Miriam Balaban is a graduate in chemistry of the University of Pennsylvania. She was founder and Editor-in-Chief of Desalination, from 1966 to 2009. The 50th year volume was dedicated to her. In 2009 she launched the journal Desalination and Water Treatment to accommodate the growing flood of papers in the field. She publishes the international online database, Desalination Directory. She has served as Secretary General of the European Desalination Society organizing conferences and as a board member and officer of the International Desalination Association. She was president of the International Federation of Scientific Editors.
Pierre Côté studied Civil Engineering at l’Ecole Polytechnique (Montreal) and McMaster University (Hamilton). He is the principal inventor of the ZeeWeed® membrane, one of the most successful membrane for large scale water and wastewater treatment. Over the 40 years of his R&D career, Dr. Côté has obtained more than 100 patents. In 2000, he won the $100,000 Manning Principal Award for the ZeeWeed® technology; the award was shared with co-workers and all Zenon employees. Dr. Côté currently works as a technical advisor with several companies in water treatment.
Menachem Elimelech is Roberto Goizueta Professor at Yale University. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Hebrew University in Israel and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1989. Professor Elimelech has received numerous awards in recognition of his research and teaching. Notable among these are his election to the United States National Academy of Engineering in 2006, the Eni Prize for ‘Protection of the Environment’ in 2015, the Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award and Lecture (ASCE, 2011), the Lawrence K. Cecil Award in Environmental Chemical Engineering (AIChE, 2008), and the Clarke Prize for excellence in water research in 2005.
Masaru Kurihara is a Fellow at Toray Industries, Inc. Over 50 years his research activities have primarily focused on membrane-based desalination and water reuse by RO/NF/UF/MF and MBR membranes. He received a BS from Gunma University and a PhD from the University of Tokyo. Masaru was the past President of Japan Desalination Association. His numerous awards include President Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Outstanding Professional in Water Reuse and Conservation Award from International Desalination Association, Lifetime Achievement Award of The Society of Polymer Science, Japan, Award for International Communication and Cooperation in Membrane Technology (Membrane Industries Association of China).