The mission of the Environmental Control Division is to develop innovative technologies for treatment and purification of water, using plasma and supporting methods. Water is a vital resource for human flourishing, and innovations in water treatment technologies must be not only robustly effective but also clean and energy-efficient. Plasma is pure energy. There is no more robust platform for purifying water than controlled discharge of plasmas.

Our group was among the first in the world to discharge plasmas directly within water. Our current research programs involve the treatment of produced water from oil and gas exploration, cooling water used for HVAC and process industries, wastewater treatment, desalination technology, and indoor air quality systems. Our group includes faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students working together in an intensive, research-oriented team—stimulating new insights and providing hands-on creative experiences for a younger generation of engineers.