ASCE has honored Robert Ettema, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, with the 2019 Harold R. Peyton Award for Cold Regions Engineering for a distinguished career of laboratory research, physical modeling, experimentation, teaching, administration, mentoring graduate students, and extensive publication in the fields of ice mechanics, cold regions hydraulics, river engineering, sediment transport, hydraulic structures, and engineering history.
Ettema is an exceptional candidate. His career as a researcher, educator, and mentor is outstanding. The research portion began in sediment transport, scour, and hydraulic structures but quickly included physical modeling and ice studies at the Iowa Institute for Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa. He has served as assistant, associate, full professor, and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UIowa, and also as associate and interim director of the Institute. In addition, he has served as University of Wyoming’s dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science and now holds an endowed chair at Colorado State University.
Ettema’s publication record is extensive, and includes many books, book chapters, journal articles, conference proceedings, and technical reports in the fields of sedimentation, ice mechanics, and physical modeling. He also has a keen interest in engineering history, producing such publications as Hans Albert Einstein: His Life as a Pioneering Engineer, released by ASCE Press.
He has provided service to ASCE and IAHR as well. He is a past editor of ASCE’s Journal of Hydraulic Engineering and currently serves as an associate editor of their Journal of Cold Regions Engineering. Ettema is a past recipient of three other ASCE honors – the Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award, the Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize, and the Hans Albert Einstein Award – and is an ASCE Fellow.
The Harold R. Peyton Award for Cold Regions Engineering is presented to a member of the Society who has made outstanding contributions to cold region engineering or to a basic understanding of cold environments, including dissemination of knowledge of cold climates technology, through publishing innovative technical or research papers.
