Menachem Elimenech joined Rice University

Center for Water Research in Houston, Texas

At Rice University, Elimenech is now Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
“Rice is recognized internationally as a center for water research. You have the Rice WaTER Institute, NEWT and researchers who are known around the world. I am looking forward to working with them,” said Elimelech in October 2024.

“Among his numerous scientific contributions, Dr. Elimelech pioneered the use of membrane-based technologies for desalination and brine management, including forward osmosis, high-pressure reverse osmosis, and low-salt-rejection reverse osmosis,” said Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor of CEE and director of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) since its founding in 2015.
“He is renowned for his outstanding mentorship,” Alvarez continued,” having served as adviser to some more than 50 Ph.D. students and 50 postdoctoral fellows, 70 of whom are now professors.”

Most cited environmental and water expert in the world

Elimenech has authored over 560 peer-reviewed journal publications and is one of the most cited scholars in his field, with an h-index¹ of 207 and over 160, citations, as of 30 January 2025.
According to Alvarez, this makes him the environmental engineer or water scientist with the highest bibliographic impact in the world.

From Israel to USA

Born in Israel to Moroccan immigrant parents, Elimenech overcame early life challenges to achieve academic excellence. He earned his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1983 and 1985, respectively, followed by a PhD in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1989.
Elimelech began his academic career at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he progressed from assistant to full professor. In 1998, he joined Yale University, founding its Environmental Engineering program and later being appointed as the Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, the highest academic rank at Yale.

¹ The h-index, proposed by Hirsch in 2005, is a measure to calculate the output of a researcher. With an h-index of 10, 10 publications by an author are cited at least 10 times.

River Rhône: Comprehensive French-Swiss project to remove tons of sediments

From 15 to 27 May 2025, a major cross-border operation between Switzerland (canton of Geneva) and France (department of Ain and Haut-Rhône) takes place: the river Rhône is emptied in order to remove 1.5 million cubic metres of accumulated sediment, particularly upstream of the Verbois dam.

Wie sich Südafrika aus dem Meer erhebt

Südafrika hebt sich langsam aus den Fluten – je nach Region um bis zu zwei Millimeter pro Jahr. Bislang glaubte man, dass Strömungsvorgänge im Erdmantel das Phänomen verursachen. Eine Studie der Universität Bonn liefert nun jedoch eine andere Erklärung: Demnach sind Dürren und die damit verbundenen Wasserverluste der Hauptgrund für den Anstieg.

Nor-Shipping 2025 turns spotlight on innovation

Nor-Shipping 2025, taking place in Oslo and Lillestrøm 2-6 June, announced on 12 May the shortlists for two of its most coveted accolades, the Next Generation Ship Award and the Ocean Solutions Award. Celebrating innovations, technologies and pioneering projects capable of balancing both environmental and commercial sustainability, the initiatives attracted a huge number of entries from across the world. Selecting the eventual winners was, according to Nor-Shipping Director Sidsel Norvik, „tougher than ever“.

University of Tübingen: Glyphosate in waters may originate from detergent additives

Certain detergent additives known as aminopolyphosphonates can be transformed into glyphosate and other problematic substances when wastewater is treated. A research team led by Professor Stefan Haderlein of the Geo- and Environmental Center at the University of Tübingen has made this fundamental finding. To achieve this, the team carried out comprehensive experiments in the laboratory which also included conditions found in wastewater. The finding solidifies the suspicion that detergent additives are a significant source of the consistently high levels of glyphosate in European waters. It was previously assumed glyphosate was released into the environment almost exclusively during its use as an herbicide. The study has been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Auswirkungen des nächtlichen Himmelsleuchten

Lichtverschmutzung, die als Himmelsleuchten die Nacht erhellt, fördert das Wachstum von Cyanobakterien (gemeinhin auch Blaualgen genannt) und regt die Stoffumsätze in Seen an. Das zeigt eine aktuelle Studie des Leibniz-Instituts für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB), die Teil des bislang größten Freilandexperiments zur Wirkung von Lichtverschmutzung auf Seen ist.