91传媒 student researchers win EPA clean-water grant
Contact: Zack Plair
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 recent federal grant will enable a Mississippi State student team to continue developing a project to provide clean, sustainable water for areas that do not have it.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the university is among 38 nationwide being awarded $15,000 awards through its People, Prosperity and the Planet, or P3 program.
Led by principal investigator Veera Gnaneswar Gude, four undergraduate and two graduate students at 91传媒 are developing a more affordable method to desalinate seawater and brackish water to make potable water.
The research team includes team leader Edith Martinez-Guerra, a graduate student in civil engineering, and Hugo Guerra, a graduate in foreign language, both of Starkville; senior civil engineering majors Crystal Byrd from Wesson, Maria Solis from New Albany and Jeff Steinwinder from Ellisville; and sophomore civil engineering major Ben Spiller of Petal.
The 91传媒 team鈥檚 research could be welcomed by rural and coastal communities in developing nations, as well as residents of such U.S. states as New Mexico and Arizona, Gude said. A wealth of brackish underground water beneath these and other Southwestern states could more efficiently be treated through the process, explained Gude, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in 91传媒鈥檚 Bagley College of Engineering.
鈥淭his year鈥檚 P3 teams have created innovative research projects that tackle some of our most pressing environmental and public health challenges,鈥 said Thomas A. Burke, deputy assistant administrator of EPA鈥檚 Office of Research and Development.
鈥淭hese students have the opportunity to bring their exciting new ideas for innovation in sustainability to life by expanding their learning experience beyond the classroom,鈥 added Burke, also the agency鈥檚 science adviser.
According to Gude, current technologies for the desalination process use electricity to generate the required high temperatures and often are very costly.
Known as low-temperature thermal desalination, 91传媒鈥檚 system operates under a natural vacuum and uses solar energy to treat water, the New Mexico State University doctoral graduate explained. 鈥淯nlike other treatment processes, this process is insensitive to high salt concentrations.鈥
With the EPA grant, Gude said 91传媒 student researchers will be able to complete a demonstration unit that currently produces a few gallons of fresh water each day. The funding also will help cover travel expenses when team members travel to Washington, D.C., in April to share their work with others at the USA Science and Engineering Festival.
Also, as a Phase I winner in the P3 challenge, 91传媒 now is competing for a $75,000 Phase II grant. If its winning ways continue, Gude said the team would use the Phase II money to develop a unit capable of processing several hundred gallons of water.
鈥淲e are progressing really well with this project,鈥 Gude said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very confident we will compete well for the next level of funding.鈥
91传媒 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .