Events Atmospheric Water Harvesting Speaker Session and Student Workshop
Co-hosted by J-WAFS
April 16, 2024
Introduction (4:00 - 4:10 p.m.)
Joseph P. Mooney
Joseph Mooney, PhD, will give the introduction.
Mooney is a mechanical engineer who completed his B.E (2018) and Ph.D. (2021) at the University of Limerick, Ireland, specializing in passive thermal management for data centers and the 5G wireless infrastructure. With extensive industrial collaborations including Nokia Bell Laboratories and Huawei Technologies Ltd., during his PhD and postdoc at Trinity College Dublin, he has contributed to improving energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact in the telecommunications sector. Currently a postdoctoral associate at MIT’s DRL, he focuses on developing novel experimental techniques for hydrogel substrates and separation processes to create affordable and robust devices for passive solar water harvesting and desalination, with broad applications in various regions.
Student Speaker Session (4:10 - 4:40 p.m.)
Carlos D. Díaz-Marín
Carlos D. Díaz-Marín will give a talk titled “Super-absorbent materials for harvesting water in desert-like conditions.”
Díaz-Marín is a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering at MIT. Recognized with prestigious awards such as the Mechanical Engineering Rising Star by the University of California, Berkeley, and the Caltech Mechanical Engineering Trailblazer in 2023, he has solidified his position as a leader in the field. With an academic background including an M.S. from MIT and dual B.S. degrees in mechanical engineering (2017) and physics (2018) from the University of Costa Rica, Carlos works under the guidance of Professors Gang Chen and Evelyn N. Wang. His research focuses on extreme- performance hydrogels for water capture, with contributions in material optimization.
Chad T. Wilson
Chad T. Wilson will give a talk titled “Design considerations for next-generation sorbent-based atmospheric water-harvesting devices.”
Wilson is a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, having previously earned an M.S. from MIT in 2021 and a B.S.E from the University of Michigan in 2019, both in mechanical engineering. Under the guidance of Professor Gang Chen and Evelyn Wang, his research centers on integrating sorbents, designing systems, and optimizing sorption devices for various applications. Notably, his innovative designs have achieved record-breaking water output for compact atmospheric water harvesting devices, and he continues to pioneer new device architectures that maximize the potential of novel sorbent materials to enhance overall system performance.
Guest Speaker - “True Cost of Water”
(4:40 - 5:20 p.m.)
Ines Strohschein, Vice President, Water Network and Developments, TAQA, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Born in the South of Germany, Ines Strohschein, graduated from Hamburg University and then worked 21 years at the Berlin Water Works, one of the biggest integrated water and wastewater utilities in Europe where she held positions in Portfolio Management, Maintenance and Asset Management with a focus on sustainable water supply and water/wastewater management strategies and served as government liaison for Berlin’s stormwater management. As Vice President Water Network Development and Investments at TAQA in Abu Dhabi, UAE, since May 2022, Ines Strohschein, leads her team to promote TAQA’s national and international growth strategy with greenfield and brownfield water development projects. Her project DROP – Releasing the Potential of Alternate Water Supply is dedicated to establishing the True Cost of Water in a regionally adopted model from the United Nations approach to valuing water with the World Bank Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (WICER) framework and foster research in sustainable water supply technologies with a focus on renewable and ‘green’ water harvesting devices.