Dr. Helene Hilger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Rutgers University, and undergraduate and master's degrees in Civil Engineering from UNC Charlotte, and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Hilger directs the University's Infrastructure, Design, Environment and Sustainability (IDEAS) Center. She also teaches courses in sustainable design, ecological engineering and solid waste management, wastewater treatment, and environmental biotechnology.  She was awarded the 2007 Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence, the campus' highest honor for teaching. She is also the recipient of the 2008 UNC Board of Governor's Award for Teaching.

Outside of the university, she chairs the national American Society of Civil Engineers' Environmental and Water Resources Institute Sustainability Task Committee and is also an active member of the Water Environment Federation and the North Carolina American Water Works-Water Environment Association and is a member of their Water Reuse Committee. Dr. Hilger is a Professional Engineer registered in the state of North Carolina.

Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, the North CarolinaWater Resources Research Association, the Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Division, Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the North Carolina Biofuels Center and the North Carolina Green Building Fund, among others. She is also a National Science Foundation New Century Scholar. In 2008, Dr. Hilger and her two co-authors were the recipients of the International Solid Waste Association's Best Paper Award for their research on biotic methane emission abatement technologies.

Dr. Hilger has conducted research on anaerobic digestion of solid waste, landfill methane emissions abatement, the microbial quality of reclaimed water, wastewater process optimization, the use of waste gypsum as a soil amendment, and the use of recycled concrete for erosion control. In recent years, she has become interested in the theory and practice of sustainable design. For almost a decade, she has served as faculty director of the UNC Charlotte Environmental Assistance Office, which conducts pollution prevention research and educational programs for small businesses and municipal agencies. As such, she has an active relationship with many of the region's environmental agencies. She served for several years as an associate editor for Waste Management and Research, the journal of the International Waste Management Association (ISWA), and has chaired numerous sessions at the Intercontinental Landfill Research Symposia. She remains a member of ISWA and the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and is a founding member of the Consortium for Landfill Emissions Abatement Research (CLEAR).