Prof. Jeffrey McCutcheon was recently named the recipient of the 2024 Paul L. Busch Award from the Water Research Foundation (WRF). The award is given to recognize an individual for innovative research in the field of water quality and the water environment, with a special focus on those who make significant contributions in bridging research and its practical application.
McCutcheon is the General Electric Professor of Advanced Manufacturing in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at UConn’s College of Engineering.
“I’m honored that WRF chose me for this award,” McCutcheon says. “Looking at past winners we see a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the water treatment field. To be welcomed into this select group of scholars and innovators is one of the highlights of my career.”
The October award was given to recognize McCutcheon’s contributions to advancing manufacturing science for water treatment membranes. In particular, McCutcheon and his lab have pioneered a new additive manufacturing approach to make thin film water treatment membranes. The method, which is based on electrohydrodynamic spray processing, enables the customization of membrane chemistry and performance in ways that current manufacturing techniques cannot.
The award carries with it a $100,000 grant. McCutcheon is the 24th winner of the annual award.
The award was presented at the recent Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference in New Orleans, La. He was introduced by Jeff Busch, the late Paul Busch’s son. In his introduction, Jeff Busch touted McCutcheon’s successes as a membrane scientist, highlighting his over 115 refereed articles, multiple issued patents, and early career contributions to the water treatment field through his work in forward osmosis. McCutcheon received a trophy and was given an opportunity to address the luncheon attendees with a talk about the technology and how the award will help him to continue to advance his work.
McCutcheon intends to use the award to broaden the application of his manufacturing approach to other materials of interest to the membrane science community, as well as provide conference travel opportunities for students to present on the technology.
“It’s the students who do the work, so they should reap the benefits of this award,” says McCutcheon. “I am excited to give my students more opportunities to learn using new tools and engage with the water treatment community and disseminate their work through professional conferences.”
According to McCutcheon, the final application of this technology would be to produce a customized membrane chemistry that is designed to remove specific contaminants from wastewater or drinking water.
An August report in Science explains that over half of the world’s population do not have safe household drinking water.
Paul Busch served as the WRF Board of Directors chairman in 1994 and 1995, and as emeritus chairman until his death in 1999. As an environmental engineer, he led the development of water quality technologies for more than 40 years.
Learn more about the Water Research Foundation and McCutcheon’s award from the Foundation.
