Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering, has been selected as 2026 Warren A. Hall Medal recipient by the Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR).
The Hall Medal is UCOWR’s most prestigious award and is presented to those who have demonstrated a career-long commitment to exemplary interdisciplinary scholarship and academic excellence in water resources. Recipients are educators, devoted to the advancement of knowledge in water resources (through teaching, research, and/or public service) with a strong commitment to the education and welfare of their students.
Garcia is one of the world’s foremost experts in water resources engineering. His distinguished research on sediment transport and river and marine morphodynamics at Illinois, along with his work advancing hydraulics and sedimentation engineering, propelled his induction to the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2025. He was also named a Doctor Honoris Causa of the National University of Cordoba, Argentina, in 2024 — the highest academic honor conferred by the university.
Joining the CEE at Illinois faculty in 1990, Garcia has served as director of the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1997.
The Hall Award will be presented to Garcia at the UCOWR/NIWR Water Resources Conference in San Antonio, Texas from June 8-10, 2026.