Listen up GOP candidates. Listen up America. A Syrian is behind revolutionary water purification system invented at Cornell University.
Syrians are capable people who will contribute to America’s greatness if given the chance. Instead of blocking Syrian refugees from coming to America, why not read about their accomplishments once in America.
An article in the Cornell Chronicle, entitled “Polymer breakthrough could revolutionize water purification“, describes this invention by a team of researchers:
We’ve all seen the Febreze air fresheners, which employ a derivative of corn starch to trap invisible air pollutants in the home and remove unwanted odors.
A team of Cornell researchers has used the same material found in Febreze, cyclodextrin, to develop a technique that could revolutionize the water-purification industry.
The team is led by Will Dichtel, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology and a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner. His group invented a porous form of cyclodextrin that has displayed uptake of pollutants through adsorption at rates vastly superior to traditional activated carbon – 200 times greater in some cases.
LEADING RESEARCHER
The article cites the following leading researchers on the team:
Other co-authors of the paper, “Instant Removal of Organic Micropollutants From Water by a Porous beta-Cyclodextrin Polymer,” are postdoctoral scholars Alaaeddin Alsbaiee and Brian Smith
Alsbaiee obtained his doctoral degree in organic chemistry from Alberta University in Canada before joining the Ivy League Cornell University.
When Syrians are provided the opportunities, they do excel beyond expectations. But first, we need to see them as contributors, not as terrorists or freeloaders.
We need to give them the opportunity afforded to any other refugee escaping their native countries for reasons that justify their flight. In the case of Alaaeddin, it is the war and the lack of edifices to practice his knowledge that prompted him to seek the American Dream.
Well done Alaaeddin.
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