Основатель Water.org Гэри Уайт удостоен престижной медали Хувера за вклад в решение глобального водного кризиса

Gary White, co-founder and CEO of Water.org, has earned the 2025 Hoover Medal. The award will be presented during the Stockholm International Water Institute’s World Water Week Closing Ceremony in August. The Hoover Medal is awarded annually to an engineer whose work has improved humanity through technical achievement and service. White was recognized for more than 30 years of applying that mindset to the global water crisis, providing people living in poverty access to the infrastructure and financing they need to access safe water and sanitation. White was nominated for the award by Dr. Joel Burken, the John A. and Susan Mathes Chair of Environmental Engineering at Missouri S&T, who will present the medal in Stockholm. “I’m deeply honored to receive the Hoover Medal and to be included among the engineers who’ve received it before me,” said Gary White. “I started my career as an engineer working on water projects in Latin America, and it was there I first saw what it takes for families to access something as essential as safe water. That experience has driven everything I’ve built since.” “Gary is the perfect example of an S&T alumnus going out into the world and applying what he learned in applying their abilities for the betterment of society,” says Burken. “When I learned of the Hoover Medal years ago, I knew Gary’s work was a perfect fit. Future generations have an example of what should be, and what can be done to change the world, through giving of one’s talents, skills, and most of all our hearts to the betterment of health and to humanity on our planet.” White’s engineering career began with water projects in Latin America as an undergraduate at S&T, where he saw firsthand what limited access to safe water meant for families’ health, income and time. In 1990, White founded WaterPartners, which later merged with Matt Damon’s H2O Africa Foundation in 2009 to form Water.org. Over the past 30 years, White has helped build Water.org from a small U.S.-based nonprofit into a global organization led by experts working in the 15 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Today, the organization offers a portfolio of solutions that break down the barriers between people living in poverty and access to safe water and sanitation. White is the seventy-sixth recipient of the Hoover Medal since the first award to Herbert Hoover in 1930. White is the second Missouri S&T alumnus to receive this honor; Mervin J. Kelly, a 1914 physics graduate who was president of Bell Laboratories, received the award in 1961. The Medal is awarded by a board representing five engineering organizations: the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. White earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Missouri in 1985, and he completed a master’s degree in the same subject at S&T two years later. He also earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. About Missouri S&T Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.