nitrous oxide emission from full-scale hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactors (MABR), Accepted in Water Research

• 7.) Esmat Maleki, Daozhong Yu, Wayne Parker (2024) Assessment of Active Heterotrophs and Hydrolytic Enzyme Activities as Indicators of Hydrolysis Rates in Anaerobic Digestion of Mixed Primary and Waste Activated Sludges, Accepted in Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

• 8.) Narasimman Lakshminarasimman and Wayne Parker (2025) Long term performance evaluation of a full-scale hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) facility, Accepted in Journal of Water Process Engineering

• 9.) Ziang Zhu, Wayne Parker (2025) Implementing Differential Recovery Corrections Enhances Accuracy of Mass Balances on Microplastics in Wastewater Treatment, Water Research, 271, 122912.

• 10.) Aseel A. Alnimer, D. Scott Smith, Wayne J. Parker (2024) Impact of Organic Matter Constituents on Phosphorus Recovery from CPR Sludges, Water Environment Research, 96 (10), e11141.

• Researchers use AI to improve microplastic identification