ASCE has honored Louise A. Wallendorf, P.E., M.ASCE, with the 2019 Orville T. Magoon Sustainable Coasts Award for lifelong dedication to sustainable coasts, collaborative research and coastal education.
For almost 40 years, Wallendorf has made outstanding contributions to sustainable engineering practices in managing shorelines and coastal infrastructure as a researcher, educator and active ASCE volunteer. She played a crucial role in the formation of ASCE’s Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute in 2000 and was a driving force in the creation and continued organization of COPRI’s Solutions to Coastal Disasters specialty conference series, which she cochaired in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2015.
The “Solutions” series was initially envisioned by Orville Magoon as interdisciplinary conferences bringing together engineers, scientists, coastal planners and other experts to exchange research ideas in the area of coastal disasters, a key component of coastal sustainability, but Wallendorf’s leadership enabled hundreds of participants at each conference to learn and exchange ways to make our coastal communities more resilient. With each conference, she brought together a diverse group of practicing engineers, planners, government agency representatives, academics and students to explore the challenges and solutions for sustainable coastal communities. And as co-editor of each conference proceedings, she ensured that the wider profession had access to the latest developments in this rapidly evolving discipline.
Since 1984, Wallendorf has been an ocean engineer in the hydromechanics laboratory at the U.S. Naval Academy, where a colleague described her as a “cornerstone” of the ocean engineering program. She is the founding advisor of the ASCE student chapter at the Academy and has continued in that role since 2011.
The Orville T. Magoon Sustainable Coasts Award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to sustainable engineering practices in managing shorelines and coastal infrastructure through research, design, construction or management of the natural and built environment in the coastal zone. The award recognizes the balance of coastal values with project needs.
