Clean Water

Location: Lakefront Stage

Time: 3:30 pm

Keeping Lake Erie Pollution-Free. What’s in your water—and what are we doing about it?

This panel brings together innovators, scientists, and civic leaders working to protect our most precious natural resource: Lake Erie. From microplastic filtration to acoustic telemetry and smart sensor deployment, new technologies are being tested and scaled across Northeast Ohio to monitor, clean, and sustain fresh water systems.

Hear from the minds behind breakthrough tools and regional partnerships aiming to ensure clean water access for future generations—and learn how Cleveland is becoming a global testbed for water innovation.

Moderator: 

Emily Bacha - Director of Communications & Engagement, Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability

Emily Bacha is a strategic communicator and community advocate working at the intersection of public policy, sustainability, and equity. As Director of Communications & Engagement for Cuyahoga County’s Department of Sustainability, she leads efforts to educate and mobilize residents around climate action, clean energy, and environmental justice. With a background in nonprofit leadership and environmental advocacy, Emily brings a people-first lens to systems change and public engagement.

Panelists:

Samantha Martin drives mission-driven storytelling and partnership building at the Cleveland Water Alliance—responsible for engaging communities around protecting the Great Lakes watershed. She cultivates collaboration across sectors, serving on the Cuyahoga River AOC Advisory Committee and Cleveland 2030 District board, and represents the Alliance at national forums, including the Great Lakes Commission's events in D.C. A Baldwin Wallace graduate in Public Relations and Political Science, Samantha blends communications savvy with a passion for freshwater stewardship.

Dr. Jeff Dusek — Baldwin Wallace University (BW)

Dr. Jeff Dusek is an Associate Professor of Engineering at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. and S.M. from MIT and a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. His teaching focuses on robotics, fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics, sensing and measurement, and user-oriented design, with a hands-on approach that emphasizes intuition, real-world examples, and experimentation.

Dr. Dusek leads the Laboratory for Adaptation, Inclusion, and Robotics (LAIR), engaging undergraduates in research spanning marine robotics and assistive/adaptive technologies. His collaborations include work with MIT Sea Grant, Toyota of North America, the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), and community-based assistive technology partners. Before BW, he was on faculty at Olin College of Engineering, where he helped develop integrated engineering curricula and coached the sailing teams at Olin and Wellesley Colleges.

Dr. Dusek is also deeply involved in integrative health research. Over 25 years, he has spearheaded large-scale clinical trials—leading BraveNet’s PRIMIER registry (~5,000 participants across 29 clinics), multi‑site studies on acupuncture in emergency departments, and grants on music therapy for sickle cell disease and mechanisms of mind‑body interventions. These efforts are funded by NIH’s NCCIH and CDC. His work has been published in JAMA Network Open, Circulation, PNAS, and more, and featured in major media including The New York Times and NPR 

Donna Friedman — Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD)

Donna Friedman serves as the Manager of Community Watershed Coordination at NEORSD. In this role, she leads efforts to engage with communities across Northeast Ohio on critical issues of wastewater and stormwater management, working to ensure equitable access to infrastructure funding and programs.

Friedman has been instrumental in shaping the district’s Equity Investment Focus Area Program, which prioritizes allocating resources fairly, especially in under-resourced communities dealing with sewage infrastructure needs. Her work supports city plans and funding strategies to meet the estimated regional infrastructure deficit currently totaling in the billions She also co-hosts NEORSD’s Clean Water Works broadcast and podcast series—engaging residents in discussions on watershed stewardship, clean water projects, utility billing, and more—blending education with community outreach in a relatable and informative format 

David Dillman — CLEANR Inc.

David Dillman is the Co‑Founder & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CLEANR Inc., an environmental tech startup based in Cleveland focused on tackling microplastic pollution at its source

A graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Dillman helped co-found CLEANR in June 2022 alongside Max Pennington (CEO) and Chip Miller (COO). Their core innovation is the VORTX filtration technology, inspired by biomimicry—modeled after whale shark and manta ray filtering—which captures more than 90% of microplastics (as small as ~50 μm) released from washing machines, currently the leading single source of ocean-bound microplastic waste. Under Dillman’s technical leadership, CLEANR has secured industry recognition (including multiple “Best of IFA 2023” awards), raised over $2.3M in seed funding, and begun pre‑revenue pilot programs with universities and consumer pre‑orders expected summer 2025. The team aims for OEM integration of their filter design into future washing machines to scale impact globally and protect Lake Erie and beyond