He Champions Clean Water For All.

Yoram Cohen

UCLA Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

In three decades at UCLA, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Professor and Director of the Water Technology Research Center Yoram Cohen has blazed new ways to use and clean water. In a backyard in West Los Angeles, he created a “vertical wetlands” that uses runoff from the test home’s showers, bathroom sinks and laundry machine to irrigate trees and gardens. In farmlands west of Fresno, Cohen’s first-of-its-kind mobile water treatment plant, installed in a 40-foot cargo container, can desalinate and purify as much as 27,000 gallons of agricultural runoff and groundwater a day. On campus, Cohen runs the world’s leading R&D program in reverse-osmosis membrane desalination (a process invented at UCLA 50 years ago), and works with dozens of teammates on the audacious UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge to make the L.A. region totally water independent by 2050. “I want to see things happen, not just find ways to solve problems from the technical viewpoint,” says Cohen about his relentless devotion to sparkling-clean water for all.