President Biden presented CEE professor Ashok Gadgil with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement, in a White House ceremony, on Monday, October 24th.
Gadgil was among 12 laureates to receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which was last awarded by the White House in 2015. First awarded in 1985, the medal aims to highlight the importance of technological innovation and inspire future generations of American innovators.
Gadgil is best known for inventing safe drinking water technologies — including UV Waterworks, a low-cost, portable, and energy-efficient water purifier, and ECAR, an advanced arsenic removal technology — as well as fuel-efficient cookstoves. His many engineering solutions have proved transformative for low-resource communities and have helped more than 100 million people across four continents.
Check out the full news release on Berkeley Engineering to learn more about the medal and Gadgil's extensive research contributions.