News J-WAFS Community Spotlight on Arjav Shah

As a member of a J-WAFS Solutions Grant team, Arjav Shah works on sustainable water purification solutions at MIT.

Jiaqi Zhang, J-WAFS March 4, 2024

Arjav Shah is a PhD-MBA candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Originating from Surat, India, a hub for the textile industry, Shah witnessed the environmental challenges associated with industrial growth, particularly around water quality. His academic journey took him from studying chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay to his current innovative research at MIT, where he studies under the guidance of Professor Patrick Doyle.

As part of a J-WAFS Solutions Grant team with Professor Doyle, Shah is helping to commercialize a sustainable hydrogel microparticle system designed to remove micropollutants, such as heavy metals and harmful organic compounds, from water sources.  This project has been reported on by Scripps’ Local Media on their 61 television news stations across the country. You can watch the clip by clicking here. 

In February of 2024, Shah received a Kavanaugh Fellowship at MIT to further support the technology scale-up and business development of the hydrogel system. Following this, in March 2024, Shah also received a Slavin Fellowship. Sponsored by the Slavin Family Foundation, this fellowship supports committed students that have a desire to contribute to humanity and the ability and discipline to bring entrepreneurial ideas to life.

Learn more about Arjav Shah in this video