ASCE has honored Ronald R. Copeland, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, with the 2020 Hans Albert Einstein Award for his contributions to research teaching and application of sedimentation engineering principles for the development and operation of water resource projects.
Copeland’s contributions to the engineering profession are too numerous to list. For example, he is either the author or coauthor of 113 engineering reports at WES/ERDC. During the last 40 years of practice, he specialized in the application of sedimentation engineering principles to the development and operation of water resources projects, to the adequacy of levees on the Sacramento and Mississippi Rivers for both present and future conditions, and to stream restoration. He performed research, developed and applied computational methods, and taught sediment transport theory to other river engineers.
He is currently a rehired annuitant at ERDC and an adjunct professor at Mississippi State University. Copeland is a member of ASCE, and served on the Sedimentation Committee from 1988 to 1991. He was instrumental in initiating action to update Manual of Practice 54. The effort culminated in Manual of Practice 110, “Sedimentation Engineering: Processes, Measurements, Modeling, and Practice,” which was published in 2010.
The Hans Albert Einstein Award is given to a member who has made a significant contribution to the engineering profession in the area of erosion control, sedimentation and/or waterway development either in teaching, research, planning, design or management.
