Three-Year Grant Supports the Water Center at Penn

Launched last spring within Penn Arts and Sciences, the Water Center at Penn serves as a regional hub of water expertise, maintaining a focus on urban water issues and advancing research into innovative and sustainable water solutions.

Thanks to a recent three-year, $1.5 million gift from Spring Point Partners LLC, the Center will have a solid foundation from which to build its research agenda.

Howard Neukrug, C’78, Professor of Practice in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science and former CEO and Commissioner of Philadelphia Water, created the Water Center to confront the increasingly complex challenges of aging and deteriorating water infrastructure, climate change, rapid urbanization, and social justice. The Center fosters coordination among Penn researchers to address questions in chemistry, biology, earth and environmental science, and medicine and to establish cross-disciplinary support for research on water issues in public health, technology, business, social sciences, urban studies, and city planning and design.

“This grant will have an impact at Penn and far beyond, supporting some of the world’s best innovators as they collaborate on water programs, conferences, workshops and research to find solutions to some of the most pressing water challenges,” says Steven J. Fluharty, Dean and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. “By improving water security and accessibility, their work will have a direct impact on health, social, and foreign policy.”

Spring Point Partners LLC is a social impact venture that provides grants and investments to meet both social and financial outcomes in areas including animal welfare, learning innovations, youth development, and sustainable water. The venture previously supported a national conference on water affordability hosted at Penn in May 2018.