Pavani Cherukupally

Pavani Cherukupally

Research Associate
Imperial College London
I address pressing environmental and public health challenges by advancing scientific understanding and inventing affordable technologies. I developed sponge-based waster technology to remediate oil field wastewater and recover residual crude oil from the wastewater, and killing pathogenic bacteria in the polluted water. As a principal/co-investigator, I secured C$377k and contributed to writing/developing grant proposals for another C$1.3 million to scale up sponge technology for oil & gas and wastewater disinfection. My sponge was featured by science and mainstream media, such as Nature Sustainability Editorial, Science Magazine Podcast, New Scientist, Hindustan Times, etc. Impact: I published articles in top-tier journals, including Science Advances, Nature Sustainability, and Environmental Science and Technology. I also authored popular science articles for the Nature Sustainability Blog and Advanced Science News. The sponges are currently being scaled up to reform wastewater policy in the Canadian oil industry. Recognition: MIT Rising Stars in Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London's Next Generation of BlueSky Thinkers, Finalist at Hult Prize for Social Entrepreneurship in Africa Region, and Science Alliance Leadership Fellow by New York Academy of Sciences & Lockheed Martin. Also, I received 6 best papers/presenter awards and a Research Excellence Award from the New York Academy of Sciences.
Return to Member List