NEWT Engineering Research Center

NEWT Alumni Celebrating 10 Years of Innovation at NEWT 🌊

A special tribute session held at the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization Conference in San Diego honored the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center, marking a decade of engineering research contributions to sustainable nanotechnology and clean water innovation.

NEWT has united 30 faculty labs across Arizona State University, The University of Texas at El Paso, Rice University and Yale University, secured $37M in National Science Foundation core funding, and generated 900+ research publications, 49 patent disclosures, 8 spin-off companies, and 185+ trained graduate students and postdocs.

🎇Dr. pedro alvarez of Rice University, Director of NEWT Engineering Research Center and Rice WaTER Institute's Founder has been awarded the 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Civil Engineering! Franklin Laureates will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony in April 2026. 👏

“This is a huge recognition, not only for a lifetime of work but also for the tremendous help I’ve received from students and colleagues and everyone in this field before me,” Alvarez said.

📣https://water.rice.edu/news/current-news/align-your-passion-your-vocation-alvarez-honored-benjamin-franklin-medal-civil

🎖️Benjamin Franklin Medal - https://fi.edu/en/awards

Rice WaTER Institute

Rice University Civil and Environmental Engineering

Rice University Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Rice University School of Engineering and Computing



https://water.rice.edu/news/current-news/align-your-passion-your-vocation-alvarez-honored-benjamin-franklin-medal-civil

📣 Announcing the 2026 Franklin Institute Awards Laureates!

Their work spans an extraordinary range of scientific discoveries, from the smallest units of life to the vast expanse of the universe. They have pioneered new fields of inquiry and transformed entire disciplines, preserving vital pieces of our past and charting bold paths to the future.

🏅 2026 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science - David R. Liu, Ph.D. of Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Howard Hughes Medical Institute - HHMI, and Harvard University
🏅 2026 Bower Award for Business Leadership - David M. Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group
🏅 2026 Benjamin Franklin NextGen Award - Josh Alman, Ph.D. of Columbia University
🏅 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry - Geoffrey W. Coates, Ph.D. of Cornell University
🏅 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Civil Engineering - Pedro J.J. Alvarez, Ph.D. of Rice University
🏅 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science - Dedre Gentner, Ph.D. of Northwestern University
🏅 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science - Karen C. Seto, Ph.D. of Yale University
🏅 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics - Wendy Laurel Freedman, Ph.D. of The University of Chicago

Awards Week begins April 27, 2026, culminating in a gala ceremony on April 30, to celebrate the 8 laureates and recognize one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honors in science, engineering, and business leadership.

*EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT TO 30 NOV* https://iwa-let.org/

Call for Content open for the 20th IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies,
📅 1–5 June 2026 | 📍 Houston, Texas, USA

Submissions can now be made for the next edition of the prestigious IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies. Hosted by Rice University, Houston, the overall theme for the event 'Resilient Water in a Changing World'.

LET is ideally placed to provide leadership in achieving the One Water paradigm and enhancing the resilience of urban water systems. Share your insights across 3 tracks: Joint Drinking Water and Wastewater Themes, Drinking Water Themes, and Wastewater Themes.

Submission deadline: 1 November 2025

Find out more in the Call for Content at: https://iwa-let.org/

Call for Content open for the 20th IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies,
📅 1–5 June 2026 | 📍 Houston, Texas, USA

Submissions can now be made for the next edition of the prestigious IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies. Hosted by Rice University, Houston, the overall theme for the event 'Resilient Water in a Changing World'.

LET is ideally placed to provide leadership in achieving the One Water paradigm and enhancing the resilience of urban water systems. Share your insights across 3 tracks: Joint Drinking Water and Wastewater Themes, Drinking Water Themes, and Wastewater Themes.

Submission deadline: 1 November 2025

Find out more in the Call for Content at: https://iwa-let.org/

We are happy to share that the Next-generation Applications of Nanotechnology for Optimal sustainability (NANO) Conference by the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) is happening this year, in partnership with the International Water Association (IWA)!

Come to beautiful 📍 , California
📅November 7–9, 2025.

REMINDER for DEADLINE:
Abstract Submission is NOW OPEN (Due Aug 15, 2025)! : https://lnkd.in/gyngvfJ3

We invite you to submit your latest research and be a part of this vibrant scientific exchange. Don’t miss the opportunity to connect, collaborate, and contribute.

Join us for a series of exciting and dynamic sessions!
For more details, please visit: https://lnkd.in/g_6uM9YN

WaterSustainability

NEWT Alliance News: NSF ERC Graduation - Congratulations! 🎓 -
Click to get find the links on staying connected.

By the end of the month, all communications will go through LinkedIn. Please be sure to scroll and grab any resources or stories from here until then. You can still add your Where Are They Now stories in the typeform link.

NEWT Alliance News: Meetings & Opportunities 📢 -

NEWT Alliance News: Meetings & Opportunities 📢

NEWT Alliance, Global Center for Water Technology |"Squeezing every last drop out of wastewater Partnering with Nestlé, ASU is working to reduce the amount of briny waste left over from water desalination" mentions Drs. Paul Westerhoff and Dr. Shahnawaz Sinha of Arizona State University. READ: https://buff.ly/fyMgDk2

Squeezing every last drop out of wastewater | ASU News Industries that need ultra-pure water — including semiconductor, battery, pharmaceutical, food and beverage companies — are expanding in Arizona. One of the most overlooked challenges for these businesses is what gets left behind in the pursuit of clean water: brine, the salty byproduct of proce...

NEWT Alliance | "Temperature-Responsive Polymer Grafted Carbon Nanotubes for Active Control of Mineral Scaling" by X Tian, Y Zhu, X Huang, Y Liu, G Gao, Q Ai, MT Chen… and Drs. Jun Lou, and Qilin Li of Rice University

- ACS nano, 2025
READ: https://buff.ly/0SzSo0K

ASU launches center to enhance water quality, sustainably Global Center for Water Technology introduced at DC event on May 19 READ: https://buff.ly/bBSQOH9

"The Intersection of Water and Energy, 2025-2030" presentation | Hosted by Arizona State University and Rice University, May 19

Panel 1 Included:
pedro alvarez, Rice WaTER Institute, Rice University
Michelle Michot Foss, Baker Institute of Public Policy
Qilin Li, Rice WaTER Institute, Rice University
Robert Crain, Texas Pacific Water Resources

Panel 2:
Paul Westerhoff, Arizona State University
Dave Palumbo, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Matthew Grandbois, Ph.D., AirJoule
Albert Cho, Xylem Inc.

ASU launches center to enhance water quality, sustainably | ASU News Just five years ago in the U.S., the electric power sector used 47.5 trillion gallons of water — equivalent to approximately 72,000,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.Water and energy play a vital role in every part of our society. They are closely related; water is needed to produce energy, and wat...

Congrats Dr. Qilin Li of Rice University for receiving the CAPEES-UCEEF Lifetime Achievement Award for your major contributions to environmental science and engineering!