If necessity is the mother of invention, proof of the ancient proverb is happening right now at UNLV. Here on our campus, a team of engineers is seeking answers to problems driven by the Southwest region’s devastating drought by pulling water out of thin air.

Atmospheric water harvesting sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies - and it is - but the technology is real and it could one day help to alleviate water scarcity issues in desert climates like Las Vegas. 

The work at UNLV is led by professor H. Jeremy Cho, who says that there’s a “hidden ocean” in the air around us, but you can’t just swing a net and capture it all. “You have to play some thermodynamic tricks to get it there,” he says. 

Cho recently earned a coveted CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to do just that, and he says Southern Nevada offers the perfect ingredients - from climate conditions to technology and public desire - to make it happen. He’s also partnering with local agencies and water experts, and he has plans to engage with area high schools as the research develops. 

“At UNLV, I’ve come to meet water experts and people who think about water problems in so many ways I didn’t know existed,” Cho said. “This is the region working on solutions the most because it needs them the most.” 

Projects like this reinforce the important role that research universities play in innovating real solutions to society’s most confounding challenges. I invite you to read more about Professor Cho’s exciting work, and I’m energized by yet another example of what we mean at UNLV when we say that Rebels Make it Happen! 

Keith E. Whitfield, Ph.D.
UNLV President