During a ceremony at George Mason University (GMU), Professor Abdul Hussam, originally from Bangladesh, was awarded with an 'Outstanding American by Choice' certificate.

The certificate, presented by Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is awarded to naturalised US citizens who have made significant contributions to their community and the United States as a whole.

Professor Hussam developed a household water treatment system that removes arsenic from groundwater. Over 100,000 of these SONO arsenic filters have been distributed in Bangladesh and other countries, such as Nepal and India.

In 2007 Prof. Hussam was presented with the Granger Challenge Gold Award of US$ 1 million for the SONO filter, and was named one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment.

Related news:

• Arsenic removal: SONO household water filter wins US$ 1 million award, Source, 01 June 2007;
• Abul Hussam: one of TIME Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment for 2007, Source South Asia, 21 Jan 2008

Web sites: Professor Abdul Hussam (GMU); SONO arsenic filter (Wikipedia);

Source: Workpermit.com, 28 Oct 2008

Tags: south asia, technology, water treatment