The Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association is pleased to announce the 2011 recipients of its Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award and Young Alumnus/Alumna Achievement Award. The Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award recognizes professional accomplishments or unique contributions to society by alumni of the department. 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 honorees will be recognized at the CEE at Illinois Alumni Dinner in Chicago on Feb. 9.
The Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association annually presents awards to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of CEE alumni. Nominations are accepted throughout the year. To nominate, please fill out and submit the appropriate form on the CEEAA Award page.
The 2011 Distinguished Alumni are:
Ilker R. Adiguzel , Director, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Champaign (PhD 83)
For leadership and innovation in directing engineering research and development for sustainable military installations that support the national defense; for a commitment to encouraging and mentoring students who are under-represented in the engineering community; and for fostering collaboration and lasting relationships with academia.
Ilker R. Adiguzel is director of the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign, and leads a $150 million research and development program annually with a staff of 350 people. This program creates and fields environmental and infrastructure technologies to support military installations in a sustainable and affordable manner.
Adiguzel was selected to the Senior Executive Service in 2006. He held various management and research positions at CERL,after a Visiting Assistant Professor position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Adiguzel is a founding member of the Editorial Board for the American Society for Civil Engineers Journal of Infrastructure Systems. He co-chairs the Construction Industry Institute Strategic Planning Committee and is a member of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction, and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). He also serves on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering Innovation Leadership Advisory Board.
His honors include the Department of the Army Meritorious Service Medal; Federal Laboratory Consortium Laboratory Director of the Year; SAME Technology Advancement Medal; U.S. Green Building Council Public Sector Leadership Award; and the Army Engineer Association The Bronze Order of the deFleury Medal.
James A. Hanlon, P.E., Director, Office of Wastewater Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. (BS 72)
For leadership in the development and implementation of programs associated with protecting and enhancing the nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems and consequently improving the quality of life and public health for residents across the country.
James A. Hanlon is Director of the Office of Wastewater Management (OWM) in the Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The OWM is responsible for the management of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, which permits municipal and industrial wastewater discharges, the administration of Federal financial and technical assistance for publicly owned wastewater treatment works including EPA’s $80 billion Clean Water Revolving Fund program and the WaterSense water efficiency program.
Hanlon is a career civil servant with more than 35 years of government service with the EPA. In 1984, he was appointed to the position of Director, Municipal Construction Division, and was responsible for the management of the EPA’s national construction grants and state revolving fund programs, providing assistance to municipalities in their wastewater infrastructure construction programs. He was appointed to the position of Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology in the Office of Water in 1991. In this capacity, he was responsible for the scientific and technical basis of the federal water quality and safe drinking water programs.
Joseph M. KaiserJoseph M. Kaiser, P.E., Executive Vice President, BSI Constructors Inc, St. Louis, Mo. (BS 70, MS 71)
For superior technical and administrative leadership demonstrated in the management of construction projects in the St. Louis area, including technically complex facilities, significant architectural structures and major renovations and restorations.
After graduation from the University of Illinois, Joseph M. Kaiser spent four years as an officer in the U. S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, with assignments at the Naval Air Station, Guam, and Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, Calif. During this period, he also co-authored with Professor Ronald Woodhead two published professional papers on decision making in the construction industry, which were an extension of his graduate studies at Illinois. His next two and a half years were with United Parcel Service, in their construction group. For the past 32 years, he has worked for two major general contractors, the last 25 of which have been with BSI Constructors in St. Louis, where he currently serves as Executive Vice President. During this time period, he has served as project manager or project executive on projects with total construction value in excess of $1.3 billion. Many of these projects have received local and national awards.
Kaiser has been very active in the Associated General Contractors of St. Louis, serving as chairman of various committees, Trustee of the Education Foundation and currently serving on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. He has been an instructor for more than 25 evening courses for construction project managers and superintendents over the past 20 years.
He has also been active in his community, holding many leadership offices, including school board president of his parish school and a five-year term as parish trustee. He also serves on the Leadership Council at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center on the Urbana-Champaign campus.
Kaiser's wife, Pat, and two oldest sons, Doug and Greg, are also University of Illinois alumni.
David R. Maidment, Hussein M. Alharthy Centennial Chair in Civil Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, Texas (MS 74, PhD 76)
For significant and lasting impact on teaching, research and practice in the fields of hydrology and water resource engineering, including the pioneering of geographic information systems applications in hydrology and technologies that have been adopted by national and international institutions.
After receiving his bachelor's degree in Agricultural Engineering with First Class Honors from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, David R. Maidment moved to the United States to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently serving as Director of the Center for Research in Water Resources, Professor Maidment has been on the faculty at the University of Texas, Austin, since 1981 and teaches classes in hydrology, hydraulics, computer programming and GIS in Water Resources.
Maidment is a specialist in surface water hydrology, and in particular in the application of geographic information systems to hydrology. Since 1989, he has been cooperating in this field with ESRI, manufacturers of Arc/Info and ArcView, the leading GIS programs worldwide. He is the principal designer of the Arc Hydro data model, which is a customization of the ArcGIS geographic information system for surface water resources. Dr Maidment is also the leader of the CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science Inc) project on Hydrologic Information Systems, which is designed to provide improved access to hydrologic data, and synthesis into a digital watershed for application at the nation’s universities.
He and his wife, Helen J. Maidment, who is also an alumna of the University of Illinois, live in Austin, Texas.
The 2011 Young Alumnus is:
Scott D. Reed, Civil/Environmental Engineer, Black & Veatch Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio (BS 99)
For technical expertise in wastewater collection, treatment and biosolids management, including presentations at regional and national conferences.
Reed graduated from the University of Illinois in May 1999, and through the tip of an Illinois CEE professor, secured an engineering position the following month at Black & Veatch in Cincinnati, Ohio, Reed’s hometown. Since that time, Reed’s professional development at Black & Veatch has been centered on wastewater treatment, with a concentration in biosolids management and energy recovery. He has led design teams for notable wastewater treatment plant projects in Toronto and Cincinnati. On these teams, he helped design facilities to reduce water content in biosolids and promote sustainable incineration, which uses the inherent energy in biosolids for combustion, significantly reducing solids volume and thus minimizing its impact on landfill storage.
Reed enjoys volunteering as a counselor for a terrific youth group who are fascinated with the notion of actually working with “biosolids.” He especially enjoys the rewarding company of his 2- and 4-year old sons, whom he is carefully preparing for the U of I. Perhaps next year they will be ready to accompany him to his thirteenth homecoming in a row since sporting the Illinois cap and gown. I-L-L …