MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Penn State Harrisburg has been awarded an American Water Charitable Foundation 2024 Water and Environment Grant focused on upgrading the drinking water treatment lab in the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology.
The $23,663 grant will fund equipment upgrades in the lab, which provides outreach to local schools in addition to serving Penn State Harrisburg engineering students. J. Mitchell Spear, laboratory manager, and Yuefeng Xie, professor of environmental engineering, are the co-principal investigators on the grant.
“For the past 30 years, Pennsylvania American Water has provided sustaining support to our undergraduate education, graduate research and water professional training,” Xie said. “This funding, provided by the American Water Charitable Foundation, will greatly enhance our capacities in outreach to K-12 schools.”
Spear said the lab has a long history of working with local school districts, many of which are underserved communities, by providing educational programs about drinking water. K-12 students learn about the drinking water treatment process as well as the importance of water conservation, the engineering and science behind the processes, future career paths and more.
The lab was designed to be a “highly visual tool” to demonstrate the chemical and physical processes involved, he said.
“This will greatly enhance the education experience for our outreach programs combining the visual understanding of the treatment process with the tangible quantitative measurements achieved through the technology purchased thanks to the American Water Charitable Foundation Grant,” Spear said.
The Water and Environment Grant is part of the American Water Charitable Foundation’s Keep Communities Flowing Grant Program. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization established by American Water, the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the U.S., and aims to support high-impact projects and initiatives that further American Water’s commitment to the environmental, social, and governance solutions, as well as inclusion, diversity and equity.
“The American Water Charitable Foundation is committed to participating and investing in organizations and programs that benefit the diverse communities served by American Water,” said Carrie Williams, president of the American Water Charitable Foundation. “We are proud to further American Water’s ongoing commitment to being a good neighbor and strong partner in the community.”