Edwin E Herricks
Primary Research Area
- Environmental Engineering and Science
Research Areas
Biography
Edwin E. Herricks joined the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1975. He received a BA in Zoology and English from the University of Kansas in 1968, an M.S. in Sanitary/Environmental Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in 1970, and a Ph.D. in Biology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1973. He was a research and field biologist with Union Carbide Corporation from 1973-75. He is presently a Professor of Environmental Biology in the Environmental Engineering and Science Program and holds affiliate appointments in the Departments of Animal Biology (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) and Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (College of Agriculture, Community, and Environmental Sciences) and the Environmental Council.
Dr. Herricks has been an adviser to local, state, and federal government. He has regularly served as an adviser to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, he is a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Illinois River Coordinating Council, Office of the Illinois Lieutenant Governor, and has served as the Chair of the City of Champaign Environmental Advisory Commission and on the Citizen’s Advisory Board of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District. Dr. Herricks has also served on several National Research Council panels addressing issues that included non-coal mining impact to the environment, the legacy of radiation problems at Hanford, Wash., management of the Upper Mississippi River Navigation Project and the Corps of Engineers project and planning process. He was appointed to the Surface Transportation Cooperative Research Advisory Board in 2000.
In his research, teaching, and professional activities Professor Herricks couples an understanding of the environment with engineering-based approaches to management and regulation. As a biologist, he has structured his program on the analysis and interpretation of the effects of contaminants and other environmental alterations on communities of organisms (in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems). His research analyzes and interprets the effects of environmental change on aquatic and terrestrial species, populations, and communities, with a particular emphasis on the development of methods to improve environmental decision-making and ecologically relevant engineering design. Specific research areas include: (1) development of biological monitoring procedures for environmental decision making, (2) time related consequences of environmental change ranging from stormwater runoff to climate change effects, (3) analysis of organism habitat relationships in streams and wetlands directed to restoration and naturalization, (4) systems analysis of human- natural system interactions including transportation system interactions with wildlife, and (5) development of engineering design approaches that minimize environmental and ecological impact.
Research Statement
Dr. Herricks' research interests include the development of a systems approach to minimizing wildlife/aircraft interactions and improving aircraft safety; evaluation of the regional effects of climate change, specifically the effect of climate change scenarios on fisheries; the restoration of streams in urban areas, including the development of ecological engineering concepts for watershed management; and the development of an integrated hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological classification system for watershed management.
Primary Research Area
- Environmental Engineering and Science