It’s a simple fact that water, by definition, makes things wet.

That fact is in doubt, thanks to technology being developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Gareth H. McKinley.

McKinley will visit UT to discuss the technology and his work with it during the Tickle College of Engineering’s penultimate Distinguished Lecture Series event of the spring semester.

Held Monday, March 20, at 4 p.m. in Room 622 of the Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building, McKinley will present his talk, “Fog, Feathers, and Fluid Friction Reduction using Omniphobic Surfaces: Biomimetic Inspiration and Engineering Realization.”

McKinley’s talk will also focus on the adapting of such extreme water-resistant, or superhydrophobic, materials for use with other solutions, such as oils.

Perfecting that technology could hold great promise on everything from deep-sea petroleum harvesting to collecting water from air.

The event is free and open to the public.

McKinley earned his degrees from the University of Cambridge and MIT and has taught at Harvard University in addition to MIT.

His awards include the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Faculty Fellow award, the British Society of Rheology’s Annual Award, and the American Physical Society’s Frenkiel Award.

The author of more than 250 technical publications, McKinley is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society and vice president of the US National Committee of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

Those wishing to see the presentation but are unable to attend can watch the live webcast or view an archived version of the event as well as earlier lectures in the series.