Global Research Partnership Centers
2008 Winner Profiles
Utrecht University
Utrecht, Netherlands
Located in the heart of the Netherlands, Utrecht University is firmly founded on tradition. The university, which recently celebrated its 370th anniversary, has developed into one of Europe's largest and most prominent institutes of research and education. Utrecht University offers innovative research and the broadest spectrum of disciplines available in the Netherlands, and liaises with universities and research centers all over the world. At Utrecht University, in both teaching and research, quality is always the key.
Utrecht University is linked to the names of many prominent academics, including Buys Ballot, Donders, Rudolf Magnus, Van Unnik and Freudenthal. The list also includes Nobel Prize Winners such as Gerard 't Hooft from the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy.
View Utrecht University's presentation at the GRP Symposium
Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Professor, Department of Earth Sciences – Geochemistry
Philippe Van Cappellen, Principal Investigator of the Center for Soil, Water and Coastal Resources (SOWACOR), is Professor of Geochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Dr. Van Cappellen did his undergraduate studies at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. In 1990, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in geology and geophysics from Yale University in the United States. After spending a year as a post-doctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Sciences, he returned to the United States to join the faculty of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology, as an assistant professor and later as associate professor. Since 1999, he has been Professor of Geochemistry at Utrecht. He has also held visiting faculty appointments at the University of Grenoble in France, the University of Ottawa in Canada, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States. He is former co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hydrology, and presently serves on the editorial board of Geomicrobiology Journal. He is actively involved in a variety of scientific organizations, funding agencies, and European research and training networks.
Dr. Van Cappellen is a frequent keynote and invited speaker at international conferences. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters. His awards include the Herbert Hoover Fellowship of the Belgian-American Educational Foundation, the Philip M. Orville Prize for Outstanding Scholarship at Yale University, a Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award, an Advanced Research Scholarship of the French Government, a Pioneer Grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, and the 2007 André Dumont Medal from the Belgian Geological Society.
KAUST Center-in-Development Award: Center for Soil, Water and Coastal Resources (SOWACOR)
Soils, groundwater, and coastal ecosystems are vital to the well-being of humans, yet their sustainable use is being compromised by a multitude of threats – land erosion, urbanization, pollution, nutrient leaching, biodiversity loss, overexploitation, and salinization to name a few. In this perspective, the objectives of the new KAUST Center-in-Development SOWACOR are to:
- advance the scientific basis needed to assess and predict the impact of human activity on the ecological quality of soils, groundwater, and the coastal environment,
- develop new technologies for the treatment and decontamination of soil and water resources, and
- train scientists and engineers who are able to tackle the complex issues related to the protection and remediation of life-sustaining natural resources.
SOWACOR’s research will initially focus on the development of new inorganic and biological materials for water treatment, the (bio)remediation of soils and groundwater, and the supply, fate, and effects of nutrient elements in coastal areas. The research activities will be interdisciplinary, and geared toward real-world validation and application. They will combine laboratory experimentation, computer modeling, and field studies in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Expected outcomes of the research include new materials and methods to remove hazardous chemicals from drinking water and wastewater, improved methods to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater, and guidelines for better coastal management.
The research ambitions and scope of SOWACOR overlap with those of the four initial research thrusts of KAUST, although the overlap is most pronounced with the area of Resources, Energy and Environment. SOWACOR will play a key role in linking KAUST’s research and educational programs in environmental sciences and technology, materials science, bioengineering and computational earth sciences. Contributions to KAUST’s institutional development will include assistance in the planning, equipment selection, and operation of a world-class analytical laboratory facility dedicated to environmental research, and in the design, implementation, and internationalization of KAUST’s M.S.E. and Ph.D. programs. Graduate education and training supported through the KAUST-SOWACOR partnership will emphasize the application of the latest scientific knowledge and technological breakthroughs to assess and mitigate environmental problems that affect the livelihood and health of Saudis and people around the world.