AMTA and AWWA announce awardees at the Membrane Technology Conference & Exposition

The American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) announced awardees at the 2022 Membrane Technology Conference & Exposition (MTC) in Las Vegas.

Brian Ward of the City of Fargo Water Treatment Plant in Fargo, N.D., was presented with this year’s Robert O. Vernon Operator of the Year Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions by a plant operator working at a membrane filtration, desalination or water reuse facility that resulted in significant, long-term improvement in water production and/or water reuse.

The Robert W. Sokoll Joint Venture Surface Water Treatment Plant, which provides drinking water and rural farm use water for about 50,000 customers in Waxahachie, Texas, was presented with this year’s Membrane Facility of the Year Award. The award recognizes an outstanding water/wastewater facility that uses membrane technology with high efficiency in an environmentally friendly approach. 

Rodrigo A. Tackaert, senior engineer at Trussell Technologies, won the Austin F. McCormack, Jr. Award, which recognizes and honors membrane related contributions made by a young professional to the water or public health community.

“Managing and treating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in membrane concentrates” by Emily W. Tow, Mahmut Selim Ersan, Soyoon Kum, Tae Lee, Thomas F. Speth, Christine Owen, Christopher Bellona, Mallikarjuna N. Nadagouda, Anne M. Mikelonis, Paul Westerhoff, Chandra Mysore, Val S. Frenkel, Viraj deSilva, W. Shane Walker, Andrew K. Safulko and David A. Ladner was presented with the Membrane Treatment Best Paper Award.

Additional award recipients include:

• Avista Technologies, Inc., was awarded best exhibit.
• “Closed Circuit High-Pressure Membrane Systems for the Separation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances” by Andrew Safulko was awarded best paper.
• “Retrofit of Hollow Fiber MBR with Submerged Ceramic Membranes for Fats, Oils and Hydrocarbon Management in Industrial Reuse Plant” by Stanton Smith and Abdurrehman Rashid was awarded best poster. 
• “Flux and Antifouling Performance of Bioinspired Liquid Infused Membranes” by Rushabh Shah was awarded best student paper. 
• “Urea Recovery and Fouling Mitigation of Fresh Human Urine Using Cross-flow Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration” by Lucas Crane was awarded best student poster. 

For more information on MTC, visit the conference’s webpage.

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Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the world’s most important resource. With approximately 50,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.

Formed in 1972, the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) has over 820 members and is headquartered in Stuart, FL; this nonprofit scientific and educational association vision is solving water supply & quality issues through the widespread application of membrane technology. AMTA's mission is to promote, advocate and advance the understanding and application of membrane technology to create safe, affordable and reliable water supplies, and to treat municipal, industrial, agricultural and waste waters for beneficial use.