Michael’s Message

Our recent Congress in Anchorage was nothing less than a resounding success! Don Phelps, General Chair, and Ray Walton, Technical Chair are to be commended for a job well done. More than 900 attendees from all over the world took advantage of the excellent technical program and enjoyed the interesting social program. The technical program offered a variety of stimulating and informative presentations from a diversity of experts in their respective specialties. One measure of the high quality of the technical sessions is attendance. From that perspective, the high quality of the technical program was proven by the very good attendance at most sessions, even those on the afternoon of the last day.  Tuesday afternoon was open for tours and nearly 200 attendees took part in the Whittier Tunnel Tour, Eklutna Water Treatment Plant tour, or the 20-mile bike ride around the city of Anchorage. For me, one highlight of the Congress was the opening plenary session. The Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, Loren Leman, P.E., and Deborah Williams, Executive Director, Alaska Conservation Foundation, were both interesting and thought-provoking in discussing the many unique challenges to Alaska’s environment and water resources. They were followed by four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser and his puppies. Buser spoke about his racing experiences and his prized dogs. He also allowed our attendees to handle and pet his puppies. It was just the sort of opening event to get everyone ready for more Alaskan experiences later that week.  Thank you Don, Ray, and all of the other volunteers who helped to plan, organize, and execute such a successful Congress.

Another highlight of this year’s Congress was the reception honoring the first individuals named as diplomates of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.  ASCE’s president, William P. Henry, P.E., opened the reception by welcoming all water resources professionals attending the Congress as well as congratulating the new diplomates. He also discussed the Society's efforts to "raise the bar" for the

My grandson enjoyed his time at this year's Congress.

professional practice of civil engineering, acknowledging that the status of diplomate was developed to further the goals of ASCE Policy 465. ASCE Policy 465 encourages education engineering at the professional level. Jeanette Brown, P.E., DEE, former president of AAEE, also lauded the diplomates and thanked those who had earned diplomate status in environmental engineering who were in attendance. Dale Jacobson, P.E., DEE, and president of Civil Engineering Certification, Inc., joined Henry in congratulating the new honorary diplomates, and recognizing the AAWRE Board of Trustees.  By the close of the ceremony, 93 diplomates, including 11 honorary diplomates, were recognized and received their certificates and pins. For more information or to complete your online application, please see www.aawre.org.

EWRI continues to grow and emerge as a leader among water and environment association and is receiving more and more recognition both domestically and internationally. That recognition is manifesting in numerous ways. One example of EWRI’s role as an internationally recognized organization is the heightened interest and competition for the EWRI International Fellowships. This year we were pleased and honored that the 2005 International Fellows, Dr. Guilherme Fernandes Marques from Brazil and Dr. Chandan Mahanta from India, actively participated in the Congress. In addition, Nalin Wikramanayake from Sri Lanka, one of the 2003 International Fellows, attended and spoke at the special plenary session on the 2004 Tsunami. Another example of EWRI’s role as an internationally recognized organization conveyed at this year’s Congress was the role of its platinum sponsor, the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.  Dr. Abdulmalik A. Al Sheik, General Secretariat of the Prize and Director of the PrinceSultanResearchCenter for Environment, Water, and Desert, attended the Congress and began a dialogue exploring ways to partner with EWRI. Your Governing Board is excited about the possibilities.

The appeal for domestic and international attendees doesn’t end with our annual Congress. EWRI continues to offer a variety of smaller conferences, symposia, and workshops every year. EWRI will be hosting two specialty conferences next year-one in the U.S. and one abroad. The 2006 Operations Management Conference will take place in Sacramento August 14-16, 2006. Abstracts are currently being accepted for this conference and I urge you to visit the conference website at http://www.asce.org/conferences/om06 for more information and to submit your abstract. Next year’s international conference, An International Perspective on Environmental and Water Resources is scheduled for December 18-20, 2006 in New Delhi, India. This conference will focus on water resources and the environment in the developing countries of Asia and is organized and sponsored by EWRI in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India.  For more information about this exciting opportunity, including key dates, proposed conference topics, in addition to technical and cultural tours, please visit the conference web site at http://www.asce.org/conferences/india06.