Funded Researchers
Past Student Fellows
Past Travel Grant Recipients
Jonathan Bessette
- PhD student
- 2024 -2025 Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellow for Water Solutions
- 2022 J-WAFS Travel Grantee
- Department of Mechanical Engineering
Jon Bessette is a doctoral student in the Global Engineering and Research Laboratory within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. His research is focused on desalination and water treatment systems for the developing world. Currently, Jon’s work focuses on designing and constructing a low-cost, deployable, community-scale desalination system for humanitarian crises.
Prior to MIT, Jon’s work has included research at Corning Inc, systems engineering at Moog, and radar-sounding to understand ice sheet dynamics and sea level rise at Stanford. Jon completed a bachelor’s degree at SUNY Buffalo. In his free time, Jon is a volunteer EMT.
Headshot photo credit: Tony Pulsone
J-WAFS-funded projects
News
- J-WAFS celebrates a decade of student engagement
- J-WAFS fellow develops a new system that desalinates groundwater at low cost
- J-WAFS Community Spotlight on Jonathan Bessette
- Chief editor of Nature Water visits MIT and meets with J-WAFS director
- Two MIT PhD students awarded J-WAFS fellowships
- J-WAFS researchers seek to better understand water access in rural India
- J-WAFS students come together for World Water Day Event
- J-WAFS and MIT community members win IDA Innovation Forum Awards
- MIT students glean knowledge of water-related issues and solutions from Stockholm World Water Week and experts at Xylem, Inc., a J-WAFS Research Affiliate
- J-WAFS to send students to Stockholm World Water Week