Engineering faculty from four departments were funded, including the departments of Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.
The seven newly funded projects bring the total number of seed research projects supported by J-WAFS to 24 since 2015.
Through the innovative technologies and collaborations we are supporting with these new research projects, J-WAFS is working to secure the future of our communities, the sustainability of our cities, and the prosperity of our economies in the face of rising population, greater urbanization, and changing climate.” Project highlights appear below, followed by a full listing of 2017 J-WAFS Seed Grant-funded projects.
Enhancing crop production with an eye toward sustainability Enhancing crop production while supporting environmentally sustainable farming practices in developing countries was a theme of several funded projects this year.
Two projects are addressing challenges around nitrogen fertilizer.
Harvesting water from air Securing clean drinking water in environments that are water-scarce or polluted is a challenge in many regions of the world.
Mircea Dinca, associate professor of chemistry, and Evelyn Wang, the Gail E. Kendall Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, are teaming up to develop a new technology that can be used to harvest water in even the most arid regions of the globe.
PIs: Mircea Dinca, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry; and Evelyn Wang, the Gail E. Kendall Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering "Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation for Distributed Fertilizer Production."
PIs: Xuanhe Zhao, the Noyce Career Development Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and John H. Lienhard, V, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water and Food in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and J-WAFS "Multifunctional Light-Diffusing Fibers for Simultaneous Light Management and Fluid Transport in Microalgae Bioreactors."
PI: Mathias Kolle, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering