EEE Graduate Student Kinnari Shah Receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Kinnari Shah, a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, was awarded the National Science Foundation’s 2021 Graduate Research Fellowship. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines who are pursuing research to help ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforce its diversity. Kinnari works in the lab of Ngai Yin Yip, Lavon Duddleson Krumb Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, focusing on the innovative use of selective solvents for the desalination of high-salinity brines, which pose a pressing environmental concern. Kinnari’s research strives to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms underlying solvent extraction desalination, ultimately leading to a more sustainable path for high-salinity desalination.