News

Duke Faculty Members Pose Standing and Seated

| I/O Magazine

The Hard-Earned Lessons of Academic Entrepreneurs

Faculty entrepreneurs from Duke Engineering share their experiences of what it takes to spin a startup out of a university.

Glass and pitcher of clean drinking water

Center for WaSH-AID launches research into novel sorbents for PFAS removal

Researchers at the Duke University Center for WaSH-AID have begun Phase I research on the removal of PFAS —per and polyfluoroalkyl substances—from drinking water.

Elon students test water samples in lab

| Elon University

Elon engineering students test cutting-edge material to reduce water pollution

Elon engineering students are participating in research and development of a proprietary new material that holds potential to decrease pollution in stormwater runoff in a collaboration with researchers at Duke University and sponsored by Oldcastle Infrastructure, a CRH Company.

Columns in field to demonstrate innovative stormwater technology

Sponsored Research into Technology that Removes Nitrogen from Urban Stormwater Advances to Phase II

Over the past year, Center researchers have demonstrated that novel passive filtration materials, when used in combination with existing treatment methods, can reduce nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in stormwater.

| Duke Magazine

Changing the World, One Flush at a Time

In a small, cream-colored building on the site of a cotton mill in Coimbatore, India, sits a toilet with a lot riding on it. No ordinary commode, its life-changing mission is to stop the spread of deadly diseases, conserve dwindling fresh water, and even keep girls in school.

Sonia Grego

| News & Observer

Duke smart toilet flushes away poop but leaves valuable health information behind

Sonia Grego works in a world of poop. Scatological-themed artwork hangs outside her office alongside peer-reviewed papers on human waste. “We have poop emojis everywhere,” she said, pointing to a smiling tie-dye stuffed clump perched by her window.

Screenshot%202023-03-22%20at%2011.14.15%20AM.png

| Duke Daily

Sanitation Lab Cleaning World's Water

Brian Hawkins, an associate professor at Duke University, and his team are designing a self-contained toilet that requires no infrastructure, can reclaim water for flushing, washing, and irrigation, and can reuse nutrients removed from the water.

| PBS North Carolina

Video: Why Flush Toilets are Wasteful

“We use drinking water to flush our toilets,” WaSH-AID research scientist Lena Trotochaud told PBS NC's Rossie Izlar. “We really need to conserve that precious resource.”

Urban Renewal Project in South Korea

Urban Stormwater: Exploring New Ways to Remove Nutrient Pollution

We are excited to share that researchers at the Center have secured sponsorship from Oldcastle Infrastructure, a CRH Company, to explore technologies to remove nitrogen from urban stormwater.

| The Guardian

The smart toilet era is here! Are you ready to share your analprint with big tech?

Loo design has barely changed in 150 years - until now. Will people trade their privacy for the chance to find out exactly what is in their waste?

Brian with Reclaimer Technology

Why are we using drinking water to flush our toilets?

In many places, including the U.S., up to 25% of potable household water is used to flush the toilet.

roll of toilet paper

| Wall Street Journal

Smartwatches Track Our Health. Smart Toilets aren't too far behind.

The next frontier of at-home health tracking is flush with data: the toilet. Researchers and companies are developing high-tech toilets that go beyond adding smart speakers or a heated seat. These smart facilities are designed to look out for signs of gastrointestinal disease, monitor blood…

graphic drawing of a toilet

Stool Image Analysis for Precision Health Monitoring by Smart Toilets

We're excited to share that our latest Smart Toilet research on stool image analysis using machine learning has been published in the Proceedings of Machine Learning Research following the 2021 Machine Learning for Healthcare conference.

| Gates Notes

I need to take a Yee!

The Center for WaSH-AID is proud to be a part of Dr. Shannon Yee's team developing a new, low-cost toilet to solve the world’s sanitation crisis.

| The Wall Street Journal

A Robot That Finds Your Lost Stuff and More AI-Enabled Gadgets to Come

Analyzing poop is an important way to prevent and diagnose gastrointestinal diseases, but the taboo around collecting it can make screening challenging, according to a 2014 study published in the British Journal of General Practice. Smart toilets could help change that.