Engineering professor cited for improving access to clean water

Arup K. SenGupta, the P.C. Rossin Professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering and also in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was recognized recently for his efforts to improve access to clean water in communities in the U.S. and across the developing world.

At the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Salt Lake City earlier this month, SenGupta was inducted as a Fellow for his “distinctive professional achievements and accomplishments in the field of chemical engineering.”

Fellow is the highest grade of membership conferred by the AIChE board of directors. In 2009, SenGupta received the Lawrence K. Cecil Award from AIChE for his contributions to water science and technology.

Earlier this year, SenGupta received the IP (Intellectual Property) Champion Award from the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The award honors individuals who demonstrate the importance of IP through economic growth and job creation while solving societal problems.

The Chamber cited SenGupta specifically for the economic impacts of his intellectual property through social entrepreneurship.

SenGupta and his students have invented nanotechnology-based systems of removing arsenic and fluoride from groundwater and have worked with local residents to install them in communities in the United States, Asia, Africa, South America and Europe.

SenGupta holds eight U.S. patents, with two more pending. His inventions have led to the creation of three companies—the Tagore-SenGupta Foundation, Technology with a Human Face and Drinkwell.

In 2012, SenGupta won the Intel Environmental Award from TechAwards of the Silicon Valley. That same year, he spent six months at the Center for Sustainable Technologies at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, courtesy of a Fulbright Environmental Leadership Award.

In 2011, T-S won the Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge, an international contest that aims to improve people’s access to safe and sustainable water.

Last year, SenGupta was inducted as a Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

At Lehigh, SenGupta has received the Libsch Faculty Research Award (1995), the Hillman Graduate Students Advisor Award (2007) and the Hillman Faculty Award (2013).