KAUST is proud to announce that Pascal Saikaly, Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering in the Water Desalination and Reuse Center, has been named the 2024 International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES).

International Honorary Members are selected each year by the AAEES's Board of Trustees by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of its members, based on his or her notable contribution or outstanding sustained contribution to the advancement of environmental protection.

Saikaly has over 20 years of experience in developing sustainable biotechnologies for wastewater reclamation and reuse. He translates novel wastewater treatment biotechnologies from bench scale to full scale. These biotechnologies include a patented technology for a decentralized wastewater recycling plant that is currently being demonstrated at full scale to help address sanitation and water scarcity issues in Saudi Arabia.

Saikaly joined KAUST in 2010 and began his research quest to develop sustainable environmental biotechnologies that can harness the metabolic potential of microbial communities to recover valuable resources from wastewater. His research is acknowledged globally, and he is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences. He has authored/co-authored over 128 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is one of the Editors of Water Research and Associate Editors of Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology.

"Next-generation wastewater treatment technologies must treat the most common pollutants (such as organic pollutants, nitrogen and phosphorus) in wastewater more sustainably by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and residual waste generation while simultaneously recovering valuable resources. The decentralized wastewater treatment and reuse technologies that we developed at KAUST meet these criteria. Most importantly, they generate high-quality treated water suitable for various nonpotable reuse applications, which is crucial for achieving SDG6 targets to ensure clean water and sanitation for all.”