Elimelech Honored for Contributions to Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Yale scientist Menachem Elimelech will receive the 2008 Lawrence K. Cecil Award for outstanding contributions to the fields of chemical and environmental engineering at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) on November 19 in Philadelphia. He will present a lecture titled “Science and Technology for Sustainable Water Supply” under auspices of the award, which is sponsored by B.P. America, Inc.

Elimelech, the Roberto Goizueta Professor of Environmental and Chemical Engineering in Yale’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, focuses on problems involving physicochemical and biophysical processes in engineered and natural environmental systems, including membrane separations for desalination and water quality control; environmental applications and implications of nanomaterials; transport and adhesion of microbial pathogens; and water sanitation challenges in developing countries.

Elimelech, who is chair of chemical engineering, founded Yale’s Environmental Engineering Program in 1998, and continues to serve as its director. The program emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach to solving environmental problems by focusing on a fundamental understanding of the underlying basic chemical, physical, and biological processes.

He has authored more than 170 refereed journal publications, and co-authored the book Particle Deposition and Aggregation. He currently serves on the editorial advisory boards of Colloids and Surfaces A, Desalination, Environmental Engineering Science, Langmuir, and Separation Science and Technology.

In addition to his research contributions, Elimelech has been very active in teaching and mentoring graduate students. He has advised 23 Ph.D. students and numerous postdoctoral researchers, many of whom now hold academic positions in major research at universities in the United States and abroad. Elimelech was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Athalie Richardson Irvine Clark Prize in 2005.