Membrane materials and processes; Nanoscience and nanotechnology; Interfacial science and engineering; Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation; Desalination and advanced water treatment.

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• Everyone Was Wrong About Reverse Osmosis—Until Now | Wired, May 2023
• Sustainable LA Grand Challenge launches initiative focused on transportation | UCLA Newsroom, February 2023
• Why Did California Regulators Choose a Firm with Ties to Chevron to Study Irrigating Crops with Oil Wastewater? | Inside Climate News, February 2022
• El vertido de crudo revitaliza la lucha contra combustibles fósiles en EE.UU. | Yahoo Noticias, October 2021
• Engineering Faculty Part of UCLA Team that Wins Nearly $1 Million to Tackle Rising Heat in Los Angeles | UCLA Samueli Newsroom, January 2021
• UCLA professors win $956,000 award to tackle rising heat in Los Angeles communities | UCLA Newsroom, January 2021

• Ph.D. (2002), Yale University
• M.S. (1999), Yale University
• M.S. (1996), University of California, Los Angeles
• B.S. (1995), Pennsylvania State University

• 2023: UCLA Samueli University Service Award
• 2022: Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize, National Water Research Institute (NWRI)
• 2019: Faculty Director, UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge
• 2011: ASCE Walter L. Huber Award for Achievements in Civil Engineering Research
• Outstanding Paper Award (Keynote Lecture), Materials Research Society Annual Meeting – Symposium V: Materials Science of Water Purification; November 23-26, 2007
• “2007 Trendsetter” for pioneering nanocomposite membranes, Public Works Magazine, November 2007
• Innovation of the Year (Distinction) for nanocomposite membanes, Global Water Awards 2007
• North American Membrane Society Annual Meeting Outstanding Student Paper Award, 2003/2004/2005
• CH2M Hill/AEESP Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2002
• Certificate of Merit Award at the 220th ACS National Meeting, 2001
• Euromembrane 2000 Conference Fellowship, 2000
• NAMS International Travel Fellowship, 2000
• ACS Environmental Chemistry Division Graduate Student Award, 1999
• Chi Epsilon (CE) National Civil Engineering Honor Society, 1994