Garcia Wins Hunter Rouse and Horner Awards

1/31/2012

Leader in the fields of environmental hydrology and engineering hydraulics is honored with two awards.

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Yeh Center
Yeh Center
Professor Marcelo García has been selected by the Environmental Water Resources Institute to receive the 2012 Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award.  García was cited, "For outstanding contributions to the field of hydraulic engineering over 25 years, including research, teaching and service."

The committee took particular note of García's many publications and leadership in numerous meetings, workshops and seminars.  The award will be presented during the Hydraulic Measurement and Experimental Methods Conference, Aug. 14, in Snowbird, Utah.

García was also honored by the Environmental Water Resources Institute to receive the 2010 Wesley W. Horner Award for the paper, "Modeling Framework for Organic Sediment Resuspension and Oxygen Demand: Case of Bubble Creek in Chicago," Journal of Environmental Engineering, September 2010.  Co-authors are Davide Motta (MS 08) and Jorge D. Abad (MS 02, PhD 08).

In selecting the paper, the committee particularly noted the capturing of key processes, which provided both useful preliminary results and important guidance for assessing potential water quality improvement and sediment management solutions in the South Branch of the Chicago River.  The award will be presented at the World Environmental & Water Resources Congress in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 20-24.

García is a leader in the field of river mechanics, sediment transport, sedimentation engineering and environmental hydraulics. He is best known for his research in sediment entrainment from riverbeds, flow and transport in vegetated channels, the mechanics of oceanic turbidity currents, and the dynamics of mudflows in mountain areas. His research has been funded at the Federal level by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At the state level, García has received support from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC), the Illinois Water Resources Center, the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program and the Sanitary District of Decatur, Ill.


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This story was published January 31, 2012.