Associate Professors Sage Hiibel ’03, ’04 M.S. (left) and Eric Marchand ’94, ’96 M.S. Rachel Jackson ’23
The College of Engineering received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center to establish the Nevada Center for Water Resiliency which will research and test new technologies in water treatment, focusing on potable drinking water reuse from a variety of sources.
Led by Sage Hiibel ’03, ’04 M.S. (chemical engineering); associate professor of chemical & materials engineering; and Eric Marchand ’94, ’96 M.S. (civil engineering); associate professor and associate chair for undergraduate affairs in civil & environmental engineering; the center is the latest step in a longtime effort to find solutions for water-scarce communities. Located in the heart of the arid American West, Nevada is an ideal place to develop new water reuse technologies.
“As the driest state in the nation, and one of the top 10 fastest-growing states, water resources in Nevada are stretched thin,” Hiibel and Marchand wrote in their grant proposal. “As a result, communities in Nevada are eager to find novel ways to diversify the state’s water portfolio and are at the forefront of water conservation and reuse strategies.”
The 1,800-square-foot center, housed at the University’s Applied Research Facility, is perfect for developing and testing demonstration-scale treatment technologies. “The large, open floor space and accessibility for trailers or cargo containers will allow us to assemble and test our new technologies within the center, and then have them ready to be deployed to the field,” Hiibel said.
Part of the University’s already existing Nevada Water Innovation Institute, the new center will include dedicated analytical laboratory space for water quality testing, traditional lab bench space and student work areas. In addition to Hiibel and Marchand, faculty from the civil & environmental engineering and chemical & materials engineering departments, including Keith Dennett, David Hanigan, M. Rashed Khan, 2021 Foundation Professor Krishna Pagilla and Victor Vasquez ’98 M.S., ’99 Ph.D. (chemical engineering) will be involved in the new center.
For more details on the Nevada Center for Water Resiliency, scan the QR code below.