UNLV Assistant Professor H. Jeremy Cho was recently featured in an article on the UNLV News Center. Cho is the co-founder and leader of the research group for WAVR Technologies, Inc., a startup that creates devices that can extract water vapor from the air.
WAVR stands for “Water from the Air in Vulnerable Regions” and aims to build technology that solves issues related to regional instability and the existing climate crisis.
Why is this important?
Lake Mead is a primary water source for the communities of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Boulder City. It is no secret that the Las Vegas area has had to confront serious issues related to the shrinking water levels in Lake Mead.
Therefore, alternative sources of water should be sought to provide a sustainable solution to the water crisis. Initiatives like the one provided for by Cho and WAVR Technologies, Inc. offer promising results in this direction.
In particular, Cho states that the technology at WAVR can capture 5 times the amount of water than that of existing technologies. The technology can also function in humidities as low as 10% which makes it particularly effective for the Southwest United States.
However, the effects of climate change are expected to exacerbate instances of drought throughout the entire United States. Ultimately, Cho’s research will provide a solution in response to the increasing threat of droughts caused by the climate crisis in the United States.
Asian Americans in STEM
While great strides have been made in the treatment of Asian Americans in STEM, Asian Americans are often treated as a homogeneous group, leading to harmful stereotypes such as the “model minority” myth. Highlighting the contributions of individual scientists, like Cho, can lead to greater appreciation for the individuality of Asian American scientists and break down the idea that the AAPI STEM community is a monolith.
View the full article on UNLV news here.
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