Akshay Deshmukh, Of The Elimelech Research Group, Heads To UK Parliament

Akshay Deshmukh, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Prof. Menachem Elimelech, will spend three months working at the UK Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology as the 2016 recipient of the Ashok Kumar Fellowship.

Funded by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the North-East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), the fellowship provides an opportunity for a graduate chemical engineer to work at the UK Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST).

Deshmukh is researching energy-efficient ways of processing contaminated water into clean drinking water. He said he applied to the fellowship to see first-hand how the organization uses STEM research to inform Parliamentary debate. He will review scientific literature and interview academic researchers and representatives from industry and government.

"Working under a team of scientific advisers, I hope to learn how scientific knowledge is gathered from academic, industrial, and public bodies and then disseminated to Members of Parliament in an impartial, concise, and easily understandable way," he said.

IChemE policy manager, Alana Collis, who led the interview team for the Institution said that Deshmukh "clearly understood the importance of evidence based policy and the role science and engineering can and must play in government and decision makers."

Energy storage, nuclear power technologies, recycled materials, and low carbon technologies in energy-intensive industries are some of the topics on which previous fellows have produced reports.

Prof. Elimelech, Roberto C. Goizueta Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, said the fellowship is a great fit for Deshmukh since water desalination, and water treatment and energy that figure heavily in government policy.

"Akshay's analytical skills and ability to assess evidence from a wide variety of academic and non-academic sources will be very valuable for this fellowship," Elimelech said.