Water, the ultimate resource for life, is high on the world’s agenda—and MIT’s.
In May, a workshop focused on Rethinking Water: A Critical Resource.
The spring issue of Spectrum, a newsletter published by the Resource Development department, focuses on the diverse range of research and action undertaken by more than 50 faculty from each of the Institute’s five schools. Here are a few highlights:
- Current methods of desalination do not nearly meet the world’s water needs John Lienhard, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at MIT and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals is using using “classical methods of thermodynamics” to improve humidification-dehumidification desalination.
- Better water management is the goal of Sarah Slaughter ’82, SM ’87, PhD ’91, a senior lecturer of technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management. “The way we manage water now, it’s equivalent to renting the entire Hancock Building for a two-person start-up company,” Slaughter says. “It’s a burden to manage the excess capacity.”
- Prof. Martin Polz is part of a team of MIT faculty considered to be national leaders in the relatively new field of environmental microbiology. “Respect the microbes, he says. “They’ve been on Earth longest, and they run the show.”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks for the info, was very useful for me to
We all are using water every single day in our daily life but only a very few people think about or worry about what would this world look like if water wasn’t available as it is at this time.
We are should try to save water and show more responsibility how we use and also how we very often waste water. Everybody is so concerned about we might run out of crude oil someday. But that wouldn’t be nearly as bad as if we ran out of water someday. No water – No life…it’s that simple.
I think it would amaze a lot of the people outside of the civilized world how hard it is just to make sure you have fresh drinking water is in the rest of the world.
I agree with Paula, water should definitely be a #1 priority so we don’t have to fight wars over water in the future like we fight over oil today.