Rosso Honored by the Water Environment Federation 

Oct. 13, 2025 - The Water Environment Federation (WEF) honored civil and environmental engineering professor Diego Rosso as one of 15 distinguished fellows at the 2025 WEF Awards. The federation recognizes members working to make a lasting impact on the water sector and those who demonstrate outstanding achievements.  

Rosso is the director of the Water-Energy Nexus Center (WEX), where he focuses on how power and energy can be used to extract, treat, reclaim and reuse water. With hopes of making water treatment more efficient and sustainable, Rosso researches how to improve aeration processes, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing energy consumption. 

A real-life example, and the model Rosso uses, is in wastewater treatment. As the principal investigator of the Environmental Process Lab — one of the facilities of the WEX Center — Rosso oversees projects like microplastics removal and wastewater surveillance.  

The professor likes to refer to the WEX Center’s research as “bubbles and sparks” — since everything they study ultimately relates to gases (bubbles) and power or energy (sparks).  

“It is very humbling to be recognized,” said Rosso. “This extramural service provides our students with the connections they need to start successful careers in industry. I have been passionately engaging in professional service all over the U.S. and internationally over the years. It is personally very enriching and is the right thing to do to help our students succeed. I was very proud that five of my current students and a dozen former students were at the event.” 

The WEF also awarded Rosso the Engelbrecht International Service Award, an accolade that recognizes significant and sustained contributions to the improvement of the international activities of the WEF. 

– Cassandra Nava