Project Manager Qualifications and Organization Description 
Natasha C. Wright 
Richard	 & Barbara Nelson - Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (starting December 2019) 
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 2012, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN S.M., Mechanical Engineering, 2014, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA PhD, Mechanical Engineering, 2018, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Post-Doctoral Associate, Environmental Engineering, 2019, University of Minnesota Dr. Natasha Wright will be responsible for the overall project coordination. Her research focuses on the design of decentralized desalination (salt removal) systems, with a specialty in membrane-based separation processes and their pairing with renewable energy sources. Over the last 7 years, she has piloted combined energy generation / water treatment systems in the United States, India, and Gaza. Recent work has focused on reducing the cost of small-scale desalination systems via the redesign of system sub-components. This work has resulted in numerous design awards including Forbes 30 Under 30 and the Lemelson Prize at MIT, two patents, and several papers in the field of Desalination. 

Organization Description 
The University of Minnesota is one of the largest, most comprehensive, and most prestigious public universities in the United States (http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/01_about.php). The laboratories and offices of the PI contain all of the necessary fixed and moveable equipment and facilities needed for the proposed studies.