International technology partnership to focus on water problems

The University of Chicago and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have signed an agreement to begin exploring a research partnership that would create new water production and purification technologies for deployment in regions of the globe where fresh water resources are scarce. Signing a memorandum of understanding in Chicago on March 8 were University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer and Ben-Gurion President Rivka Carmi. "Increasing both the quantity and quality of water is one of the major engineering challenges of the 21st century," Zimmer said. "A collaborative research and technology center based in both Chicago and Be'er Sheva focusing on the molecular aspects of water science and technology will result in a powerful new approach for addressing the various and pervasive challenges to the global water supply." Carmi noted that BGU was founded by an Israeli government mandate to spearhead the development of the Negev desert. "BGU has been at the forefront of advanced basic and applied water-related research for more than four decades and has developed a number of innovative technologies in the field," Carmi said. "The collaboration with UChicago will result in the development of new technologies for the benefit of people all over the world." Leading the Chicago side of the collaboration will be Matthew Tirrell, the Pritzker Director of UChicago's Institute for Molecular Engineering. Tirrell's team will include scientists from Argonne National Laboratory , which UChicago manages for the U.S. Department of Energy.