Research

Clean Water for All

“From chemistry to physics to engineering, if we all team up, we have the expertise to tackle this.”

“From chemistry to physics to engineering, if we all team up, we have the expertise to tackle this.”

As populations grow globally, clean water is becoming increasingly scarce. With the limited availability of freshwater on the planet, transforming salt water into drinking water is more important than ever. However, current technologies that desalinate water are expensive and can be energy-intensive.

A research team at Carolina is tackling this challenge through Creativity Hubs, an evolving virtual research network that has the goal of moving new discoveries and ideas into practice.

“From chemistry to physics to engineering, if we all team up, we have the expertise to tackle this,” said Theo Dingemans, principal investigator for the Sustainable Access to Clean Water Creativity Hub and professor of applied physical sciences. “Independently, we wouldn’t be as successful.”

Dingemans and his team are a great example of how the Creativity Hub should work, bringing faculty together from different disciplines to solve a problem that will impact the world.

“I think the Sustainable Access to Clean Water Creativity Hub is a great example of convergent science. It’s important and will be important in the future at universities that stimulate, promote this and create the environment and infrastructure,” said Dingemans. “Carolina will play a big role in this.”

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