Joe Brown PhD PE is an environmental engineer and researcher primarily interested in helping expand access to safe water and effective sanitation. During his 20-year research career, he has built longstanding collaborations with US and international partners to advance critical research on new technologies and approaches to providing safe drinking water, cost-effective sanitation, and improved environmental health for all. During his years of working in Cambodia, Bolivia, Mozambique, his native Alabama, and in many other countries, he has led the development and evaluation of sustainable water treatment methods, novel approaches to water and sanitation infrastructure, scalable methods for water quality testing, and health impact trials of water and sanitation improvements to support the investment case for public infrastructure.

Joe is currently Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, where he also serves as Director of Engineering Programs. He is passionate about educating and training students at the intersection of engineering and global public health, where interdisciplinary innovation and translational research are critically needed to improve lives. Before UNC, Joe held previous faculty appointments at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is the 2024 recipient of UNC’s Bernard G. Greenberg Alumni Endowment Award, given for “continuous demonstrated excellence over a number of years in service to the broad public health community” and numerous other distinctions including a National Science Foundation CAREER award.