Carnegie Mellon’s David A. Dzombak to Chair Prestigious New National Research Committee

February 15, 2010

Contact: Chriss Swaney
Carnegie Mellon University
412.268.5776

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's David A. Dzombak has been named chair of a new National Research Council (NRC) Committee, which will provide advice to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on scientific, engineering and water resource issues.

           
"I look forward to working with an experienced group of scientists and engineers assembled by the National Research Council and with the leaders of the Corps of Engineers on the complex water resource challenges facing the nation," said Dzombak, the Walter J. Blenko Sr. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon and faculty director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research.

           
Dzombak said the committee will develop a series of reports to help the Army Corps of Engineers anticipate and prepare for emerging water resource challenges. In addition to working with the Corps, the committee will work with experts and representatives from other federal agencies, including U.S. congressional staffers, state governments and the private sector.

           
"We are also charged with serving as a forum for occasional workshops on issues ranging from flood risk management to hydroecosystems restoration and water management implications of climate change," Dzombak said. 

           
For more than two decades, Dzombak has conducted leading-edge research in the areas of aquatic chemistry, water quality engineering, abandoned mine drainage remediation, river and watershed restoration and contaminated site remediation.

           
He also has contributed to the expertise and professional service at the local, state and national levels. He currently serves as a member of the Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board and chair of the SAB Environmental Engineering Committee. He chaired the NRC's Committee on the Mississippi River and Clean Water Act, and currently serves on the NRC Committee on Clean Water Act Implementation Across the Mississippi River Basin. He is an associate editor of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

           
Dzombak has received numerous professional honors and accolades. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008 and was named a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2002. He is a recipient of the Excellence in Review Award from Environmental Science and Technology, the Professional Research Award from the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association, the Jack Edward McKee Medal from the Water Environment Federation, the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program Fellowship from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal from the Water Environment Federation and a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award. 

           
Dzombak earned his Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 1980. He also has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., where he was enrolled in a 3-2 liberal arts/engineering program. He is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania and a diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.