Prof. Elimelech Awarded Honorary Degree from Ben Gurion U.

Prof. Menachem Elimelech this week received an honorary doctorate from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Officials at the university in Israel bestowed the degree in recognition of Elimelech’s “outstanding research in water, for your leadership as a mentor in the field, for your deep devotion to the state of Israel, to the Negev and to the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.”

The ceremony took place this week during the 53rd Annual International Board of Governors meeting. The other recipients were global health activist Chelsea Clinton, ​philanthropist Patrick Drahi, philanthropist Esther Halperin, plant biologist Dr. Segenet Kelemu, and former Israeli Supreme Court justice Prof. Elyakim Rubinstein.

Elimelech, who grew up in the same town as Ben Gurion University, came to Yale in 1998. He founded Yale’s Environmental Engineering Program, which quickly rose to international prominence and has been frequently ranked in the top 10 of the U.S. News & World Report’s Graduate Engineering Rankings. 

He has received major awards in recognition of his pioneering research. Especially notable are the Eni Award for Protection of the Environment in 2015, election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017, and, in 2005, the Clarke Prize for excellence in water research. 

Elimelech has authored more than 450 refereed journal publications, including invited articles in Science and Nature, and is the lead author of the book “Particle Deposition and Aggregation” (1995). He is a Highly Cited Researcher in two categories: environment/ecology and chemistry.