Archived News and Events

M. Gordon Wolman Receives Water Quality Award

Gordon “Reds” Wolman will be the first recipient of the prestigious Outstanding Contributions to the Water Environment Award from the Water Environment Federation (WEF), in recognition of his outstanding lifetime accomplishments and contributions towards improving the water environment. The award will be presented at the WEF’s annual conference in October 2004. The WEF is a technical and non-profit educational organization, working for the preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. Congratulations to Reds!



New Department Chair for Geography & Environmental Engineering

Professor Charles O'Melia has been appointed chair of the department as of August 2004, for a three-year term. A longtime faculty member at Hopkins, who also served as department chair from 1990 through 1995, Dr. O'Melia will continue with his research and teaching activities in the field of water treatment. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. O'Melia has played a major role in developing the department into a top-ranked program, since the re-establishment of  the Engineering School in 1979.



New Department Chair for Civil Engineering

Professor Hugh Ellis has been appointed to serve as chairman of the Civil Engineering Department as of September 2004, for a three-year term. Dr. Ellis received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and joined the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering (DoGEE) at Hopkins in 1984. He subsequently was awarded a joint appointment to the Civil Engineering Department and has collaborated over the years with faculty from both departments. Dr. Ellis also served as chair of DoGEE from1995 to 2000. He will continue to be actively involved in teaching and research, where his interest is in environmental systems analysis, including air quality simulation and meterologic modeling, along with optimization of bridge inspection and maintenance policies, and with parameter identification for ambient vibration studies.



Grace Brush wins Methias Medal

Professor Grace Brush received the prestigious Mathias Medal on May 6, 2004 at a ceremony in Washington, DC. Named for former Maryland Senator Charles "Mac" Mathias the Mathias Medal is presented to scientists whose work has had a significant impact on policies affecting the Chesapeake. Awarded by the Sea Grant programs of Maryland and Virginia and the Chesapeake Research Consortium, the Medal has been given only four times since its creation in 1990.

Brush is the first paleoecologist to win the award. She is also the first woman. Brush pioneered studies that used the presence of plant pollen, microscopic organisms and other substances in Bay sediments to track changes in the estuary and in the watershed that surrounds it. Her studies have provided the basis for much of our early understanding of how and when the forests surrounding the Bay were first cleared, and how resultant shifts in sediment loads and water chemistry changed the Bay and its ecosystem.

"When policymakers attempt to compare the Bay of the past with the Bay of the future," says Maryland Sea Grant director Jonathan G. Kramer, "they turn to the work of Grace Brush."

Archived Features

Spring 2002 Johns Hopkins Engineer Magazine
" The Very Able Wolmans: A Portrait of Father and Son" (Profs. Reds and Abel Wolman)
" Partners in Saving the Bay" (M.S. student Kristin Goetchius)

DoGEE Articles in 2002 Whiting School Annual Report
Articles on "Gracing the Urban Ecosystem" (Prof. Grace Brush), "A River of Knowledge" (Prof. Reds Wolman), and "Defining Core Values" (Ph.D. Student Angie Arnold)

DOGEE Articles in 2001 Whiting School Annual Report
Article on "Scaling Up and Down the Boundary Layer" (Prof. Marc Parlange), Interview with Ph.D. student Michelle Bell

DOGEE Articles in 1997 Whiting School Annual Report
Articles on "Blowing in the Wind" (Prof. Marc Parlange), "Decisions that Last" (Prof. Ben Hobbs)

DOGEE Articles in 1996 Whiting School Annual Report
Articles on "Flushing River Channels" (Prof. Peter Wilcock), "Location, Location, Location" (Prof. Charles ReVelle), "Waging War on Chemical Contaminants" (Prof. Lynn Roberts)

Archived Research Highlights
A Journey to the Swiss Alps

In the spring/summer of 2003, Professor Marc Parlange’s group set up an array of sonic anemometers on the Aletsch glacier at Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps. The Sonic Anemometer is used to take high-resolution measurements of the three-component wind velocity vector and temperature. The data obtained, along with simultaneous Lidar and meteorological measurements, were used to characterize boundary layer transport processes over the glacier’s surface. In the photo, Ioan Balin from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale du Lausanne (EPFL), is seen helping to erect the experiment while clouds begin to envelope Jungfrau mountain in the background.



Archived Awards & Honors
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Archived Social Events
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Archived Seminars
Archived Department Seminar Series