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New Haven, Conn. -- The 2005 Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for outstanding achievement in water science and technology will be presented to Professor Menachem Elimelech of Yale University on July 7 in a ceremony in Dana Point, Calif. by the National Water Research Institute (NWRI).
This distinguished award is one of only a dozen water prizes awarded worldwide. It is awarded annually to an outstanding individual who has demonstrated significant contributions in one of the following areas: the discovery, development, improvement, and/or understanding of the issues associated with water quality, quantity, technology, or public policy. The award includes a gold medallion, a $50,000 honorarium and an invitation to deliver the 2005 Clarke Lecture.
The NWRI, established in 1991, is renowned for facilitating and funding water-related research projects in the U.S. and abroad. Some of its critical research topics and interests in the world of water include ultraviolet disinfection, membranes, salinity management and desalination, riverbank filtration and education.
Elimelech, the Roberto C. Goizueta Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, is a specialist in the physiochemical processes in natural water and in engineered aquatic systems. He directs the Yale Environmental Engineering Program, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach to solving environmental problems. His research focuses on three areas: transport and fate of microbial pathogens in aquatic environments; fundamentals and applications of membrane separation processes for water quality control; and dynamics of colloidal particles and biocolloids in aquatic systems.
A native of Israel, Elimelech served in the Israeli Air Force before earning his B.S. and M.Sc. at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University (1989). He taught 1989-1998 at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was professor and vice chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering before coming to Yale as professor of Environmental Engineering. He has written over 90 articles and is principal author of the book "Particle Deposition and Aggregation." Elimelech has held visiting posts at the California Institute of Technology, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea. In summer of 2002, he was the Exxon-Mobil Professor at the National University of Singapore.
"We are delighted at the very significant honor that the Clarke Prize gives to Professor. Elimelech," said Paul Fleury, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Engineering at Yale. "It is gratifying to see that the worldwide water research community already recognizes his extraordinary energy, creativity and leadership as do all of his Yale colleagues. We bask in his reflected glory."
His numerous honors include the W.M. Keck Foundation Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Outstanding Paper Award of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors and the Excellence in Review Award of the journal Environmental Science & Technology. In May 2004 he received Yale's Graduate Mentor Award.
Further information about the NWRI is available on the web at http://www.nwri-usa.org or from Gina Melin at 714-280-5709, gmelin@nwri-usa.org.