News
October 2024 – Congratulations to Kian for winning 2nd place for his poster presentation at the Membrane Applications Science & Technology (MAST) Center Industrial Advisory Board meeting for his work on pressure-driven distillation
2024 – OsmoPure Technologies, a startup co-founded by Kian and Tony, received NASA SBIR Phase I funding
June 2024 – Tony published an article in Nature Water on size-selective membrane separations
June 2024 – Congratulations to Mohammad on receiving American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) and United States Bureau of Reclamation Fellowship for his submission "Ion Transport and Selectivity in Salt-Rejecting Membranes" in the amount of $11,750!
"The Fellowships are competitive awards given to graduate students pursuing a full-time Master's degree or Ph.D. conducting research...that pertain to the advancement of membrane technology in the water, wastewater, or water reuse industries. The research must be consistent with AMTA's vision to 'solve water supply and quality issues through the widespread application of membrane technology.'" Only four Fellowships are awarded per year.
May 2024 – Congratuations to Hannah and Jacquelin on graduating with their Masters and Bachelors degrees in Environmental Engineering, respectively! Thank you for your hard work over the years; we will miss you both!
April 2024 – Congrats to Hannah and Elizabeth on their paper "Impact of Oxidative Chemicals on Hydrophobic Porous Membranes Used in Membrane Distillation" published in ACS Applied Engineering Materials
March 2024 – Congratuations to Elizabeth for her work on solution ions and nanofiltration membranes, published in NPJ Clean Water
March 2024 – Hannah helped organize the Colorado Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene (WASH) symposium held here at CU-Boulder
The intent of the Colorado WASH Symposium is to provide a platform for sharing and expanding collective knowledge in the field of water, sanitation, and hygiene in both domestic and international contexts. The symposium brings together leaders and WASH practitioners in social enterprises, the private sector, NGOs, academia, and development agencies. The Colorado WASH Symposium is deliberately small and intimate - designed around in-depth conversations and unrushed sessions where each individual’s contribution is valued. Read more here.
January 2024 – Yukai officially joined the Straub group
Yukai is part of the Materials Science & Engineering program, and her first project will focus on improving understanding of transport of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) via nanofiltration.
July 2023 – Duong, Kian, and Sang published two papers on pressure-driven distillation, Pressure-driven distillation using air-trapping membranes for fast and selective water purification in Science Advances and "Water Desalination via Pressure-Driven Distillation with Chlorine-Resistant and Large-Area Polymeric Membranes" in Environmental Science & Technology Letters
May 2023 – Sasha is co-founding an Environmental Justice seminar series! Read more about the seminar series and how to attend below:
Sasha is a co-founder of the RASEI supported Environmental Justice (EJ) seminar series, which brings in speakers from CU Boulder and NREL to discuss how they think about or implement environmental justice in their careers and work. The seminar series is meant to unite individuals passionate about environmental justice; foster dialogue on justice and energy technologies with diverse perspectives; educate ourselves on the connection between justice and technical research; and promote awareness, collaboration, and empowerment for equitable deployment of sustainable technology. The final seminar of Spring semester will be given by Professor Dan Kaffine on the Distributional Benefits of Emissions Reductions from Renewable Energy on May 1st, 3pm, in SEEC S228 (East Campus). Join our email list!
April 2023 – Congratulations to Sasha for receiving an honorable mention for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) competition
Jan 2023 – Kian and Elizabeth published a review on transport resistances and driving forces in Science Advances! Read their publication here.
Jan 2023 – The Straub group received another year of funding from the MAST center on thier project Pressure-Driven Membrane Distillation for High Efficiency, Selectivity, and Oxidation Resistance in Desalination and Wastewater Reuse, making it the first project in the MAST center to be awarded year 4 funding!
Dec 2022 – Congratulations to Trisha for her review, "Unlocking the potential of polymeric desalination membranes by understanding molecular-level interactions and transport mechanisms" published in Chemical Science