Balakrishnan Narayanan

CEEAA Distinguished Alumni Award, 2021

For outstanding technical accomplishments in the field of biological wastewater treatment; for inspirational leadership as CEO of the largest consulting engineering firm in the United States focusing solely on water; and for commitment to diversifying the engineering workforce through a focus on integrity, humility, caring, service, vision and empowerment.

Biography

Balakrishnan Narayanan received his M.S. degree (1990) in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also has a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering (1988) from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, and a Ph.D. (2003) in Environmental Engineering from the University of California Berkeley. He has spent his entire working career (starting in 1990) at Carollo Engineers in Walnut Creek, California, and has served as the President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board since 2012. Founded in 1933, Carollo is the largest consulting and engineering firm in the United States dedicated solely to water-related engineering.

Narayanan is a recognized expert in wastewater treatment and has authored more than 40 technical papers on the subject. As a practitioner, he has been involved in the design of more than 50 biological nutrient removal systems nationwide, including major projects for the Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation District (MWRD), Colorado; Clean Water Services, Oregon; Clark County Water Reclamation District (CCWRD), Nevada; and the Eastern Municipal Water District, California. He has also been part of several award-winning projects, including the MWRD's South Secondary Improvements Project, which won the American Academy of Environmental Engineers Design Grand Prize in 2017; and the CCWRD WWTP project, which won Water Environment Federation's George Bradley Gascoigne Award in 2000.