Herricks Honored for Bird Radar Work

1/26/2012

Professor receives award for work to establish an avian radar program at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

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Professor Ed Herricks, right, received a Distinguished Service Award for his work in avian radar and other wildlife management systems at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.  He is pictured above with Steve Osmek, a wildlife biologist at the airport.

Professor Emeritus Edwin E. Herricks received an award for Distinguished Service to the Port of Seattle from the organization’s Aviation Division. The award cited Herricks’ work, through his Airport Safety Management Program, to establish an avian radar program at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
 
“Your support through the Center of Excellence for Airport Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been unprecedented,” wrote Michael Ehl, Director of Aviation Operations in a letter of commendation to Herricks.
 
Herricks’ involvement began in 2001, when he became a member of the airport’s Comprehensive Stormwater Program’s Technical Advisory Panel.  Over the past 10 years, Herricks and his team deployed three avian radars to support the airport’s Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program, advanced its Geographic Information System capabilities by digitizing 23 years of wildlife data, and providing in-kind support including cameras and visual analytics to support surface and gate management technologies. Most recently, Herricks’ work saved the airport more than $4 million, when the bird-use data his technology helped collect proved that a less expensive method of making the airport’s stormwater ponds less attractive to birds could be just as effective as a more expensive plan to cover the ponds.
 
Herricks accepted the award in October at a luncheon held in his honor at the airport.

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This story was published January 26, 2012.