As one of the world's top water technology experts, Luskin Scholar Yoram Cohen has made revolutionary advances that could help solve growing global water shortages.

             Cohen, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has developed transportable and computer-controlled "smart water systems" in collaboration with his colleague Panagiotis Christofides and their students. Their Mini-Mobile-Modular (M3) system, a desk-sized reverse osmosis (RO) desalination unit, has drawn international attention after it successfully desalted agricultural drainage water in field tests. The system is capable of producing enough drinking water for up to 12,000 people a day.

      "The beauty of it is that in the water area, you're not looking at a solution just 30 or 40 years from now -- everything can be implemented today," says Cohen, as he stands next to the M3 inside UCLA's Water Technology Research Center, which he founded and directs.

        The compact M3 unit, which can be operated via the Web, can be used to create safe drinking water in various places, from farmlands to floating vessels. The team from Cohen's lab is currently working on a compact reverse osmosis system for shipboard deployment. "We're building a system that will produce between 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of drinking water per day from seawater," Cohen says. The technology could also be used in urban areas like Southern California.

          The "smart" water systems address the environmental and economic costs of alternatives such as building large-scale desalination plants or pumping in dwindling water supplies from hundreds of miles away. Although reverse osmosis membrane technology has been around for decades -- the first commercially viable RO membranes were  invented at UCLA in the early '60’s -- Cohen has made a number of important advances with patented technologies in areas that include membrane synthesis, surface nano-structuring and chemical sensors. The new semi-permeable membranes do not clog up as easily with mineral salt scalants and other foulants, allowing water to be purified at a higher recovery and at a lower cost. And the smart water systems can automatically monitor real-time water pH, temperature, turbidity and salinity and then self-adjust its operation in response to changing water feed conditions.

           Over his nearly 30-year academic career, Cohen has frequently advised and collaborated with industry partners, government regulators and water agencies -- he's currently on the future-shaping Blue Ribbon Committee of the Metropolitan Water District -- and he'll continue those working relationships as leader of the Luskin Center's Smart Water Systems initiative.

       "We have to be able to determine the roadblocks that may exist -- policywise, economic and political -- to promoting these smart water systems. We need to identify and develop incentives to promote smart water systems and determine situations in which it would be optimal to use them. And since the Luskin Center really focuses on policy, that's what we hope to be able to do."

        Cohen has also conducted research on recycling graywater, which he believes could meet a significant portion of landscaping needs in drought-plagued Southern California. In his analysis, Cohen evaluated regulatory impediments to recycling graywater from household wastewater, such as the drainage from washing machines and bathroom showers.

        Since joining UCLA's faculty in 1981, Cohen has become a much sought-after expert in not only the field of water, but in the realm of environmental contamination and risk assessments of toxic chemicals. In 2008, the U.S. Congress and California Senate officially commended him for protecting the public health for his cleanup recommendations regarding the former Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory site. Years earlier, at the request of Congresswoman Jane Harman, he investigated DDT soil contamination in housing tracts built near an old chemical plant in the South Bay. And in legal proceedings, Cohen was an expert witness who examined emissions and groundwater contamination at the high-profile Stringfellow Superfund site in Riverside County.  

        Cohen, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, has published over 170 papers and book chapters in such areas as water technology, separations processes, transport phenomena and polymer science. He has trained scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and shared his knowledge as a visiting professor at universities in Israel, Spain and Australia.

        The Tel Aviv-born Cohen continues to work closely on water issues with Israel's Institute of Technology and Ben-Gurion University, where he is an adjunct professor.

       In addition to his busy academic life -- he's also written three environmental volumes and spoken at hundreds of conferences around the globe -- Cohen holds the highest black belt rank awarded by Shotokan Karate of America.  He credits the martial arts, which emphasizes mental along with physical strength, for making him a better teacher and researcher.

           "It builds patience. It builds understanding of people," he says. "I don't carry on my life thinking about what this move will get me or not. I think about the goal, about the passion, about what is right. I always believe that if you do good, good things will happen."

By: Norma

To learn more about Yoram Cohen, click here.