Congratulations to Professor Rohit Karnik on his appointment as the new director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
A professor in the MIT department of mechanical engineering, he succeeds founding director John Lienhard, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water and Mechanical Engineering, who is retiring.
Renee Robins, executive director of J-WAFS, is also retiring after 10 years with the lab.
Serving as associate director of J-WAFS since 2023, Professor Karnik originally joined MIT in 2006, becoming an assistant professor of mechanical engineering the following year and associate professor in 2012.
His research focuses on micro- and nanofluidic flows and applied systems for water, healthcare, energy and the environment.
Professor Karnik has worked on developing membranes for water filtration and chemical separations, sensors for water and water filters from waste wood.
Marking its 10th anniversary this year, J-WAFS is the only programme at MIT focused exclusively on water and food research.
Since 2015, the lab has made grants totaling approximately USD 25m, supporting 300 faculty, research staff and students.
Through its Solutions programme, supporting efforts to commercialise innovative water and food technologies, J-WAFS has spun out 12 companies and two open-sourced products.
Fady Jameel, vice chairman of Community Jameel, said: "We are deeply grateful to founding director Professor John Lienhard and executive director Renee Robins for their decade-long leadership of J-WAFS, during which time the lab has emerged as the epicentre of water and food research and innovation at MIT, supporting hundreds of scientists and spinning out more than a dozen new technologies. At this important juncture in the J-WAFS story, we wish all the best to Professor Rohit Karnik in his new role, to which he brings a wealth of experience and a proven passion for water and food."