School Notes: School of Engineering & Applied Science
September/October 2024

Cleaner water with electrified membranes

Nitrate contamination in water has long presented threats to the environment and human health. Now, Yale researchers have developed an efficient and effective way to remove it. Lea Winter, assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering, is using electrified membranes made with carbon nanotubes as a strategy for nitrate removal in drinking water. And the difference is dramatic: Conventional nitrate removal systems can take hours to remove 80 to 90 percent of nitrate from water. Winter’s membranes get comparable results in a matter of 15 seconds. The results of her work are published in Nature Water.

Environmental engineering makes the Top 10

With cutting-edge research and internationally recognized faculty, Yale’s environmental engineering program has quickly become a leader in the field. This achievement is underscored by its recent No. 9 ranking in the 2024 US News & World Report’s Best Graduate Engineering School Rankings for environmental engineering. The program, which has frequently made the rankings’ Top 10, emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach to solving environmental problems, allowing graduate students to pursue educational and research interests across departments. “The environmental engineering program’s consistent high placement in the rankings reflects its caliber of pioneering research and exceptional faculty,” said Yale Engineering dean Jeffrey Brock ’92. 

Brain PET provides exceptional images

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) awarded Prof. Richard E. Carson its Henry N. Wagner Jr. Image of the Year award. The image was produced with a new ultra-high-performance brain PET system, the NeuroEXPLORER, that allows for the direct measurement of brain nuclei as never before seen. With its ultra-high sensitivity and resolution, the NeuroEXPLORER provides exceptional brain PET images and could spur advances in the treatment of many brain diseases. “This technology will provide the opportunity for advanced research on all types of neuronal molecular and functional activity,” said Carson, professor of biomedical engineering and of radiology and biomedical imaging.