Wayne State University partners with U.S. Army to research improvements of mobile water treatment

As natural disasters are becoming more frequent in the United States, Wayne State University and the U.S. Army will be collaborating on research examining how to better get clean water to areas impacted by disaster.

The goal is to facilitate the military’s ability to prop up mobile water treatment facilities in areas where clean water isn’t available such as those impacted by national disaster or while troops are deployed, according to a news release from Wayne State University Friday. One barrier that will be the focus of collaborative research will be on how to detect and address harmful bacteria and chemical agents in drinking water, which is instrumental in making such facilities a reality.

In the last five years, the United States has averaged about 20 natural disasters, more than double the annual average from the previous 40 years, which was about nine, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

The partnership with the university and the Army will be valuable to individuals in the U.S. and abroad and will expand students’ access to emerging technology and research, Shawn McElmurry, chair of WSU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering said in the news release.

“It’s exciting that our students will have an opportunity to meet and work with leaders in this field from the Army and engage in developing a solution for this real-world problem to benefit our military and civilians,” McElmurry said.

Students at WSU will be collaborating with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center (DEVCOM GVSC) in Warren, as a part of an education partnership agreement.

Under the agreement, the university will have access to DEVCOM GVSC’s equipment, software and data for research and may benefit from research personnel developing the science curriculum at the university, the news release said.

“This focus and drive to engage with us and do some things strategically is fantastic,” Chief Scientist at GVSC David J. Gorsich said in the release. “This agreement is unique in that it allows us to loan and share equipment and utilize resources together, and also builds a special partnership in educating, training and mentoring both on the GVSC side, and with students and faculty at Wayne State.”

This would not be the first partnership between WSU and DEVCOM GVSC as the university has participated in the Automotive Research Center with the U.S. Army Center of Excellence working on modeling and simulation of ground vehicle systems to operate in harsh or uncertain scenarios.