Skip to Content Skip to Content

Water

Letting the sunshine in and monitoring stormwater runoff
Tree saplings next to the solar panels.

Trees planted next to the solar panels are enhancing stormwater runoff infiltration.

(Image: The Water Center at Penn)

Letting the sunshine in and monitoring stormwater runoff

As the buzz around renewable energy grows louder, a research endeavor led by the Water Center at Penn exemplifies of how addressing energy demands goes hand-in-hand with tackling water challenges.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

2 min. read

Where water meets artificial intelligence
A large body of water with a large drop of water superimposed over it.

Image: Floriana via Getty Images

Where water meets artificial intelligence

As part of the new Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence collaboration, The Water Center at Penn is helping answer key questions around technology and sustainability.

From Omnia

2 min. read

Inspiring interest in water quality at Cobbs Creek
Two people in waders in Cobbs Creek getting water samples.

nocred

Inspiring interest in water quality at Cobbs Creek

Faculty and staff, high school and Penn students, and community members are working together to collect and analyze the most detailed water quality data to date at the West Philadelphia stream.

4 min. read

A world shaped by water and access
Three people test water below a sand dam.

Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.

(Image: Courtesy of Griffin Pitt)

A world shaped by water and access

Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.

3 min.

Water Environment Federation, Amazon, Penn’s Water Center, and leading utilities of the world launch groundbreaking Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence 
Open water.

The Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence will work to ensure AI growth benefits water resources and reduces stress on water resources.

(Image: Levente Bodo)

Water Environment Federation, Amazon, Penn’s Water Center, and leading utilities of the world launch groundbreaking Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence 

The first-of-its-kind initiative will develop best practices to minimize water impact in the age of AI.

5 min. read

The global threat of salt contamination to water supplies
Green, diatom and blue-green algae in the blooming water of a coastal salt puddle on the shore

Image: Oleg Kovtun via Getty Images

The global threat of salt contamination to water supplies

Research from Weitzman’s Allison Lassiter and an international team of researchers highlights how a combination of climate change impacts and localized human activities are intensifying the increase in salt in vital freshwater sources.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

New class of materials passively harvest water from air
A water droplet reflecting the color spectrum.

Image: MamiGibbs via Getty Images

New class of materials passively harvest water from air

Researchers at Penn Engineering have discovered a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, which could enable new ways to collect water in arid regions and devices that cool electronics or buildings using the power of evaporation.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

Rivers in a changing world
Penn students and Sayre high school students wading in a river in Cobbs Creek.

Sayre ninth-grade science teacher LaRon Smith (center) is a former landscape gardener from South Philadelphia who switched careers to mentor a younger generation. “I think my passion is for them to be better individuals, better human beings,” Smith says.

nocred

Rivers in a changing world

A new Academically Based Community Service class brings Penn and William L. Sayre High School students together to learn environmental science and engineering.

Kristina Linnea García