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    Untangling the social dynamics of water

    Water operator partnerships, or WOPs, bring together water utility employees from different countries to improve public water delivery and sanitation services. “In these partnerships, interpersonal dynamics are so important,” explains Andrea Beck, “and I’m really passionate about hearing people’s stories.” Beck, a PhD candidate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) and a […] More

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    Empowering African farmers with data

    With a couple billion more people estimated to join the global population in the next few decades, world food production could use an upgrade. Africa has a key role to play: Agriculture is Africa’s biggest industry, but much of Africa’s agricultural land is currently underutilized. Crop yields could be increased with more efficient farming techniques […] More

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    J-WAFS announces seven new seed grants

    Agricultural productivity technologies for small-holder farmers; food safety solutions for everyday consumers; sustainable supply chain interventions in the palm oil industry; water purification methods filtering dangerous micropollutants from industrial and wastewater streams — these are just a few of the research-based solutions being supported by the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) […] More

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    MIT team places second in 2019 NASA BIG Idea Challenge

    An MIT student team took second place for its design of a multilevel greenhouse to be used on Mars in NASA’s 2019 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge last month.  Each year, NASA holds the BIG Idea competition in its search for innovative and futuristic ideas. This year’s challenge invited universities across the United […] More

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    New seed fund to address food, water, and agriculture in India

    Representatives of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), MIT-India, and the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar) gathered recently for a signing ceremony to formally launch a new faculty seed fund. The seed fund will help initiate new water- and food systems-related research collaborations between faculty and research scientists from […] More

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    Mobile solution for farmers and plan for global shrimp marketplace win agribusiness prize

    A team that helps small-scale farmers in India increase their profits and another looking to create an international trading marketplace for shrimp took home prizes at Wednesday’s Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize. Gramhal, whose mobile tools help smallholder farmers sell their crops, won the first-place prize of $20,000. Velaron was awarded the $10,000 second-place […] More

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    Water Innovation Prize goes to startups targeting methane and wastewater

    A startup with a cheap technology for purifying textile wastewater and another with a system to help reduce methane emissions from cattle were named co-winners of the MIT Water Innovation Prize on Thursday. After eight student finalist teams pitched their companies’ water-related solutions, the judges couldn’t agree on the winners and ultimately split the grand […] More

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    Designing water infrastructure for climate uncertainty

    In Kenya’s second largest city, Mombasa, the demand for water is expected to double by 2035 to an estimated 300,000 cubic meters per day. In Mombasa’s current warm and humid climate, that water comes from a substantial volume of precipitation that may also change significantly as the region warms in the coming decades in line […] More