Shreerang Chhatre

2010 - 2011

Alumni

Legatum Fellow

From:

India

Sector:

Energy/Utilities

Location:

India

Degree:

PhD-CEP, Sloan School of Management and Chemical Engineering

I plan to install and maintain fog-harvesting devices in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat in western India. These devices will provide a reliable supply of clean drinking water to parched communities. Other features of the project are use of local inexpensive building materials; employment of local unskilled labor; simplicity; robustness; and modularity.

Access to adequate supplies of clean drinking water is a major concern in some parts of India. Large populations living in the arid parts of the country depend either on groundwater that is not suitable for drinking or water supplied by tankers, which is expensive and intermittent. An adequate supply of clean drinking water is a basic necessity for human survival.

Water stress in India is accelerating due to increasing population, urbanization, higher living standards, higher acreage of water-intensive crops and more heavy industries. Water collection by fog harvesting adds great potential to locally satisfy the need for a dependable supply of pure water. My doctoral research involves understanding the impact of surface wettability and surface texture on designing oleophobic (oil-repellent) surfaces. I plan to apply my theoretical understanding of surface wetting phenomena to predict and enhance the efficiency of fog harvesting devices.

I am currently a PhD-CEP candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and an MBA candidate at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. I hold a B. Tech. and an M. Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. I received the Institute Gold Medal for being the highest-ranked student among the dual degree class of 2007.