Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab at MIT

06/16/2026

J-WAFS is pleased to announce that graduate students Hao Nghi Luu and Priyanka Salunkhe received 2026 J-WAFS Travel Grants to attend World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden! The conference offers students opportunities to deepen their understanding of water systems and to connect with and learn from professionals in the field. Travel grants are supported by J-WAFS Research Affiliate companies, Xylem Inc. and GoAigua.

Hao is a PhD candidate in materials science and engineering (MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE)), conducting research in Professor Angela Belcher’s lab that involves engineering yeast strains that can latch onto and neutralize toxic elements in water supplies.

Priyanka is a first-year graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in city planning (MIT DUSP). She proposes using design as a method to move beyond technical solutions and re-imagine equitable urban futures.

Learn more about the conference and the candidates: https://jwafs.mit.edu/news/2026/j-wafs-awards-travel-grants-attend-stockholm-world-water-week

06/05/2026

Today, June 5th, is World Environment Day! Organized by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), World Environment Day is a global campaign to call governments, cities, businesses, and people to take action on climate change.

J-WAFS PI Yanchong (Karen) Zheng is playing a role in facilitating widespread adoption of sustainable practices by smallholder farmers in India. Her research focuses on creating effective and scalable systems to support the permanent adoption of sustainable agriculture.

Read more about the project here: https://jwafs.mit.edu/projects/2025/incentive-design-promote-long-term-adoption-sustainable-practices-smallholder-farmers

05/12/2026

J-WAFS is happy to announce that PhD Candidate Adeposi Adeogun from MIT DUSP has been selected as the 2026-2027 Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellow for Water Solutions! Adeposi is studying decentralized, community-led water systems in Lagos, Nigeria and how they have been able to provide water resilience and access in the absence of centralized state grids.

Read more about the fellowship and his research here: https://jwafs.mit.edu/news/2026/adeposi-adeogun-selected-2026-j-wafs-fellowship

04/14/2026

Calling MIT faculty, research staff, and students: The J-WAFS Grant for Transforming Animal Agriculture Systems is now open!

J-WAFS is offering grants in the range of $15-25,000, which are supported by the J-WAFS Fund for Reducing Negative Impacts of Industrial Animal Agriculture. The grants support projects focused on real-world implementation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Projects must also have a substantial connection to research conducted at MIT.

Examples of relevant challenges could include but are not limited to the following:
- Reducing the environmental footprint of animal agriculture
- Addressing the social and economic impacts of animal agriculture
- Improving animal and human health

The deadline to apply is 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, May 4, 2026. To learn more and apply, click here: https://jwafs.mit.edu/AnimalAgGrant

04/14/2026

Calling MIT graduate students: The J-WAFS Travel Grants are now open!

J-WAFS offers travel grants for MIT graduate students to attend major water sector conferences. This year, J-WAFS is offering travel grants for students to attend Stockholm World Water Week, UNC Water & Health Conference, or the International Water Conference.

The travel grants support learning and networking opportunities for outstanding MIT graduate students who are pursuing careers in the water sector. J-WAFS anticipates awarding five or six outstanding students with funding to cover conference registration and travel expenses to attend the conference of their choice (out of the three options).

The deadline to apply for the Stockholm World Water Week Travel Grant is Monday, May 11, 2026. For the UNC Water and Health Conference, the deadline is August 24th, and the International Water Conference deadline is September 14th.

To learn more and apply, visit https://jwafs.mit.edu/TravelGrant

03/22/2026

Today is World Water Day! Held every year on March 22nd, World Water Day was instituted in 1993 to bring awareness to the 2.1 billion people living without access to safe water and to push for action on the global water crisis. This year’s theme is Water and Gender, calling attention to the fact that improvements to water access also advance gender equality.

Learn more about World Water Day and the work J-WAFS is doing in water and gender: https://jwafs.mit.edu/events/2026/world-water-day-2026

In honor of World Water Day today, J-WAFS is spotlighting Jonathan Bessette and Gokul Sampath’s Smart Buckets project, funded through a J-WAFS India grant, as well as Professor Charles Harvey’s work on groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh, funded through a J-WAFS seed grant.

Smart Buckets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BkfYWpMhmw

Groundwater arsenic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmfQ50O_X-I

Additionally, on March 6th, J-WAFS PI Sarah Williams (MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism) hosted a water workshop, convening specialists and researchers in water systems and community partners to explore ways to improve water access and sanitation in the Colombian community La Pista. Other researchers on the team include Gabriella Carolini, Janelle Knox-Hayes, Eran Ben - Joseph, and Gaby Maria Carucci.

J-WAFS executive director Daniela Giardina, who attended the event, wrote a reflection on the themes that appeared in the workshop. La Pista faces a variety of struggles, with the majority of households drinking untreated water and three quarters of the settlement undergoing flood-related sanitation failures.

Read the post here: https://jwafs.mit.edu/news/2026/barrio-de-paz-la-pista-where-land-has-no-owner

03/21/2026

To commemorate World Water Day this weekend, J-WAFS is highlighting Charles Harvey’s work on groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh, funded through a J-WAFS seed grant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmfQ50O_X-I

Groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh causes a myriad of issues. Charlie Harvey's team found that widespread testing with cheap kits improved conta...

03/20/2026

On March 6th, J-WAFS PI Sarah Williams hosted a water workshop, convening specialists and researchers in water systems and community partners to explore ways to improve water access and sanitation in the Colombian community La Pista. Other researchers on the team include Gabriella Carolini, Janelle Knox-Hayes, Eran Ben - Joseph, and Gaby Maria Carucci.

J-WAFS executive director Daniela Giardina, who attended the event, wrote a reflection on the themes that appeared in the workshop. La Pista faces a variety of struggles, with the majority of households drinking untreated water and three quarters of the settlement undergoing flood-related sanitation failures.

“These are not abstract statistics,” Giardina writes. “They describe a community where children are growing up drinking untreated water, where physical infrastructure must be rebuilt after every rainy season, and where the same flood event that inundates a home simultaneously destroys its sanitation.”

The issues at Colombia’s La Pista fit the theme of this year’s World Water Day, which focuses on water, women, and gender equality, because it is mainly women who manage water rationing within the settlement.

Participants in the workshop emphasized the importance of incorporating Indigenous practices into the design of safer sanitation systems. “What distinguished the workshop discussion was the explicit treatment of Wayúu practices as legitimate technical and ecological knowledge to be integrated into the co-design framework,” explains Giardina.

Continue reading here: https://jwafs.mit.edu/news/2026/barrio-de-paz-la-pista-where-land-has-no-owner

03/19/2026

World Water Day is this Sunday, March 22nd! First instituted in 1993, World Water Day brings awareness to the 2.1 billion people living without access to safe water, calling for action on the global water crisis. This year’s theme is Water and Gender, bring attention to the fact that improvements to water access also advance gender equality.

Learn more about World Water Day and relevant J-WAFS research here: https://jwafs.mit.edu/events/2026/world-water-day-2026

In honor of World Water Day on Sunday, J-WAFS is spotlighting Jonathan Bessette (MIT Mechanical Engineeringineering) and Gokul Sampath’s (MIT Department of Architecture) Smart Buckets project, funded through a J-WAFS India grant.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BkfYWpMhmw

Smart Bucket sensors combined with testimony from local women in India help to map where women in the region go for water, which sites are used most frequent...

03/12/2026

The MIT community is powered by curiosity, resilience, teamwork, and YOU! During today's 24-Hour Challenge you can help MIT students, faculty, and staff power impact that benefits us all.

If you’d like to support J-WAFS specifically, click here: https://giving.mit.edu/form?fundId=3922750. Your support will help J-WAFS continue to catalyze MIT research that improves water and food systems around the world!