The American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) of Stuart, Fla., and National Water Research Institute (NWRI) of Fountain Valley, Calif., are pleased to announce the 2016 fellowship award winners. The 2016 AMTA-NWRI Fellowship for Membrane Technology has been awarded to doctoral students Sarah Dischinger of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Mark Summe of University of Notre Dame. The 2016 Affordable Desalination Collaboration (ADC) Fellowship Awards have been awarded to Carlo Alberto Amadei of Harvard University; Mackenzie Anderson of University of California; Rebecca McLean of University of Central Florida; and Trent Pinion of Texas A&M University.
The AMTA-NWRI Fellowship for Membrane Technology provides $10,000 a year for two years to support graduate student research that pertains to NWRI's objectives to improve water quality, protect public health and the environment, and create safe new sources of water, as well as AMTA’s mission to solve water supply and quality issues through the widespread application of membrane technology.
Dischinger is a third-year doctoral student at University of Colorado, Boulder, working under the supervision of Dr. Douglas L. Gin and Dr. Richard D. Noble, professors of chemical and biological engineering. She is evaluating the performance of a new liquid crystal polymer membrane to remove salts and organic compounds from hydraulic fracturing flowback water, which is the liquid produced during fracking (e.g. the process in which chemicals and water are injected into the ground to facilitate extraction of natural gas from underground reserves). This membrane differs from those currently in use in its ability to simultaneously remove both salts and organic compounds from flowback water while still retaining sufficient flow through the membrane. The research holds the potential to reduce the carbon footprint, capital costs and energy required to treat flowback water.
Summe is a third-year doctoral student at University of Notre Dame working under the supervision of Dr. William A. Phillip, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. He is developing a chemically selective charge mosaic membrane that can remove dilute ionic species such as nitrate, perchlorate and heavy metals from drinking water; these are constituents of concern due to their well-documented effects on human health. The mosaic structure enables both cations and anions to permeate the membrane, thereby allowing dissolved salts to be transported more rapidly than water. This is a novel process in which only the contaminants (0.1% by volume), rather than the water (99.9% by volume), need to flow through the membrane in order to achieve treatment goals. Summe is particularly interested in developing this technique to improve feed water streams for potable reuse projects.
Both fellows will attend the next AMTA-AWWA Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition in March 2017 in Long Beach, Calif., to present their research and to receive recognition of their fellowship award.
In 2011, the Affordable Desalination Collaboration (ADC) established a fund to provide financial support to students involved in membrane research and directed AMTA to distribute those monies in the form of fellowships. The ADC Fellowship Awards provide $10,000 allocated to the selected students.
AMTA received a number of highly qualified submittals in June 2016 and the following students were chosen:
- Carlo Alberto Amadei, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. – Amadei is a graduate student and is studying GOAL-Graphene Oxide Architectural Laminates membranes for Desalination.
- Mackenzie Anderson, University of California, Los Angeles – Anderson is an undergraduate student and the topic she is studying is to develop a new scalable method for making membrane surfaces hydrophilic.
- Rebecca McLean, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla. – McLean is an undergraduate student and is addressing Nanoparticle Driven Forward Osmosis Innovation for Mitigating Membrane Fouling in Algae Separation.
- Trent Pinion, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, Texas – Pinion is a graduate student is has Design of Mixed Matric Polysulfone Membranes for Membrane Distillation as his target research.
Each of the recipients will attend the 2017 Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition (MTC) to be held in Long Beach, Calif. Feb. 13 to 17 and present their work as a paper or poster presentation. The award monies are intended to support their research and to provide financial assistance for travel expenses related to the MTC attendance.
For more information about the AMTA-NWRI fellowship program, visit http://www.amtaorg.com/nwri-amta-fellowships-for-membrane-technology.
Source: American Membrane Technology Assn.
