ASCE has honored Robert E. Pitt, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, M.ASCE, with the 2021 Julian Hinds Award for his tireless endeavors in the field of water resources engineering and urban water resources research. Contributions include WinSLAMM (an urban stormwater quality model), implementation of green stormwater infrastructure, ASCE/EWRI activities, and development of the next generation of water resources professionals.
Pitts’ service record to the water resources engineering community includes two National Research Councils and numerous EWRI committees. His willingness to lead the charge on any committee, with no expectations other than advancing the state of the practice for the profession, has been most inspiring. He excels at bringing research to the practitioner and over the past few decades has drastically increased the depth and breadth of knowledge within the urban stormwater resources profession.
His research has been transformative. His environmental work in green stormwater infrastructure set the path for the profession. Pitt understands the true value of transforming the work and effort in the academic arena into real-world applications. As a consultant in the private sector prior to obtaining his Ph.D., he used this knowledge to focus his research philosophy. WinSLAMM is just one example of this, born as it is of his realization that historical models and urban water-quality-management assumptions at the time did not correlate well with real-world monitoring data. The WinSLAMM model developed by Pitt helped to address these problems and has been accepted by several municipalities, including the State of Wisconsin.
The Julian Hinds Award is given to recognize the author or authors of that paper that is judged to make the most meritorious contribution to the field of water resources development. That award may also be made to an individual for notable performance, long years of distinguished service, or specific actions that advanced engineering in the field of planning, development, and management of water resources.
