Dr. James S. Taylor, P.E.
Professor & Director ESEI
Dr. Taylor has over 27 years of experience in water treatment and has been at UCF since 1977. He is now the Director of the Environmental Systems Engineering Institute (ESEI), a Professor of Engineering in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, the Leader of the UCF Membrane Focus Group and holds the Alex Alexander Chair for Environmental Engineering.. He has conducted in excess of $7,500,000 of nationally and internationally funded research at UCF since 1979 almost totally in drinking water treatment and is recognized for his expertise in drinking water treatment.
J. S. Taylor has conducted research as principal investigator for AWWARF, USEPA, KIWA, Florida and specifically in Wisconsin in conjunction with the Cities of Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Manitowoc. All of his research has involved utilities including full scale or pilot plant demonstration for the development of new technologies. The Wisconsin projects specifically involved conducting pilot scale investigations for microfiltration on Lake Michigan water, modeling disinfectant dissipation and DBP formation in Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago Waters and conducting enhanced coagulation pilot studies on lake Winnebago Waters. His projects have primarily dealt with membrane processes, corrosion control, coagulation, softening, sedimentation and disinfection. Dr. Taylor has developed specific membrane applications for TOC, DBP, SOC, and pathogen control as well as modeling productivity and water quality for size exclusion and diffusion controlled membrane process. Dr. Taylor initiated the development of membrane applications for drinking water supply. Dr. Taylor developed the alkalinity recovery system for reverse osmosis and nanofiltration and demonstrated that RO or NF systems produced a non-corrosive drinking water. Dr. Taylor recently worked as principal investigator with the American Water Works Research Foundation (AWWARF), the Dutch Institute for Drinking Water Research (Kiwa) and USEPA on three research project involving integrated membrane systems for removal of multi-contaminates from drinking water supplies.
Dr. Taylor has co-authored 4 texts and more than 100 national and international presentations or publications almost totally on drinking water. Dr. Taylor was the lead author on the “Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration” chapter in AWWARF published text on Membrane Processes. He is also the lead author of the membrane chapter in AWWA “Water Quality and Treatment”. He has served as the President of the FL section of AWWA, National Director for AWWA, Executive Committee Member for AWWA, PMAC Member for AWWA, WQD Officer for AWWA, Founder and Chair of the Membrane Specialty Conference for AWWA. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Desalination and Water Reuse Quarterly and served as the Chairman of the Florida Water Resources Journal for eight years. Dr. Taylor is a member of several professional organizations and has received the FSAWWA Fuller Award, FAWWA Man of the Year Award, UCF College of Engineering Research Excellence Award three times, the UCF Career Achievement Award for Research Excellence twice and the AWWA WQD Best Paper Award. He was named recipient of the “Alex Alexander Professorship for Water and Wastewater Treatment” in the UCF College of Engineering.