AMTA and MTC Awards

• Harold Fravel, Jr., Ph.D., American Membrane Technology Association, received the award in recognition of Harold’s dedication to AMTA service as a Board Member and Executive Director. He has given many presentations, shared his expertise and served as the Executive Director for six years. His dedication to the Facility Map, Fact Sheets and Digital Library has made the AMTA website a great resource.

• Patricia Burke received the award in recognition of Ms. Burke’s contribution to the application and commercialization of membrane desalination over her more than five-decade career. She began in freeze desalination and was a founding NWSIA Member and its first Executive Director. Patricia became the first Secretary General for the International Desalination Association (IDA) in 1985 where she served for 33  years as a global desalination advocate, expanding the world-wide influence of desalination and leading many trade missions to advance acceptance of the technology.
• Kenkere Channabasappa received the award in recognition of Dr. Channabasappa’s contribution to the industry in the 1960-70’s as the driving force for government funding to develop reverse osmosis technology. He worked as the Membrane Division Chief for the Office of Saline Water (OSW) in the U.S. Dept. of the Interior and served as a past president of the International Desalination & Environmental Association (IDEA), the predecessor to the International Desalination Association (IDA).
• Clarence William (Bill) Saltonstall received the award in recognition of Dr. Saltonstall’s contribution to reverse osmosis membrane development throughout his career. Starting in 1964 as an early innovator as Director of Research at Envirogenics (an Aerojet General company), Bill led his team of engineer-scientists in the development of the cellulose acetate/cellulose triacetate “blend” membrane. This “blend” RO membrane was the dominant pre-thin film technology and was installed in 100% of the 1978 Yuma Desalination facility.

• Carlo Alberto Amadei, Harvard University, received the award for his studies on: “Development of Novel Fully Carbon Membranes for Wastewater Reclamation”
• Mackenzie Anderson, The University of California – Los Angeles, received the award for her studies on: “Novel Chemically Tolerant Membranes for Desalination and Industrial Water Reuse”
• Alma Beciragic, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received the award for her studies on: “Steps Towards Developing Methods for the Detection of Membrane Leachates and By-products During Water Treatment”
• Mengyuan Wang, University of Colorado, received the award for her studies on: “Gel-liquid Interfacial Polymerization Process: Mechanism and Applications in Thin Film Composite Membranes”

• Michael Geitner, The Pennsylvania State University, received the award for his studies on: “Bioinspired Hypochlorite-Resistant Reverse Osmosis Membranes”
• Cassandra Porter, Yale University, received the award for her studies on: “Ion-Rejecting Membranes with Polyelectrolytic Layers Produced through Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization”

• Amar Bhardwaj, Columbia University, received the award for his studies on: “Silicon Oxide Thin Film Overlayers for Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination”
• Allyson McGaughey, University of Southern California, received the award for her studies on: “Examining Internal and Distillate-Side Membrane Hydrophobicity to Understand Pore Wetting in Membrane Distillation”

• Xiaobo Dong, University of Kentucky, received the award for his studies on: “Investigate Environmentally Friendly Solvents to Fabricate Polymeric Membranes Using the Nonsolvent Induced Phase Separation (Nips) Method”

• The Town of Jupiter Utilities Water Treatment Plant, Jupiter, FL was presented with this year’s Membrane Facility of the Year Award. The award recognizes an outstanding water resource management facility that consists of three treatment systems (nanofiltration, ion exchange and reverse osmosis) at a single location. This facility is considered one of the first utilities in the country to fully employ these best available treatment technologies to achieve all of its water supply and quality needs. Jupiter’s nanofiltration process design is the first of its kind to employ an innovative approach to reduce energy consumption.”

• Jason Gillespie of San Patricio Municipal Water District was presented with this year’s Robert O. Vernon Operator of the Year Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions by a plant operator working at a membrane filtration, desalination or water reuse facility that resulted in significant, long-term improvement in water production and/or water reuse. The award is inscribed: “in recognition of Jason’s 20 years of outstanding service and dedication to ensuring excellent membrane operations and for his leadership in continually going above and beyond his duties.”

• LANXESS Sybron Chemicals, Inc. was presented with this year’s Membrane Exhibit of the Year Award. The award recognizes and honors the organization that highlights the importance of membrane technology with an exhibit booth at MTC.

• Brent Alspach received the award in recognition of Brent’s outstanding service and dedicated leadership. He focused his service on organizational innovations to expand and enhance the value of AMTA membership while maintaining a strong tradition of service.

• Yuliana Porras-Mendoza received the award in recognition of Yuliana’s support of the American Membrane Technology Association. Yuliana has been instrumental in securing US Bureau of Reclamation funding for Fellowship Awards to be administered by AMTA. These Fellowships help to grow the AMTA’s membrane community and attract new young members to strengthen our Association. This could not have been achieved without her dedication.

• Julie Nemeth-Harn, Harn R/O Systems, Inc., received the award in recognition of Julie’s outstanding assistance on the Publication Committee and her support in serving as Chair of the successful North Liberty Workshop.
• Greg Metternich, City of North Liberty, received the award in recognition of Greg’s exceptional support and willingness to go above and beyond with assistance to AMTA in hosting the successful North Liberty Workshop.

• Buddy Boysen, Water Standard, received the award in recognition of his participation as a Member of the Board of Directors of AMTA from 2018 to March 2019 and of serving as Committee Co-Chair for the 2018 El Paso Joint Workshop and 2019 Oklahoma City Joint Workshop.
• Fred Wiesler, received the award in recognition of his participation as a Member of the Board of Directors of AMTA as At Large Director from 2017 to March 2019 and for his service as guest editor of AMTA’s Newsletter “Solutions”.
• David Russell, SUEZ Technologies & Solution, received the award in recognition of his participation as a Member of the Board of Directors of AMTA from 2016 to March 2018 and for his service as AMTA Fellowship Committee Chair.
• John Potts, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc., received the award in recognition of his participation as a Director Emeritus Member of the Board of AMTA since April 1, 2015 to February 28, 2019 and for his service as the AMTA Nomination Committee Chair.

AMTA 2019 BEST PAPER AWARD

AMTA 2019 BEST POSTER AWARD

AMTA 2019 STUDENT BEST PAPER AWARD

AMTA 2019 STUDENT BEST POSTER AWARD

2019 AWWA MEMBRANE YOUNG PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR AWARD

2019 AWWA MEMBRANE TREATMENT BEST PAPER AWARD