Institute for Environmental Risk Management

Institute for Urban Environmental
Risk Management

What's New?

January 2003

Institute Director Named Member of

Technical Committee for the Review of Lake Michigan Diversion Accounting

The State of Illinois diverts water from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River and on to the Mississippi River at Chicago. The amount of this diversion is carefully regulated by U.S. Supreme Court Decree in response to law suits by the states of Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin against Illinois. As part of this Decree the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must form a three member panel of experts to review the Diversion Flow Measurements and Accounting Procedures every 5 years. Dr. Charles Melching was named the Hydrologic Modeling Expert for the 5^th Technical Committee. Dr. Melching and his colleagues—Dr. William Espey, Committee Chairman, and Mr. Dean Mades, Flow Measurement Expert—met with representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and other state and local agencies in the affected states to determine the current accuracy of the diversion accounting and suggest future improvements to these procedures. Their final report can be found at the following web site: http://155.79.114.198/divacct/

September 2002

Former Institute Director Named

Camp Dresser and McKee Professor of Environmental Engineering

at Northeastern University in Boston, MA

Dr. Vladimir Novotny, the founder and first director of the Institute of Urban Environmental Risk Management, was named the first Camp Dresser and McKee (CDM) Professor of Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. The following is from the announcement of this appointment.

The Camp Dresser Mckee Professorship is endowed as the result of generous contributions of leaders and employees of Camp Dresser & McKee, many of whom are alumni of Northeastern University’s College of Engineering.

Dr. Novotny’s distinguished career in environmental and water resources engineering has been focused at Marquette University since 1973, where he served most recently as Professor and Chairman of the Environmental and Water Resources Committee and Director of the Institute of Urban Environmental Risk Management. He is also the president of a consulting company, AquaNova International, Ltd. He has published widely in the field and has held a number of short-term teaching and research positions, including Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Padova in Italy, and Visiting Professor at the University of Venice, Italy. In 2001 he received the Sam Jenkins Medal for Outstanding Service from the International Water Association for his leadership of the international group of specialists on diffuse pollution. In January 2002 he was elected a member of the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Novotny began his education at the Technical University of Brno in his native Czechoslovakia, and received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

October 13, 2001

Young Researcher Award of the

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

was given to Professor Charles S. Melching

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the 2001 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize to Dr. Charles S. Melching “For his research on uncertainty and reliability analysis in water resources and environmental engineering, including especially uncertainty in rainfall-runoff and stream water-quality modeling.” The Huber Prize is to be awarded to members of ASCE of any grade for notable achievements in research related to civil engineering. Preference is given to younger members (generally under 40 years of age) of early accomplishment who can be expected to continue fruitful careers in research. Dr. Melching was one of 5 young researchers to receive the award in 2001.

October 15, 2001

Top Award by the
International Water Association (IWA)
was given to Professor Vladimir Novotny

The International Water Association, the largest international professional association in the world dealing with water, has given its highest award to Dr. Vladimir Novotny, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Institute for Urban Environmental Risk Management. The award that commemorates Dr. Sam Jenkins, one of the founders of the organization was given to Dr. Novotny during the opening ceremony of the World Water Congress in Berlin, Germany on October 15, 2001. The ceremony was attended by the German Federal President, Johannes Rau, Mayor of Berlin and other dignitaries, and several thousand delegates from all over the world.

Dr. Novotny obtained the award for his life-long work in the area of pollution abatement and watershed management. He was a chair of an international group of specialists of IWA and recently organized an IWA sponsored conference at Marquette University. This conference attracted about 240 delegates from 36 countries.

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