Lily Young facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lily Young
Lily Young, September 2008
Education	B.Sc. (1965), M.Sc.(1967), PhD (1972)
Alma mater	Cornell University Harvard University

Lily Young is a well-known professor at Rutgers University. She teaches about tiny living things (microbes) that live in our environment. This field is called environmental microbiology.

Professor Young is also a leader at Rutgers. She helps manage the university as part of its administrative council. She is the provost of Rutgers New Brunswick. This means she is a top academic officer. She also works at the Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment. Her main teaching role is in the Department of Environmental Sciences.

For five years, she was the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs. She also led the Department of Environmental Sciences.

Education and Early Career

Lily Young studied microbiology at Cornell University. She earned her first degree in 1965. Then, she got her master's degree in 1967.

She later earned her PhD in environmental biology. This was in 1972 at Harvard University. She did her research in Ralph Mitchell's lab.

Professional Journey

• 1972–1980: She started as an Assistant Professor. This was at Stanford University in California. She worked in the Environmental Engineering Program.
• 1980–1992: She became a Research Professor. She worked at New York University Medical Center. She had roles in Environmental Medicine and Microbiology.
• 1992–present: She joined Rutgers University. She became a Professor in New Brunswick, NJ. She works in the Department of Environmental Sciences.
• 1998–present: She was named a Professor II (distinguished) at Rutgers.
• 1998–2003: She served as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies. This was at Cook College, Rutgers University.
• 2001–2008: She was the Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences.
• 2009–present: She became the Dean of International Programs at Rutgers.

Amazing Research on Microbes

Professor Young's research looks at tiny organisms called anaerobic microorganisms. These microbes can break down harmful chemicals. These chemicals include pesticides and parts of gasoline. Examples are benzene, toluene, and xylene. They also break down other oil-based compounds like naphthalene and phenanthrene.

These microbes work by doing special chemical reactions. They take electrons from the harmful chemicals. This helps clean up the environment. These bacteria are different from others. They do not need oxygen to break down chemicals. Instead, they use other molecules. These include nitrate, iron, sulfate, and carbonate.

Early in her career, at Stanford, her team made a big discovery. They showed that environmental bacteria could break down wood-like chemicals. They turned them into methane without oxygen.

In 1994, one of her papers was very important. It showed how certain bacteria could break down toluene and xylene. This paper was one of the most cited in its field.

At Rutgers, Professor Young studied microbes in the NY-NJ Harbor. She looked at how they break down oil compounds. A main goal is to understand how these microbes break down naphthalene and phenanthrene. She was one of the first to use special labeled compounds. This helped her figure out how microbes attack hydrocarbons without oxygen.

By understanding these processes, her group has found ways to help nature clean itself. They have developed ways to check if natural cleanup is happening. This is useful in places like underground water sources.

Recently, her work also looks at how microbes handle dangerous metals. These include arsenic. Microbes can change the form of these metals. This affects how metals move in water, like in streams and groundwater.

Awards and Honors

Lily Young has received many important awards:

• 1992: She was chosen as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
• 1994: She was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
• 2001: She received the Research Excellence Award from Rutgers University.
• 2002: She won the American Society for Microbiology National Procter & Gamble Award. This is the highest award in her field. She gave a lecture about her work on anaerobic processes.
• 2004: She gave the Frank H. Parker Distinguished Lecture. This was at Vanderbilt University.

Personal Life

Lily Young is married to Wise Young. He is also a professor at Rutgers University. He teaches about the brain and nervous system. They have two grown children, Talia and Jesse.