Bangladeshi scientist wins Prince Sultan Intl Prize for Water

Prince Khaled Bin Sultan announced the winners on October 5, says PSIPW official website. Dr Shafiqul Islam from Tufts University, USA and his team member Dr Rita Colwell of the University of Maryland at College Park was awarded the prestigious Creativity prize for developing and testing a model that uses chlorophyll information from satellite data to predict cholera outbreaks at least three to six months in advance. The award ceremony will be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on November 2. Dr. Shafiqul Islam has applied Colwell’s findings to relate chlorophyll levels and cholera outbreaks in the Bay of Bengal. Using satellite data from NASA, he developed a satellite-based model to predict potential cholera outbreaks at least three to six months in advance. The model has been tested with chlorophyll information from satellites over the Bay of Bengal region to predict cholera outbreaks in Bangladesh. The team is currently working on testing the model with ground-based observations. Dr Rita Colwell is an internationally acclaimed oceanographer and microbiologist who has spent the bulk of her career studying the V cholera bacterium that causes cholera. PSIPW is a leading, global scientific award focusing on cutting-edge innovation in water research. It gives recognition to scientists, researchers and inventors around the world for pioneering work that addresses the problem of water scarcity in creative and effective ways.