C.C. MEI DISTINGUISHED
SPEAKER SERIES 2016-2017
Ashok Gadgil, Ph.D.
Faculty Senior Scientist and Co-Lead for the Water Initiative at the
Energy Technologies Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley
INVENTING ENVIRONMENTAL
TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE
BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID:
Some Lessons Learnt
ABSTRACT
T
he “bottom of the pyramid” is the largest and
poorest socioeconomic group on the planet –
billions of individuals who make less than USD
2.50 per day. Many grave problems faced by
this population have technological solutions,
but while the science is universal, specific
technologies and their social placement are commonly quite
different from what is applicable in the first world. Prof. Gadgil
has a successful history of work in this area. In this seminar he
will describe his approach and illustrate it with some of his work
towards providing safe drinking water to this population.
By AusAID/Jim Holmes, CC BY 2.0, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
MARCH 6, 2017
Pre-lecture Reception: 4:30pm
Lecture: 5-6pm
Building 1-190
Faculty Hosts:
Lydia Bourouiba
& Saurabh Amin
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Ashok Gadgil has a doctorate in physics from UC Berkeley.
He is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC
Berkeley and Faculty Senior Scientist and Co-Lead for the
Water Initiative at the Energy Technologies Area of Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.
Prof. Gadgil has a number of inventions to his credit, among
them the “UV Waterworks,” a technology to inexpensively
disinfect drinking water, for which he received the Discover
Award for the most significant environmental invention of
the year, as well as the Popular Science award for “Best of
What is New – 1996”. Prof. Gadgil is a member of the National
Academy of Engineering and was inducted in the National
Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. He also received numerous
awards, including the Pew Fellowship in Conservation and
the Environment for his work on accelerating energy efficiency in developing countries, the World Technology Award
for Energy, the Heinz Award, and the Lemelson-MIT Global
Innovator Award to cite a few.