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Bureau of Reclamation and American Membrane Technology Association select award recipients for novel membrane technologies

Four graduate students awarded the 2018 AMTA-Reclamation Fellowship Award for their study of novel membrane technologies

Media Contact: Peter Soeth, 303-445-3615, psoeth@usbr.gov

For Release: January 25, 2018

WASHINGTON - Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman announced that four graduate students were each awarded $11,750 for their research pertaining to novel membrane technologies in an effort to conserve water and protect water quality through the widespread application of membrane technology.

"Innovative water treatment methods using novel membrane research have the potential to provide new sources of water and assist water users' efforts to improve water quality," Burman said. "We are looking forward to seeing how these technologies can improve desalination and water purification efforts."

The AMTA-Reclamation Fellowship Award program sought novel membrane research focused on the production of innovative water treatment strategies using novel membrane technologies. This research will advance future water treatment innovations for water users, wastewater managers, and water reuse industries.

Reclamation has partnered with AMTA to support universities, water utilities, private industry, and other entities in their efforts to address needs associated with desalination and water purification. Reclamation and AMTA's goal in this funding award program was to award research with widespread benefits of national significance, and to offer financial support when participants' research lacks the ability to fully invest in the research, and when the entity is unable to assume all research-related liability.

To see a full description of the selected projects of the award program, visit [site].

The recipients of the AMTA-Reclamation Fellowship Award are:

Mackenzie Anderson, University of California, Los Angeles
Anderson is a doctoral student studying novel, chemically tolerant membranes for desalination and industrial water reuse.

Carlo Alberto Amadei, Harvard University
Amadei is a doctoral student working on the development of novel, fully carbon membranes for wastewater reclamation.

Alma Beciragic, University of North Carolina
Beciragic is a doctoral student who is developing methods for the detection of membrane leachates and byproducts during water treatment.

Mengyuan Wang, University of Colorado
Wang is a doctoral student studying the gel-liquid interfacial polymerization process, and mechanisms and applications in thin film composite membranes.

Each Fellowship Award recipient will attend the AMTA-AWWA Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition in March 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana to present their research and to receive recognition of their fellowship award.

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

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.