Tata Fellow will continue his work on waste conversion in India; adds Factor(E) Energy for Development Prize to his accolades.

Kevin Kung, a Tata Fellow and continuing Ph.D. candidate in Biological Engineering, has accepted a Fulbright grant and will join the U.S. government’s flagship exchange program for the 2015-2016 school year. Kung will use the grant to continue his research in India on thermochemical treatment of organic waste, developed over two years as a Tata Fellow.

Part of the MIT Waste Alliance and the Tata Center Waste Innovation Group, Kung’s work focuses on the significant amounts of unmanaged organic waste generated in both urban and rural life in India. He is developing a robust thermochemical conversion process that turns this waste into char, which has various commercial utilities.

“The plan is to use the Fulbright fellowship to further my Tata project, in terms of research collaboration and prototyping in India,” he says.

More on Kevin and other MIT Fulbright winners

And as if that wasn’t enough, Kung and his team from Safire won the Factor(E) Energy for Development Prize, part of the MIT Clean Energy Prize.

Congrats to Safire for receiving Factor(E)’s Energy for Development award at @MIT_CEP this year! #impinv #energy pic.twitter.com/Z36Dsr1kfe

— Factor(E) Ventures (@FactorEVentures) May 12, 2015

Kung will complete his Tata Fellowship this June, when he will be inducted into the Society of Tata Fellows.