Texas Engineer Guihua Yu won the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award from the United Arab Emirates for his breakthrough work to provide clean, drinkable water using renewable solar energy.
Yu, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute and UT Energy Institute, was selected as the sole winner in the Distinguished Researcher Award category of this year’s awards from the UAE.
"I am thrilled to be awarded this international prize. Certainly, a great honor and privilege to be recognized for our research that enables renewable energy to produce clean drinking water," Yu said. "This award truly recognizes many outstanding works from my former and current students over the past years, including a large number of international team members with various backgrounds and skills from chemistry, materials science, engineering. It also would not be possible without many supportive faculty colleagues and friends at UT!"
Yu’s quest to improve access to drinking water over the past decade has led to many key innovations, including:
- Water-generating hydrogelsthat purify wastewater or seawater using sunlight
- Water-harvesting gels for the driest conditions
- Biomass-based water harvesting gels that can pull water from thin air
- An injectable gel-based water filtration system
- Smart soils based on water harvesting gels for sustainable farming
Moving forward, Yu and his research team will continue to refine their solar water technologies and work collaboratively with global foundations and other environmental specialists for broader use of their developed technologies in different parts of the world. They’ll also keep investigating new technologies to address growing accessibility and security challenges in the nexus of water and energy.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award recognizes pioneering individuals and organizations and research centers discovering new ways to produce clean water using renewable energy. This cycle, the fourth overall, included 12 honorees from eight countries.
Yu was also recently elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, an international, non-governmental and non-profit organization committed to promoting scientific and societal progress. Members are elected for their outstanding achievements in science, engineering, arts, and governance. They are recognized for their exceptional standing in society as a result of work performed, publications or related activities.
