DESIGN
Design what?
Over a quarter of the world’s population still lacks access to safely managed drinking water services, defined by the UN as water sources that are accessible on premises, available when needed, and free of chemical and microbiological contamination. Despite centuries of scientific and engineering advancements, access to safe drinking water remains limited. Current methods to monitor and remediate contaminants are cost-prohibitive, culturally inappropriate, cumbersome, and complex to operate and maintain long-term. Through experimental research, hardware prototyping, and iterative testing in field settings, we can better DESIGN safe water technologies with lower material, labor, and waste demands.
This research area is driven by questions such as:
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What are the critical factors driving user adoption?
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How can we evaluate the local affordability, user acceptance, and labor burden associated with technologies?
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Which mechanistic and fundamental insights can help us design usable and scalable products?
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Projects
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Building portable, wireless biosensors to monitor lead levels in school water supplies
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Modifying low-cost, natural materials to selectively sequester inorganic chemical contaminants
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Applying circular economy approach to design large-scale drinking water treatment processes
Output – Publications
2021
Effective Fluoride Removal Using Granular Bauxite Filter Media as an Affordable and Sustainable Alternative to Activated Alumina
Cherukumilli, K., Steiner, M., Ray, R. J. Royal Society of Chemistry Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
2020
A Critical Review of Contaminant Removal by Conventional and Emerging Media for Urban Stormwater Treatment in the United States
Okaikue-Woodi, F., Cherukumilli, K., Ray, R. J. Water Research
2018
Effective Remediation of Groundwater Fluoride with Inexpensively Processed Indian Bauxite
Cherukumilli, K., Maurer, T., Hohman, J. N., Mehta, Y., Gadgil, J. A. Environmental Science and Technology
Addressing Technical Barriers for Reliable, Safe Removal of Fluoride from Drinking Water Using Minimally Processed Bauxite Ores
Buckley, H., Molla, N., Cherukumilli, K., Boden, K., Gadgil, J. A. Development Engineering
2017
Factors Governing the Performance of Bauxite for Fluoride Remediation of Groundwater
Cherukumilli, K., Delaire, C., Amrose, S., Gadgil, J. A. Environmental Science and Technology
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