Hu Awarded Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship

Environmental engineering Ph.D. student Meng Hu was recently awarded the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, a one-semester award to support outstanding doctoral students who are in the final stages of writing their dissertation.

Advised by CEE Assistant Professor Baoxia Mi, Hu has focused his research on membrane technologies to promote the water-energy nexus. Most recently, he has worked on synthesizing next-generation high-performance graphene-based membranes for water purification, desalination and salinity-gradient power generation.

The graphene-based membranes are found to outperform their commercial counterparts by a factor of four to 10, Hu noted. Additionally, this new type of membrane also presents fascinating transport mechanisms.

Hu and Mi are filing a patent on their exciting research and looking for industrial partners to commercialize the technology to alleviate the water and energy crisis.

Published April 30, 2014