Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS)

Overhead photo of grass, a very thin and long type of plant, growing in black plastic circular pots. There are about 54 pots in this view, in a 9 by 6 grid.

Research collaboration puts climate-resilient crops in sight

MIT professors Dave Des Marais and Caroline Uhler combine plant biology and machine learning to identify genetic roots of plant responses to environmental stress.

September 17, 2021

Photo of a woman standing between two men in a lab with lab equipment in the background.

Cleaning up industrial filtration

MIT spinoff Via Separations aims for industrial decarbonization with its durable graphene oxide membranes.

August 3, 2021

Analytics platform for coastal desalination plants wins 2021 Water Innovation Prize

The student pitch competition addressed a variety of problems expected to worsen with climate change.

May 10, 2021

Four MIT researchers standing smiling in a lab

Using mechanics for cleaner membranes

J-WAFS-supported researchers employ a mechanical approach to more efficiently clean membranes used for desalination.

May 10, 2021

MIT engineers make filters from tree branches to purify drinking water

Prototypes tested in India show promise as a low-cost, natural filtration option.

March 25, 2021

Photo of a man in a white lab coat and blue gloves looking at an opaque white square material

Brewing up a dirty-water remedy (and more) with kombucha-inspired biosensors

PhD student and 2017 J-WAFS graduate fellow Tzu-Chieh Tang designs living materials to solve environmental challenges, with an emphasis on safety and scalability.

February 10, 2021

An Army Corps of Engineers flood model depicting the Ala Wai watershed after a 100-year rain event. The owner of a local design firm described the Ala Wai Flood Control Project as the largest climate impact project in Hawai's modern history.

Reducing risk, empowering resilience to disruptive global change

Workshop highlights how MIT research can guide adaptation at local, regional, and national scales.

January 23, 2020

A new agreement will help initiate research collaborations between scholars at MIT and IIT-Ropar that respond to water- and food-sector challenges in India. IIT Ropar is located in Punjab, a primarily agriculture-based region of India, and has interdisciplinary centers focusing on water and agriculture.

New seed fund to address food, water, and agriculture in India

MIT-India, J-WAFS, and the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar launch fund to facilitate collaborations between faculty and scientists from MIT and ITT Ropar.

May 9, 2019

“If you have a problem, and you look into the problem in nature and see how animals or plants deal with these kinds of problems and extract those design principles, you can try to replicate [them] using engineering approaches,” saysZijay Tang, a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering.

Inspired by nature, reaching across disciplines

PhD student Zijay Tang is developing a living material that can sense and filter water contaminants.

September 17, 2018

This wearable water quality test kit (early prototype pictured at left) provides a simple, accessible way to test the presence of E. coli in drinking water. A J-WAFS Solutions grant will enable an MIT research team to develop a regionally-appropriate commercialization strategy to ensure that these test kits can be accessible to rural and urban communities in Nepal as well as the other areas in Sou...

J-WAFS awards grants for commercialization of food and water technologies

Solutions grants will aid commercialization of novel MIT technologies to test water safety and improve agricultural productivity.

September 11, 2018

Krithika Ramchander (left), a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Andrea Karin Beck, a PhD candidate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, have each received fellowships from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) for 2018-2019. Their research explores solutions to global and local water supply challenges using engineering and q...

Krithika Ramchander and Andrea Beck awarded J-WAFS fellowships for water solutions

Graduate students receive J-WAFS fellowships to support research focused on improving water access for rural as well as urban communities.

August 9, 2018

A proof-of-concept MIT prototype of a sun-powered device extracts drinking water from the desert air in Tempe, Arizona.

Featured video: Pulling drinking water out of thin air

Powered only by solar energy, a new device developed at MIT could provide relief to regions where water is scare.

July 23, 2018

A rendering of Los Angeles depicts green space and wetlands as envisioned by the MIT team.

A solution for urban storm flooding

Engineered green spaces can capture and purify stormwater while delivering ecosystem and recreational benefits, MIT researchers report.

July 12, 2018

Based on measurements taken at more than 100,000 wells around the country, the MIT researchers identified these locations, indicated by green dots, that have a combination of a severe shortage of freshwater, and a large reserve of brackish groundwater that could potentially be desalinated and used.

Study finds potential in brackish groundwater desalination

Water-starved areas could find new sources by desalinating water that’s much less salty than seawater.

July 4, 2018

Seven new projects focusing on solutions to water and food systems challenges, led by 11 faculty principal investigators across five MIT departments, will be funded by the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) with two-year grants of up to $200,000.

J-WAFS awards over $1.3 million in fourth round of seed grant funding

Eleven principal investigators from six MIT departments will receive grants totaling over $1.3 million, overhead free, for research on food and water challenges.

May 25, 2018

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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