Four Graduate Students Studying Novel Membrane Technologies Receive The 2018 AMTA-Reclamation Fellowship Award

The American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) of Stuart, FL, and the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) of Denver, CO, are pleased to announce the 2018 AMTA-Reclamation Fellowships for Membrane Technology have been awarded to graduate students Mackenzie Anderson, University of California, Los Angeles; Carlo Alberto Amadei, Harvard University; Alma Beciragic, University of North Carolina; and Mengyuan Wang, University of Colorado, Boulder.

The fellowships provide $11,750 each to support graduate student research that pertains to Reclamation’s objectives, as well as AMTA’s mission to solve water supply and quality issues through the widespread application of membrane technology. The research funded is for work that innovates water treatment in membrane related research and results in the advancement of membrane technologies in the water, wastewater, or water reuse industries.

Reclamation is forming partnerships with private industry, universities, water utilities, and others to address a broad range of desalting and water purification needs. Reclamation is interested in research where the benefits are widespread but where private-sector entities are not able to make the full investment and assume all the risks. Reclamation is also interested in research that has a national significance- where the issues are of large-scale concern and the benefits accrue to a large sector of the public. AMTA is the leading association in the United States in the area of membrane research and membrane technology.

Anderson is a first-year doctoral student at University of California, Los Angles, working under the supervision of Richard B. Kaner, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She is studying novel chemically tolerant membranes for desalination and industrial water reuse.

Amadei is a third-year doctoral student at Harvard University working under the supervision of Chad D. Vecitis, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering. He is working on the development of novel fully carbon membranes for wastewater reclamation.

Beciragic is a third year doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, working under the supervision of Howard S. Weinberg, D.Sc. Professor. She is working on steps towards developing methods for the detection of membrane leachates and byproducts during water treatment.

Wang is a third-year doctoral student at the University of Colorado, Bolder, and is guided by Yifu Ding, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She is studying gel-liquid interfacial polymerization process, mechanism and applications in thin film composite membranes.

All the Fellows will attend the AMTA-AWWA Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition in March 2019 in New Orleans, LA, to present their research and to receive recognition of their fellowship award.

For more information about the fellowship program, visit http://www.amtaorg.com/usbr-amta-fellowships-for-membrane-technology.

About The American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA)
The American Membrane Technology Association’s mission it to promote, advocate and advance the understanding and application of membrane technology to create safe, affordable and reliable water supplies, and to treat municipal, industrial, agricultural and waste waters for beneficial use. AMTA provides broad opportunities for the exchange of technical, operational and financial information among individuals and organizations interested in membrane technologies. As the leading advocate of membrane processes in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America, AMTA is a strong voice for regulatory and legislative reforms essential to the understanding, acceptance and utilization of membrane technologies. For more information, visit www.amtaorg.com.

The Bureau of Reclamation is the largest wholesale water supplier in the United States, and the nation's second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Its facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits. For more information, visit https://www.usbr.gov.