Assistant professor H. Jeremy Cho (Mechanical Engineering) has received the NSF CAREER award for his project, "Continuous atmospheric water harvesting through gels." This award for $596,487 will support research on atmospheric water harvesting for five years through a 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ-developed hydrogel membrane design. Atmospheric water harvesting is a way to source fresh water from the ambient air. Despite the low humidity in Southern Nevada, there is a nearly limitless, hidden ocean of water all around us in the form of water vapor. However, transforming that water into liquid form is thermodynamically challenging. Using a unique flow-through hydrogel membrane, Cho's will be developing and improving a new way to perform that transformation while, at the same time, uncovering new science in the field of heat/mass transfer and polymer physics. The CAREER project also includes educational plans to work with local high schools to build prototype water harvesting kits, operate them year round, and send data to 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ.
