The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March recognized the 2009 recipients of its Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award and Young Alumnus/Alumna Award. The awards were presented at the annual Chicago Regional Dinner Meeting March 11 at the Union League Club in Chicago.
The Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award recognizes professional accomplishments or unique contributions to society by alumni of the department.
2009 Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award
Robert W. Bailey
President, Water Business Group, CH2M HILL, Orlando, Florida
BS 1977, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For exemplary performance and outstanding achievement in the consulting engineering profession, and for community and state leadership in the state of Florida.
As President of the Water Business Group for CH2M HILL, Robert W. Bailey has worldwide responsibility for the development, project performance, and risk management of all CH2M HILL water projects. CH2M HILL’s Water Business Group brings the firm nearly a billion dollars in revenue annually, employs approximately 2,500 people and completes more than 4,000 planning, design and construction projects each year.
Bailey has served on CH2M HILL’s Board of Directors and currently serves on the Board’s Ownership and Incentive Compensation Committee. He is a graduate of Leadership Florida. His additional professional and community involvements include serving on the Leadership Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors. Bailey also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Corporate Directors (Florida Section) and is a Past President of the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA).
Bailey is a recognized leader in the water industry, having received the AWWA National George Warren Fuller Award for Leadership. He is an AWWA Life Member.
William F. Baker
Structural and Civil Engineering Partner
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, Illinois
BS 1975, University of Missouri, Columbia
MS 1980, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For leadership in structural planning, design, and project management of numerous major high-rise buildings in the United States and overseas, and for generous support of the Department.
William F. Baker is the Structural and Civil Engineering Partner for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Throughout his distinguished career, Baker has dedicated himself to structural innovation—most notably in the design of tall buildings within the urban landscape. His most recent contribution has been to develop the “buttressed core” structural system for the Burj Dubai, a system which, in conjunction with sophisticated wind engineering, makes it possible to construct skyscrapers of extreme elevation. Set for completion in 2009, the Burj Dubai will rank as the world’s tallest manmade structure. Closer to home, Baker has spearheaded the structural design of Chicago’s AT&T Corporate Center and the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower. In addition to working at SOM, Baker’s expertise is frequently solicited by institutions of higher learning, as well as numerous professional organizations. He is the 2008 recipient of the Fazlur Rahman Khan medal from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and is a Fellow of both the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Structural Engineers. He is also on the Specifications Committee of the American Institute of Steel Construction and frequently lectures on a variety of structural engineering topics within the U.S. and abroad.
Louis Bowman Jr.
Chairman, Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc., Chicago, Illinois
BS 1951, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For his expertise as a leader in major engineering projects and corporate management as well as business development, and for service and generous support of the Department.
Louis Bowman, P.E., P.L.S., (BSCE ’51) is Chairman of Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc., the firm he founded in 1989 with his onetime University of Illinois lab partner, John E. Barrett, P.E., S.E. Over the course of his 55-year career, Bowman has worked on numerous major highway, rail, and airport projects throughout the Midwest, including major interstates in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.
Bowman’s accomplishments include project management for design and construction of the Illinois Center infrastructure in downtown Chicago, the C&NW Intermodal Rail Yard at 24th and Western, the relocation of the portion of Lake Shore Drive from the Chicago River to Monroe Street, and the ongoing $6.6 billion O’Hare Modernization Program.
Notable affiliations include being a Fellow and Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); a member of the Board of Directors and Past President of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association’s Planning and Design Division; Past Chairman of the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association’s Planning and Design Division; and member of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois (ACEC-IL).
Bowman’s recent awards include ASCE-IL 2006 Civil Engineer of the Year, the 2008 March of Dimes Transportation Award, and the 2008 ARTBA Leadership Award. He was also recently inducted into the Ottawa Township High School Hall of Fame.
James R. Harris
President, J.R. Harris & Co., Structural Engineers, Denver, Colo.
MS 1975, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
PhD 1980, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For outstanding leadership in practice and project management, for valuable contributions nationally to the profession of civil engineering, and for exceptional service to the Department.
Born and raised in eastern Colorado, James R. Harris received his undergraduate education in civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. After working in professional practice in Denver for five years, he and his wife, Karen, and the first of their three daughters moved to Urbana in the fall of 1973, when Harris entered graduate school in CEE at the University of Illinois. His adviser was Professor Richard N. Wright, who had just returned from a sabbatical at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS).
After completing course work and a successful proposal for a dissertation topic, Harris joined Wright at NBS in the fall of 1975, completing the work on the Illinois thesis in absentia. A significant portion of the work was performed in close collaboration with Professor Steven J. Fenves, an Illini who had left to head the civil engineering department at Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh. Harris was fortunate to be able use the development of then-new provisions for seismic design (the ATC 3 project) as a case study, and in that endeavor be associated with professors Nathan Newmark and William J. Hall.
Harris returned to professional practice in Colorado in 1981, and he has headed J.R. Harris & Co. since 1984. He has remained active in the development of standards of practice, serving on numerous committees of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, the American Institute of Steel Construction, and the Building Seismic Safety Council.
2009 Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award
The Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award recognizes a recent graduate who has achieved distinction in his or her field and reached a level of accomplishment significantly greater than that of other recent graduates. The 2009 Young Alumnus Achievement Award winners are:
Jess C. Brown, Ph.D., P.E.
Manager, Research Group, Carollo Engineers, Sarasota, Florida
BA 1995, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
BS 1998, Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
MS 1999, Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
PhD 2002, Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For high quality research and development of new biological drinking water processes, for incorporation of R&D results into innovative full-scale treatment plant processes, and for exemplary industrial leadership in the area of biological treatment of drinking water.
As manager of Carollo Engineers’ Research Group, Jess C. Brown leads the firm’s biological drinking water treatment initiative. He has 10 years of experience in water, wastewater, and reclaimed water treatment.
Brown specializes in drinking water process, applied research, and water quality testing methods. His work covers conventional through advanced treatment and has resulted in more than 70 national and international presentations, 11 peer-reviewed publications, the 2003 American Water Works Association (AWWA) Water Science and Research Division Best Paper Award, two biological drinking water treatment patents, and an invitation to speak at the 2007 National Academy of Engineers Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.
Brown is a member of the Water Environment Federation, the International Water Association, and the AWWA, for which he serves on the Academic Achievement Committee and is Chair of the Inorganic Contaminants Research Committee. He is also the founding Vice-Chair of AWWA’s new Biological Drinking Water Treatment Committee.
Zaher M. Hashisho
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
BS 1998, Physics, American University of Beirut
MS 2000, Environmental Technology, American University of Beirut
MS 2007, Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
PhD 2007, Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For highly innovative designs and unique research contributions in environmental engineering which are assisting society to advance technologically in a more sustainable manner.
As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta, Zaher M. Hashisho is pursuing research on developing novel air quality control technologies.
During his time at the University of Illinois, Hashisho received several awards, including the Engelbrecht Fellowship, the CEE Alumni Teaching Fellowship, the Mavis Memorial Fund Scholarship, the Graduate College Dissertation Travel Grant, and four Racheff Student Travel Awards. His other awards include receiving the Journal of Environmental Engineering’s Editor Award for Service from the American Society of Civil Engineering, four Student Paper/Poster Awards at three Air and Waste Management Association Annual Conferences, and several conference travel awards.